Ayam Masak Kicap (Chicken in Soy Sauce)

• servings: 6 servings
• active time: 20 minutes
• total time: 1 hour 10 minutes

Ingredients

1 kg chicken portions (a mix of cuts like thighs, drumsticks and breasts)

½ tsp salt

½ tsp turmeric

½ Tbsp dark soy sauce

freshly ground black pepper

2 Tbsp vegetable oil (if air frying or roasting)

250 ml vegetable oil (if frying on the hob)

2 Tbsp sweet soy sauce (kicap manis)

1 Tbsp light soy sauce

1 Tbsp oyster sauce

1 Tbsp tomato ketchup

125 ml water

1 medium onion (about 130 g/4½ oz prepeeled weight) )

2 medium cloves garlic

7 ½ cm ginger

2-3 red chillies of your choice (birds eye, jalapeños) you can increase or decrease the number here)

1 capsicum, any colour (bell pepper)

1 medium tomato

10 stalks of chives (or spring onions/scallions) (daun kuchai)

Directions

Marinate the Chicken

marinate

Rub the chicken portions with the salt, turmeric, dark soy sauce and pepper. Be thorough with this. Leave to marinate for 30 minutes.In the meantime move on to the other prep work.

Prep Work

mix

Mix all the sauce ingredients together in a small bowl and set aside. So that's the light soy sauce, dark soy sauce, oyster sauce, tomato ketchup and water.

peel

Aromatics: Peel the onion, garlic and ginger.Halve the onion, then slice thinly. Chop the garlic finely. Slice chillies. Julienne the ginger (cut into thin, long strips). See image.

chop

Chop up the capsicum into strips, they don't have to be thin, about 2 fingers' width is fine.

quarter

Quarter the tomato.

chop

Chop up the chives into short lengths. I do this just before serving, with a pair of scissors.

On the Stove

fry

Heat the oil in a small - medium wok on medium heat. When hot, fry the marinated chicken pieces for about 5 minutes each side. We are only partially cooking them. In fact, more like browning them.You probably want to do this in 2 batches so as not to overcrowd your wok.When done, take the chicken out and leave to drain on a plate lined with kitchen paper.

In an Air Fryer

preheat

Preheat your airfryer to 200°C (400°F).

coat

Toss your chicken with just the 1 Tbsp of oil.

airfry

Cook your chicken in a single layer for 15 minutes, turning them over halfway.Since we are only browning the chicken, if you like, you could just pack your airfryer with all the chicken pieces and cook for 20 minutes, tossing the portions halfway through. This is the lazy way, not all the parts of the chicken will be crisp but much of it will be.

In the Oven

preheat

Preheat the oven to 200°C (400°F).

coat

Toss your chicken with just the 1 Tbsp oil.

roast

Roast in the hot oven for 20 minutes, in a single layer. Turn halfway through.

Cooking the Ayam Masak Kicap

heat

Heat the second Tbsp of oil in a medium-sized wok or saucepan on medium heat. If you'd fried your chicken on the stove earlier, pour out all but 1 Tbsp of oil.

saute

Sauté the onions, garlic, most of the ginger pieces and chillies for 1 minute. Keep about 5 strips of the ginger for garnish.

mix

Add the chicken and capsicum and stir to mix. Cook for 1 minute.

simmer

Pour in the sauce mix from earlier and stir everything thoroughly, mixing well. Bring it to a simmer, then cover, lower the heat right down (to low) and cook for 20 - 30 minutes, until your chicken portion are completely cooked.The time will depend on the cut and size of your chicken. Drumsticks will take slightly longer than breasts and thighs. If by some chance you are using legs, that may even need 40 minutes.

season

When the chicken is done, add the chopped tomatoes and stir. Check seasoning. You shouldn't need any salt, but everyone's different.If you want a little more sauce, add a little water and be sure to heat through for a minute. Do this also if you find the sauce too salty. The dish is meant to be very richly flavoured.Leave to rest for 10 minutes. I find it tastes better this way.

garnish

Top with the chopped chives and serve as discussed.

Nutrition

• Calories: 319 kcal
• Total Fat: 20 g
• Saturated Fat: 7 g
• Unsaturated Fat: 11 g
• Trans Fat: 1 g
• Cholesterol: 85 mg
• Sodium: 742 mg
• Total Carbohydrate: 12 g
• Dietary Fiber: 1 g
• Total Sugars: 8 g
• Protein: 22 g