I can't recall exactly what I ate during this trip. All I can remember is Es Alpukat (coffee avocado milkshake) or anything with kecap manis...
What is kecap manis? It is an Indonesian thick and sweet soy sauce. It is commonly used to cook Indonesian-style stir fry, noodles and fried rice. Most commonly, kecap manis can be found in most Asian grocery shops and mostly available as ABC brand. Alternatively, kecap manis can be homemade by using this recipe or mixing soy sauce with honey. To cut the fuss and taste the authenticness, I rather use the ABC ones...
To recall my wonderful memory of Indonesian trip, I like to cook these non-fuss kecap manis ginger chicken inspired by Barefoot Contessa... Huh? Can Ina Garten, a non-Indonesian cook Indonesian food??? I was skeptical until I saw Alice from I Love.I Cook. I Bake cooked her Indonesian Grilled Fish Fillet which is also a Barefoot Contessa inspired recipe... Alice mentioned this Ina's recipe is pretty good but I reckon Ina's choice of ingredients need to be slightly more Indonesian...
Instead of fish, I'm cooking Barefoot Contessa's inspired kecap manis chicken in this post. To grill these chicken is extremely easy... All I have to do is to marinate the chicken overnight, place everything in the oven and bake. Nice and easy! Ultimately, we like to enjoy these fully-flavoured chicken with Es Alpukat.
Es Alpukat? It is a thick and creamy ice-blended coffee avocado milky drink. Es Alpukat remind me of the funny nights that my friends and I had in our Indonesia trip. We were chasing each other along the corridors and having pillow fights in our rooms. Please don't misunderstand us... We are truly the "innocent" late 80s kind of convent school teenage girls and don't consume any alcohol or drugs. Now recalling back, I can't help to think our extra-rowdiness is due to the excessive caffeine in the Es Alpukat that we had... LOL!
Kecap Manis Ginger Chicken and Es Alpukat
Only these three ingredients are required to grill kecap manis ginger chicken...
... and this is the special ingredient that make Es Alpukat extra creamy and yummy!
Instead of marinating chicken in baking trays, I marinated them in zip lock bags for easier storage.
Baking these chicken is easy...
... just bake, flip and grill!
Ta-dah!!! Delicious chicken!!!
While the chicken were grilling, I made these...
Es Alpukat is ready!
Kecap manis chicken is ready!
Let's feast!
Here are the recipes
(with my modification and notes in blue)Indonesian Ginger Chicken by Barefoot Contessa from here or here
1 cup honey
3/4 cup soy sauce
(Instead of mixing honey and soy sauce, I have used 300ml of kecap manis)
1/4 cup minced garlic (8 to 12 cloves)
1/2 cup peeled and grated fresh ginger root
(Instead of grating, I have roughly chopped the ginger)
2 (3 1/2 pound) chickens, quartered, with backs removed
(I used 2 kg of chicken maryland with skins)
Cook the honey, soy sauce, garlic, and ginger root in a small saucepan over low heat until the honey is melted - I skipped this step. Arrange the chicken in one layer in a shallow baking pan (or zip lock bags), skin side down, and pour on the sauce. Cover the pan tightly with aluminum foil. Marinate overnight in the refrigerator.
Preheat the oven to 350°F or 160°C fan forced.
If you marinate chicken in zip lock bags, arrange chicken with skin side down with marinating sauce in two aluminum and baking paper lined baking trays. Place the baking pan in the oven and bake for 30 mins - but I baked mine uncovered for 60 mins.
Uncover the pan, turn the chicken skin side up, and raise the temperature to 375°F or 170°C fan forced with grill. Continue baking for 30 mins or until the juices run clear when you cut between a leg and thigh and the sauce is a rich, dark brown - I did mine for 15 mins or until skin grills to a rich brown color.
Es Alpukat from Epicurious
Makes 2 large or 4 miniature serves
1/2 ripe large avocado
(I used 1/2 ripe small avocado for half of the recipe)
1/3 cup espresso or 1 cup strong brewed coffee, cooled
(for half of the recipe, I used 4 tbsp decaff instant coffee made with 1/3 cup of boiling water)
1/2 cup sweetened condensed (not evaporated) milk
(I used 99% fat free ones)
2 cups ice cubes
2 tsp vanilla (I used 1/4 tsp vanilla paste for half of the recipe)
Scoop avocado flesh into a blender, then purée with remaining ingredients until completely smooth, about 1 min.
Note: Using half of the recipe, I have made two miniature serves of smoothies as shown in my pictures.
Happy Baking
---This post is linked to Cook like a Star, ALL Stars Anniversary organised by me, Bake for Happy Kids, Joyce from Kitchen Flavours and Mich from Piece of Cake.
Wanna cook or bake like Donna Hay, Barefoot Contessa, Jamie Oliver, Masterchef, Martha Stewart, Delia Smith, Curtis Stone, Nigella Lawson, Ree Drummond and Bill Granger? To join, simply cook or bake any recipe from their websites or cookbooks and link with us at this Zoe's, this Joyce's or this Mich's post for the whole of March and April 2014.
For more details, please see this.
Here are my blogging friends that have joined me cooking for this event. Please visit their blogs for more of their 5-stars cooking.
This post is also linked at the Indonesia event of Asian Food Fest (AFF) organised by Wendy, Table for 2 and hosted by Alice, I Love. I Cook. I Bake.
