The name is not really accurate it’s like saying grill fry chicken. Berempah is grilled goreng is fried so this is kind of hybrid version of them both.
Ideally made with chicken with the skin on cos the fat from the skin slowly melts as you cook it and bastes the chicken and gets cripsier yeah that’s an actual word that some folks have invented .
So in the world of takesaway and fried chicken places galore this sticks out like a sore thumb cos it’s slow not deep fried and needs some effort to get right.
The proof of the pudding is in the eating as they say and it’s the same with me goreng..( see the pun there).
- Chicken cut into 12 skin on ideally roughly 1-1.2 kg
- Salt
- Lemon juice or white vinegar
- Garlic5-6 cloves
- Ginger – 1 piece roughly 25 g
- Turmeric – 1/4
- Coriander stems- 5 g
- Red chilli fresh 2-3 ( not very hot but not mild either)
- Cumin-1/4 t
- Star anise- 2-3 small petals from 1 star.
- Chicken stock powder/ji jing – pinch
Ok we need to grind the above except chicken to a kind of paste / marinade and then add in….
- Oil 30 ml approximately
- corn flour- 10 g/ 1/2 T
- rice flour- 20 g/ 1 T
Marinade and keep overnight atleast ..12 hrs.. the longer the better.
The next day , take the chicken out of the refrigerator atleast 30 mins before cooking. then line a cast iron deep saute pan with baking paper and arrange the chicken on it skin side down. Heat the pan , and keep the lid on so it stays moist and juicy. after about 10 minutes turn the pieces over to see that they are not burnt and cook some more. How much more , youll know it when the juices from the leg , when pierced run clear( or use a meat thermometer – to cook until 75 C/ 165 F internal).Chicken is not something you cook rare or medium..
You wont need any extra oil as you already had oil in the marinade and the trick is to slow cook it so that the skin fat melts aand bastes the meat and keeps t moist and juicy and gets crisped. the Rice flour and cornflour also help with that. If you want it crispier you can add a bit more of those and as in all recipes feel free to play around a bit to get it to the taste/ flavour profile you are looking for. This is recipe is not the stairway to heaven , merely points in the general direction .
You have to love the food , so that you get make it good!! thats the trick.