The Rice Table Recipe #3: Ayam Rica-Rica Kemangi

Devina Hermawan is a very passionate chef, cookbook author, and cooking instructor who embarked on her culinary journey since she joined MasterChef Indonesia (Season 5). Since then, she has been very active in sharing cooking content on her YouTube channel — check out @devinahermawan. The channel is very popular, featuring the chef’s signature ‘tips & tricks’ and fail-safe methods in the kitchen, as well as easy-to-follow recipes for comfort favourites. She’s garnered over 3.62 million subscribers and produced 668 recipe videos, including Ayam Rica-Rica Kemangi.

Click here to jump to the recipe.

This spicy and savoury chicken dish is a prime example of Manadonese cuisine, North Sulawesi. It is Chef Devina’s favourite menu because of its complex flavours and really fragrant aroma which comes from the use of lime leaves, pandan leaves and kemangi (lemon basil). According to Chef Devina, who has published several cookbooks, such as Indonesian Fusion Foods (2019) and Yummy! 76 Menu Favorit Anak (2021), the secret to this dish (other than the spice mix) is actually in the choice of chicken and cooking method.

Any type of chicken can be used for this menu, but if you choose free-range chicken, you have to cook it longer because free-range chicken has a denser texture and does not absorb the spices easily. Meanwhile, broiler chicken cooks faster but the spices are less absorbed. For that, Chef Davina suggests marinating the chicken with lime, salt, pepper, and chicken stock first, then pan searing it before cooking it with the spices.

Ingredients (for 6 to 7 portions)

1. Marinate the chicken with lime, salt, chicken stock, and pepper, stir well then cover with plastic wrap, let stand for 1-2 hours
2. Blend the candlenuts, garlic, ginger, turmeric and oil until smooth, then add the shallots, red cayenne pepper and curly chilies and blend again
3. Heat a little oil, add the chicken and cook until lightly browned, drain
4. Sauté the ground spices until fragrant, then add the lemongrass, bay leaves and lime leaves, stir well
5. Add chicken, water, salt, sugar, chicken stock and pandan leaves, cook over high heat for 15-20 minutes
6. Add the cayenne pepper, spring onions and basil, stir well
7. The Ayam Rica-Rica Kemangi ready to be served

For more Rice Table recipes, click here.