I just love chicken, I cook with it and eat it so often, I might as well accept that it is my favorite protein to work with. Everyone in my family is a big chicken fan too and they always expect me to do something new with this protein every time I cook with it. This time I had made up my mind to go the Asian way, both marinade and cooking technique wise. I researched for a while till I landed up with a recipe suitable enough to adapt it in my way, substituting the rare ingredients with the ones that are available in my locality or my backyard.
As Indians, we have been exposed to many spice mixes and spice pastes, we have our own fair share of these, quite like the other South-east Asian countries. All of us are obsessed with our own versions of spice mixes and why not? It is these spice mixes that make our cuisine so exotic and different. Here we will talk about a very underrated spice paste called the Balinese Bumbu aka 'Basa Ger).nap' . Bumbu is the reason behind the complex and delicious flavours of Balinese recipes like Rengdang Curry. You will instantly fall in love with its blend of herbs and spices brought together in a mortar & pestle. Things that make for a good bumbu are fresh turmeric root, shrimp paste, Thai bird's eye chillies, lemongrass, shallots, lemon, coriander, ginger, galangal, dry roasted coriander seeds, cumin seeds, nutmeg, cardamom, pepper. I have substituted a few of the ingredients ( lemongrass for lemon zest+ lemon leaves, shrimp paste for fish sauce and coriander for wild coriander) because of the availability issue in my area and to make it a bit local, but it is very close to the original version. All you have to do is combine it all together and make a coarse paste in a mortar & pestle and use it to flavor your curries, grilled meat, grilled fish or veggies. In case you end up making a large batch of bumbu you could always store it for use later (upto 6 months in a freeze
I have used bumbu to marinate chicken and then cook it wrapped in banana leaves. Much like the South-east Asian countries and other tropical places, cooking in banana leaves is widely popular all over North-east India. It uses very little oil and leaves the meat extremely tender and juicy, just the way I like it. The banana leaves are heat-treated first to make it bendable and easy to work with. Heating the leaves on open fire also results in release of natural oils which makes it slightly aromatic and shiny. It is a very easy recipe to follow with only a few steps. It's so easy that anybody can make it, go ahead and make something which is both easy and exotic for your folks.
Ingredients :
For Bumbu
Fresh Turmeric roots - 2 inch
Fresh Ginger - 2 inch
Garlic - 6-7 cloves
Kaji Lemon zest - 1 tsp
Kaji Lemon juice - 2 tbsp
Kaji lemon leaves - 1 (shredded)
Wild Coriander - 5-6 leaves
Thai bird's eye Chillies - 3-4
Shallot - 1
Dry roasted Coriander Seeds - 1/2 tsp
Dry roasted Cumin Seeds - 1/2 tsp
Cardamom - 2 nos.
Black Peppercorns - 1/2 tsp
Nutmeg Powder - 1/4th tsp
Fish Sauce/Shrimp Paste - 1 tbsp
Oil - 1 tbsp
Other Ingredients
Chicken - 1/2 kg
Oil - 1 sp
Banana Leaves for cooking
Method :
1. Using a mortar & pestle, make a coarse paste with the ingredients for bumbu to have your own in-house bumbu spice paste. Kaji lemon can be substituted with any other aromatic lemon or lemongrass.
2. Clean and cut chicken into medium sized pieces. Wash and pat dry. Marinate the chicken with bumbu for at least an hour. The longer you marinate, the better.
3. Wash the banana leaves and heat it on open fire to make it easier to fold. Place the marianted chicken in it, fold it into a parcel and tie with heat proof strings or strings from banana tree, you can make more banana leaves wrapped parcels in case using more meat.
4. Heat a pan and grease with oil, place the parcel upside down on the pan. Cook for 15-20 mins on both sides or till done. Serve garnished with lemon slices and fresh Thai bird's eye chillies. Have it with warm rice.
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