Smashed Fried Chicken (Ayam Penyet)

1 whole Chicken, cut into 4 or 8 pieces (or as desired)
300 ml of coconut milk
200 ml of water
1 Salaam leafs (or you can substitute with Bay leaf)
2 stalk of fresh Lemongrass (Sereh/Serai), bruised
Lime juice from 1 fresh lime

Spice Paste:
4 cloves of garlic
2 Candlenuts
1 tsp coriander
2 tsp salt

Sambal:
5 red chillies
4 bird's eyes chillies (or reduce to your taste)
3 shallots
1 cloves of garlic
1 tsp salt
1 tsp palm sugar

Grind or blend the spice paste.

Boil the Chicken with the spice paste, coconut milk, Salaam leafs, Lemongrass and water. Cook until it's tender and spice is absorbed.

When the chicken already cooks, leave it cold for a moment.

Heat the oil in non-stick frying pan, fry the chicken until it's brown and crispy. Smash the fried chicken with meat smasher. Set aside and serve.

Prepare the Sambal by grinding roughly all the ingredients. Then sauté with small amount of oil until it's fragrant for couple of minutes. When it's ready sprinkle with lime juice and then serve.

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Galangal Fried Chicken (Ayam Goreng Lengkuas)

1 whole chicken, cut into 8 pieces (or as desired)
1 stalk of Lemongrass (Sereh/Serai)
2 Salaam leaves (Indian Bay Leaves)
4 tablespoons shredded Galangal

Spice Paste (blend)
3 cloves of Garlic
5 Shallots
3 Candlenuts (Kemiri), or substitute with 6 Almonds, pan-broil
2 teaspoon fresh Turmeric
1 teaspoon Tamarind (asam jawa) juice
Salt and sugar to taste

Grind or blend the spice paste, use to marinate the chicken together with shredded galangal.

Then take deep fry pan and use to cook the marinated chicken and add some water, salam leaves and lemongrass until chicken is cooked and sauce is almost dry. Leave to cool.

Fry the chicken and the spices into deep fry pan with lot of oil until crisp and golden brown. When it's done, use the tissue to absorb the oil.

Set aside and serve with the crumb from the spices.

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Other Benefits of Ginger

It helps to Soothe an upset stomach, fight arthritis pain. Ginger has a well-deserved reputation for relieving an unsettled stomach. Studies show ginger extracts can help reduce nausea caused by morning sickness or following surgery or chemotherapy, though it's less effective for motion sickness.

But ginger is also packed with inflammation-fighting compounds, such as gingerols, which some experts believe may hold promise in fighting some cancers and may reduce the aches of osteoarthritis and soothe sore muscles. In a recent study, people who took ginger capsules daily for 11 days reported 25 percent less muscle pain when they performed exercises designed to strain their muscles (compared with a similar group taking placebo capsules).

Another study found that ginger-extract injections helped relieve osteoarthritis pain of the knee.

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Traditional Chilli Paste (Sambal Bajak)

5 red chillies, seeded and sliced
5 red bird's-eye chillies*
1/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
6 shallots, peeled and sliced
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp chopped palm sugar
*add or reduce according to your taste

2 Salam leafs
2 Lemongrass (Sereh/Serai), bruised
1 cm Galangal (laos), peeled and sliced
2 tbs Tamarind (Asem Jawa) juice

Combine first six ingredients and grind or blend finely.

Heat oil and saute ground ingredients together with salam leafs, lemon grass and galangal, stirring until the mixture changes colour. Add tamarind juice and simmer for another minute, then leave to cool.

Remove salam leafs, lemon grass and galangal before serving.

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Rice Cake (Lontong)

10 tablespoons of jasmine rice
alumunium foil (or banana leaf which is best)
750 ml water

Rinse and stir the rice very well under water until the resulting water becomes clear.

In a pan over medium heat, bring the water to a boil and add in the salt. Slowly stir in the rice then let it boil and cook until the rice become smooth (but not as smooth as porridge). Add more water if necessary.

When the rice is done, turn off the heat. Wait 5 minutes.

Take alumunium foil (or banana leaf is best), wrap the rice

Boil the water and put lontong to cook for 2,5 to 3 hours. When cooking, puncture the foil with toothpick so the water will go through inside and make it cook. Add some water while cooking.

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