Maritime Southeast Asia · Volume 44, The Long Reduction, the Merantau Road and the Veranda of Mecca
Ayam pop
West Sumatra, from Bukittinggi
An illustration of the dish, not a photograph of it cooked.
- Time
- 40 minutes
- Researched
- 11 sources cited
- Reviewed
- Not yet reviewed from inside the tradition
- Cooked
- Not yet cooked and reported
Pale by design, not by failure: a poach in coconut water followed by the briefest possible fry, deliberately withholding the colour most Indonesian fried chicken chases.
As tradition built it
Serves 4. 40 minutes.
Ingredients
- 1 whole chicken, jointed
- 750 ml, or enough to cover coconut water (air kelapa), enough to cover
- 5 garlic cloves, 2 bay leaves, 1 lemongrass stalk, a 2cm piece of galangal garlic, bay leaf, lemongrass, galangal
- 2 tsp salt
- as needed oil, for flash-frying
Method
- Simmer the chicken pieces in coconut water with garlic, bay leaf, lemongrass, galangal and salt until tender. No turmeric goes into this poach, which is the whole reason the finished chicken stays pale rather than turning the golden yellow of standard Padang fried chicken.
- Remove and drain the chicken thoroughly dry.
- Flash-fry in hot oil for thirty to forty seconds only, just long enough to firm and lightly set the exterior without colouring or drying it.
- Serve with sambal and the standard hidang spread.
What a modern chef changes
The same restraint, held under more precise control.
Method
- Poach sous vide in the coconut water at a fixed low temperature, for exact, repeatable doneness, protecting the meat's texture far more reliably than an open simmer.
- Flash-fry exactly as tradition demands, no longer. The technique this dish rewards is restraint, not addition; resist any temptation to brown it further for visual appeal, since that would simply remake it into a different, lesser dish.