(MasBar) Tum Ayam (Balinese Steamed Chicken in Banana Leaves)

Finally I got the chance to participate in Masbar event. It’s a monthly foodie blogger event which is organized by Ayin, Deetha and Shinta. There would be monthly theme that we could all try out and then the result should be up and about in your blog last Thursday every month, no time deadline. Eventhough the theme has been picked by them but it doesn’t mean you can’t improvise, you could use whatever recipe you like as long it represent the theme. Easy right?

For this month we have got Pepes Ayam as theme. In English it’s a bit tricky to translate…hmm let’s see, how about “Steamed Chicken in Banana Leaves”. There are hundreds version of Pepes Ayam in Indonesia but because I used to live in Bali all of my life I chose to make Tum Ayam. Tum Ayam is indeed Balinese version of Pepes Ayam.

Since the spices used in making Tum Ayam were a lot, the taste was so rich of flavor, very Balinese indeed. The best way to eat it is when it’s just came out of the steamer, open the banana leaves, and some juice will burst out and never, I repeat never spill or throw that juice away because that is just the second best part after the chicken itself. Scoop some rice on the banana leaves and let the rice absorbs the juice. Eat with your hand…hmmmm…..can’t describe that with words….

PS: It is also nice to eat with Jukut Urap atawa nama lainnya Urap Sayur ala Bali

So enjoy the recipe and the picture everyone 🙂

Makes 20/serves 5-6 (Mine yield 10)

Ingredients:
– 1 shallot thinly sliced, deep fried until crispy
– 1 garlic clove thinly sliced, deep fried until crispy
– 2.5 tbs thick coconut milk
– 500 gr minced chicken (I used chicken pieces)
– salt
– 20 salam leaves (I used 10)
– 3 tbs vegetable oil

For the spice paste:
– 1/2 tsp roasted shrimp paste
– 1/2 tsp black peppercorn
– 2 shallots
– 3 garlic
– 1 long red chili
– 3 bird’s eye chillies
– 1.5 cm ginger
– 1.5 cm lesser galangal
– 1.5 cm turmeric
– 1 cm galangal

banana leaves washed and patted dry (I put my banana leaves couple of seconds on the fire to make them firmer and easier to be used)
bamboo strips or toothpicks

Directions:
– To make the spice paste, use a pestle and mortar (I used food processor) to pound all the spice paste ingredients into a paste.
– Heat oil in a wok add the spice paste and stir fry for about 3 minutes. Add the coconut milk and boil until all liquid has almost completely evaporated. Remove the wok from the heat and set aside.
– Mix the chicken with the spice paste, fried shallot, garlic and a little salt. Divide into 20 portions (mine was 10)
– Cut 20 pieces (mine was 10) pieces of banana leaves. Place 1 salam leave in a bottom of the leaf and top with the chicken mixture. Fold both sides of the leaf over the filling. Fold the open ends over and secure with a bamboo strips or toothpicks. Trim the empty ends at an angle to form a point at either end of the parcel.
– Put the parcels into a steamer, ensuring they rest above the water. Steam until cooked through about 25 minutes. Serve with white rice and jukut urap.

Source: The Bali Cookbook by Lonny Gerungan