If you are looking for an exotic, rich-flavoured grilled chicken recipe, try this Taliwang grilled chicken. In my house, it has been our favourite grilled chicken recipe to go and I always got compliments whenever serving this dish to relatives and guests.
Taliwang Grilled Chicken, yumm..
Originated from Mataram (Indonesia), this recipe combines assorted spices to create a unique taste, that I believe, won’t fail your expectations. The original recipe is very spicy, but you can adjust the spiciness by reducing the number of bird-eye chilli or completely remove it altogether.
Note: since this is an Asian dish, some of the ingredients listed below may not be available in general grocery supermarket. Try your nearest Asian market instead, or shop online at http://www.indofoodstore.com/
Ingredients:
- 3 lb of chicken (washed and cut into pieces)
Marinating sauce:
- 5 cloves of garlic
- 8 shallots
- 3 tomatoes
- 3 red chillies (can be substituted with 1/2 red bell pepper)
- 1 tsp shrimp paste*
- 1/2 inch by 1/2 inch by 1/2 inch fresh lesser galangal (peel and washed) or 1 tsp of lesser galangal powder (Indonesian name: kencur, some people call this cutchery powder following its Latinese name)*
- 10 bird eye chilli (if you want it to be spicy), reduce to 2 for mild spiciness, or completely remove if you don’t like spicy food
- salt to taste
Garnish:
- Vegetables of your choice (I love to have tomatoes, cucumbers, and lettuces)
Directions:
- Blend all spices together to form a thick paste. I love to use pestle and mortar to grind mine because it gives me the best texture, but you can always use a food processor or blender.
- Heat up your wok with 2 table spoons of cooking oil, and sauté the spice paste until it smells fragrant
- Add in the chicken and mix well, fry until the chicken flesh changes its color.
- Add approximately 3 oz of water,
- Cover up the wok (leaving about 1 inch opening water to vaporize) to let the chicken gets cooked and the flavor gets absorbed by the chicken, approximately 10-15 minutes
- Meanwhile, prepare your oven, set the rack to the highest level, and preheat it to 450 F
- After 10-15 minutes, most of the water will get vaporized, leaving the chicken coated with the marinating sauce that has thickened up.
- Prepare your baking dish. I like to line up mine with an aluminum foil, because it is easier for clean up
- I like to divide my chicken into two batches, because we use a small counter-top oven, but if you use a big oven, you can grill the chicken at one go
- Place the chicken pieces onto your baking dish, top them with the sauce using a cooking brush or spoon.
- Grill (or broil mode) for 15-20 minutes, flip sides if you want to have them browned on both sides
- Transfer to a serving plate, garnish with vegetables of your choice
- Ready to serve
Enjoy this mouth-watering Taliwang grilled chicken while still hot! I like to serve this Taliwang grilled chicken simply with plain steamed rice (we use jasmine rice, btw), but you can always use other types of starch (such as mashed potatoes or pasta). Yumm…
Tips:
- Double the marinating sauce, after sautéing the marinating paste till fragrant and before adding in the chicken, scoop out half of it for next use, put inside an air-tight container, refrigerate or freeze. This way, the next time you made this grilled chicken, you will spend less time in preparing the sauce
- This marinating sauce can also be used for grilling fish. For fish, I don’t cook the fish together with the sauce as I do with the chicken, I simply spread the sauce evenly all over the raw fish (I rub a bit of lemon juice before marinating the fish), and grill it straight, make sure to flip sides to ensure everything is cooked
- I make mine not spicy so that my children can enjoy this dish. For the adults, I simply mix the leftover marinating sauce with our favourite chili paste, and that will serve as the spicy dip
- I use counter-top oven instead of backyard grill because our house does not have backyard nor porch. If you have backyard grill, go ahead and grill it outside. Perfect for summer party.
Alright, enough said from me, now go and make this delicious Taliwang grilled chicken. Don’t forget to let me know if you like it.
If you enjoyed this post, please share this recipe to your friends!
Looking for other sumptuous treat? Try this exotic grilled mustard chicken recipe and easy grilled fish recipe.
*This post has been linked up at The Leisure Link.
Ing says
My family LOVES chicken! This looks really delicious. Thanks for sharing! I might try this recipe one day… if I am courageous enough. I’m not a really good cook. LOL.
Fiftarina says
Hi Ing, definitely, please try this. I hope your family will love it. Let me tell know, the first time I tried this recipe, the moment I blended all the marinating spice together, the smell was really really nice, I couldn’t help but to text my hubby that today’s dinner would be something really special. And it did. And till today, it is one of our special menu in the house.
Terri Webster Schrandt says
This looks like a wonderful recipe! So great for summertime eating! Thank you for linking the post on The Leisure Link!
Fiftarina says
Yes, Terry, give it a try and you’ll love it! My pleasure to link at The Leisure Link (found so many interesting posts)
Michele says
Hello, we love chicken but tend to make the same old boring things. I am not an adventurous cook, but I need to try some new things. I would probably do this without the chilis- we tend to have taste buds on the boring side!
Fiftarina says
Hi Michele, even without the chilli, it will still taste great. My children (aged 4 and 1) who cannot eat spicy food love the non-spicy version.
Gary Tucker says
Is galangal powder available here? Haven’t been in an Asian store but I guess I can try there right?
Fiftarina says
Galangal is usually not sold as a powder, but as root. Try asian/indian stores, they should have it.