Sour Spicy (Asam Pedas ) chicken drumsticks

Do you like asam pedas dish?

Asam Pedas, or literally "sour Spicy" is very different from curry. It does not contain coconut milk and is not as thick as curry. The taste is slightly spicy and very sour.  In the early days, people assume that this asam dish is very monotonous, which consist just meat and the sour soup. However, it has been changed to a new version that includes tomato and okra or even eggplant.

Traditionally, mackerel fish was used to prepare this asam meal. However, you are free to cook with any type of fish you like. In addition to asam pedas fish, you may also feel free to diversify these asam pedas dishes from using prawns, squid, beef, mutton or even asam pedas chicken, which is what I would like to share with you today.

Frankly, I don't always make my own asam paste, but when I do, I can really taste the difference in the flavour and complexity, and it truly makes your asam dish unique. In addition, I can control the heat level, especially for the people I am serving, which is never easy with store-bought paste. You can make the paste in two methods. The easy way which I use is to blend everything in a blender and the hard but traditional way is to pound with mortar and pestle. Or perhaps you might say even the easy one is too much work for me and stick to store bought paste. I don’t judge, I buy it too but make sure that you choose the right one.

Asam paste is a blend of herbs and spices that you may use to flavour asam pedas dishes as well as stir-fried meat mixtures, soup noodles, and anything else you can think of. The pastes can be used in a variety of ways, and the flavour goes well with any protein or meat.

The dish's distinctively sour flavour originates from the tamarind, which is a necessary component that cannot be substituted. You may find tamarind paste from the grocery or supermarket, but I'm using tamarind pulp with seed. The paste to pulp ratio is about one to three. Which means one tablespoon of tamarind paste equivalent to three tablespoon of tamarind pulp. You can, of course, change the sour level to suit your tastes.

The other two main ingredients for making this asam dish are torch ginger flower (bunga Kantan) and Vietnamese coriander Or Vietnamese Mint Leaves (daun Kesum.) I have never used these two components before.  I must use my phone to provide the wet market vendors with a snapshot of the ingredients. It was then that I found out what those two objects were called locally.

Are you drooling? Let us get all the ingredients to hand and detailed instructions to make this delicious asam pedas chicken.

 

INGREDIENTS (Asam paste)

1 big onion

4 small shallots, peeled and cut into small pieces

1 tbsp dried shrimp (wash and clean, soak in water until soft and drained)

1 whole head of garlic

2-inch size of sliced ginger

1 stalk of lemongrass (bottom part), sliced

15pcs dried chillies (trim and cut into 2-3 pcs. Boil in hot water until soft and drained)

50ml water

Tamarind paste

3 tbsp tamarind pulp

60ml warm water (tamarind juice)

INGREDIENT (chicken)

8 pcs chicken drumsticks

10 okras

2 tomatoes

1 torch ginger flower

1 bunch Vietnamese coriander

1 stalk of lemongrass (bottom part)

500ml water (gravy)

4 tbsp cooking oil

1 tbsp sugar

½ tsp salt

METHOD

 

METHOD

1. In a food processor, combine all the asam paste ingredients except the tamarind paste and process them into an almost smooth paste. Or you may pound it with a mortar and pestle until smooth.

2. Pour the warm water over tamarind pulp, smash up a bit with a spoon and let soak for 10-15 minutes. 

3. Slightly slashed on the thick part of the chicken drumsticks, help to cook evenly and quickly.

4. Wash and pat dry the okras, cut off the hard stem and the end part. Slice the tomatoes lengthwise into wedges.

5. Heat up the oil in a wok, add the blended chilli paste into the oil and sauté until aromatic over low heat for 30 minutes or until the chilli paste starts to glisten and split and you can see an oily firm separate from the paste itself. Add in the tamarind paste and  water, and continue to cook until boiling. Add in ginger torch flower, lemongrass, and Vietnamese coriander leaves. Continue to saute for another 30 seconds or until fragrant.

6. Add in the chicken drumsticks, reduce to medium heat and simmer until cooked.

7. Increase heat to the highest. Once the gravy begins to boil, add the vegetables to cook for another 5 minutes. Add sugar and salt to taste. Adjust the taste to your personal preference.