Ayam Percik Terengganu (Barbequed Spicy Chicken)

Ayam Percik is the ‘true’ Malaysian-styled barbequed chicken and a Terengganu favourite. When I saw the photos of this dish online, it  made my mouth water. Although the recipes are in Malay, it did not deter me from wanting to cook this. I actually made sense of the ingredients and method using Google Translate. 

The chicken is first marinated with a fragrant paste made of fresh local herbs and then grilled or barbequed. Percik means “splash” or “splatter” – the reason it is named this way is because marinade is splashed or splattered onto the chicken while it is grilled to thicken the flavour. The result is a perfectly grilled chicken, moist and flavourful – capturing all the unique taste of the variety of herbs that’s used to marinade the chicken and for the sauce.

This recipe uses a lot of fresh local herbs and spices as the key ingredients – chillies, lemongrass, ginger, onions, cumin, fenugreek amongst others. When blended and used in the marinade and the sauce, the dish brings a rich and aromatic flavour that I simply cannot resist!

Ayam Percik (Serves 4-5)
Recipe translated from here.

Sauce ingredients (A)

• 9 shallots, diced
• 1 clove garlic, diced
• ½ inch ginger, grounded
• 4 tbsp chilli paste
• 400 ml coconut milk
• 1/4 tbsp fenugeek seeds
• 3 stalks lemongrass, crushed
• A small amount of shrimp paste
• Salt and sugar to taste
• ½ cup water
• Cooking oil for sauteing

Chicken marinade ingredients (B)

• ½ chicken
• 4 shallots
• 1 clove garlic
• 1 inch ginger
• 1 stalk lemongrass
• ½ tbsp coriander seeds
• ½ tbsp cumin

Method

1. Blend the ingredients for marinating chicken (B) into a paste and marinade the chicken for 30 minutes. Grill the chicken pieces until it is cooked. (While grilling, brush/dribble any left over marinade over chicken.  As I did not have a grill, I pan fried my chicken.)
2. To make the sauce, use ingredients list A. First, blend shallots, onion and garlic together. Stir fry in the wok till fragrant.  Stir in chilli paste and add water. Pour in coconut milk, fenugreek seeds, shrimp paste and lemon grass.
3. Stir till smooth. Add salt and sugar to taste.
4. Cook until sauce thickens (about 30-40 minutes).
5. When ready, pour the sauce over the grilled chicken.