Executive chef Andrew Pressler found this recipe while traveling in Bali, Indonesia, and adapted it to his own style.
He brines chicken legs overnight in a liquid containing light brown sugar, salt, galangal, lemon grass, chile, garlic and a salty soy sauce called kecap asin.
Then he marinates the legs overnight in a curry paste heavy on galangal, with shallot, garlic, lemon grass, turmeric and candlenuts. He then dusts the legs with wheat starch and par-fries them at around 300 degrees Fahrenheit.
At service he dredges them in wheat starch again and fries them at 360 degrees Fahrenheit.
Pressler serves the chicken with jasmine rice cooked in coconut milk, roasted butternut squash, and a Malaysian and Indonesian condiment called sambal goreng, or “fried spice,” which he makes by combining pork floss — a common item in the Malaysian and Indonesian pantry made by slowly cooking down pork until it shreds into thin strings — with fried shallot, fried garlic, fried chile and fried galangal threads, along with fresh cayenne pepper, Thai basil, lime juice and a little of the oil in which the spices were fried.
He charges $18 for the dish.
Contact Bret Thorn at bret.thorn@penton.com.
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