Ayam Penyet-Smashed fried chicken-A Pontianak Recipe

A Pontianak Ayam Penyet cuisine

I have heard about ayam penyet from my friend Julia who eats out frequently.  I told my Malay colleague the word 'penyet' sounds like punctured or smashed up.  Indeed, my colleague agreed.  It is called smashed fried chicken.  When friends insisted I should try out a RM8.00 plate of ayam penyet in a newly opened kopitiam (coffee shop), I followed them.  What I ate was a Pontianak (a town in West Kalimantan border) recipe.  Pontianak in the Malay language also means vampire.  This is not a vampire dish.  The town name is mentioned to describe the origin of this food.  It was a plate with a cup of rice, a turmeric marinated fried chicken, some slices of cucumbers, chunks of sweet cabbage and fried bean curd cakes.  I dipped everything in the sambal sauce.  The sauce was hot and full of shrimp or belacan taste.   So I guessed chili and shrimp paste were used sparingly in the preparation of the Indonesian ayam penyet sauce.  The lady cook told me tomatoes and chili  had to be precooked before being smashed, pounded with a pounding mortar or blended in a blender.
To prepare the sauce, the chili , tomatoes, ginger, shallots and garlic are sliced.  The chilies, tomatoes, shallots, garlic, are stir fried for a short while and pounded or blended with ginger.The shrimp paste is microwaved before adding to the sauce together sugar and a bit of salt. It is served with a slice of lime.

My regular ayam penyet fans digging in during our  lunch break

To prepare the chicken for marinating, pound one whole garlic, 2 tablespoons of coriander seeds, 2-3 thumbs of ginger, turmeric, galangal, red onions and some candle-nuts.  Marinate these ingredients with the chicken thighs and seasoned with salt and sugar.  Keep in fridge for 2-3 hours or overnight.  To fry the chicken the next day, pour oil into frying pan.  Beat eggs and mix it with the chicken thighs. Roll the chicken thigh on a plate of rice flour mixed with corn flour to coat the chicken meat for frying.  After the chicken is cooked after turning it over on both sides, it is lifted on a chopping board for smashing or eaten as it is.
The bean curd tofu are sliced and fried and placed on a plate with slices of cucumber, cabbage, fried chicken thigh, and served with the hot sauce.  After eating the Pontianak ayam penyet, I will always remember and miss the Pontianak ayam penyet.  Eating it for the first time had left a lasting impression upon me.  It was prepared by a lady cook with lots of red chili, chili padi, shrimp paste, tomatoes, ginger and the right proportion of salt and sugar .  After this lady left, a gentleman cook took over and the taste was different.  The chili, shrimp paste and tomatoes were reduced.   I call the Pontianak ayam penyet a 'hot' item for you will sweat till your sweat seeped out of your hair, face, nose and all over.  The second cook whipped a sauce with a strong taste of garlic, shallots and anchovies, a bit of chili and tomato and it was a bit oily. The taste was different. I prefer the sauce fresh (uncooked) without the oil and anchovies.  I suspect anchovies was used in the Pontianak ayam penyet recipe in the absence of belacan or shrimp paste.  Soon after the gentleman cook also left and the menu was taken over by the owner who later discontinued  it because it was a handful to prepare this dish and the coffee shop was not able to make profit because of high costs of the ayam penyet ingredients-lots of long red chilies, chili padi, tomatoes, ginger, shallots, lemongrass, garlic, galangal, chicken thigh, turmeric, shrimp paste, rice flour, corn flour, eggs, rice, bean curd cakes, cucumber and cabbage.  The Chinese towkay told me he used the Bintulu belacan.  It was costly at RM30.00 a bar.  I was disappointed. Nevertheless, I console myself by whipping up this dish anytime I crave for it.