Rendang Ayam Negeri Sembilan

Malay people has been foraging the natural goodness from their millions years old forest and came out with various kind of useful herbs and spices. Foraged herbs not only use for medical practices but some of them have been used in foods and drinks. Malay foods are synonymous with multiple usage of herbs, spices and above of all, the cuisine is best known for its richness and heartiness. 

The usage of coconut is eminent in most of its cuisine and can be found in all sorts of cooking like rendang, gulai and nasi lemak. Some of the herbs used in Malay cuisine can’t be found anywhere else in the world. One of them is “daun puding” (Grapthophyllum hortense). Daun puding is a leaf from a tree that can be found ubiquitously across Malaysia, but apparently some of us don’t even know that the tree was called Pokok Puding Hitam.

Malays especially the ones that live in Negeri Sembilan grow Puding tree in their backyards. The leaf of the tree is often used in their cooking especially rendang ayam ( chicken stew) and is known by locals for its mild laxative property. Daun puding is basically quite tasteless but it has this kind of hearty and calming aroma that make it suitable for Negeri Sembilan cooking. 

Rendang Ayam Negeri Sembilan is basically a chicken stew that is cooked in coconut milk with spice blend consist of various kind of herbs and aromatics; making this dish to be as unique as it sounds. Rendang is a traditional Malay dish, prepared by millions of household across Malaysia, but Rendang Ayam Negeri Sembilan is exceptionally different because of the use of distinctive secret ingredients.

Ingredients

Main Ingredients

1. A whole chicken, cut into smaller pieces and clean 
2. 6-7 puding leaves 
3. 3 kaffir lime leaves 
4. 1 tumeric leaf 
5. 100-200g of grated coconut flesh 
6. 1 liter of freshly squeezed coconut milk 
7. Salt and sugar for seasonings 

Spice Blends

1. 1 inch of fresh ginger 
2. 2 inches of galangga 
3. 10 shallots 
4. 4 cloves of garlic 
5. 2 inches of fresh tumeric root 
6. 25 bird’s eyes chilies 
7. 10 dried chili, soaked and boild, remove the seeds 
8. 8 lemon grasses 
9. 4-5 dried candlenuts 

Instructions

1. First of all, we have to start toasting the grated coconut flesh to make “kerisik”. You need to fire up your pan under medium heat without any oil, toast the grated coconut flesh until it browns . Put them aside to rest
2. Now its time to prepare the spice blend. Blend all of the spices into a very fine paste together with half of the toasted grated coconut flesh. Add a little bit of water to ease the blending process.
3. Use half of the spice blend to marinate your chicken. Let it rest for half an hour for the chicken to marry together with your delicious aromatic spice blend. Another half of the spice blend you can start to saute in your pot until it turns fragrant.
4. Once the spice blend has been sauteed, put your marinated chicken into the pot and let it cook for about 3-4 minutes. Stir accordingly.
5. Then you can pour in your fresh coconut milk and bring it to simmer under gentle heat. Together with that, you can throw in the kaffir lime leaves and turmeric leaves. You can start to season your dish with salt and sugar this time forward
6. Let the stew cook for an hour with your lid on. When the stew starts to thicken, throw in the puding leaves and let it cooks for another 5-6 minutes.

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Bon voyage :)