🍗 Ayam penyet (smashed fried chicken)

Name: Ayam penyet (smashed fried chicken)
Total time: 75 min
Yield: 4
Cuisine: Indonesia · East Java
Ingredients: 1 kg chicken pieces, simmered for 25 minutes in spiced water (garlic, turmeric, coriander, salt); 200 g firm tofu and 200 g tempeh, cut into thick slices; Sambal: 10 red chilies, 5 bird's-eye chilies, 4 shallots, 2 garlic cloves, 2 tomatoes, 1 tsp shrimp paste (terasi), 1 tsp sugar, salt; 4 portions steamed rice (about 600 g cooked); Lalapan: cucumber, white cabbage, long beans, Thai basil; Vegetable oil for frying

Origin: Indonesia · East Java

990kcal

per serving · 450 g

220kcal

per 100 g

68 gProtein15 g / 100 g

45 gFat10 g / 100 g

72 gCarbs16 g / 100 g

Ayam penyet is fried chicken smashed with a stone pestle onto a mortar of fiery sambal, so the crisp, flattened meat soaks up the chili. It comes as a full plate: steamed rice, fried tofu and tempeh, a heap of sambal and lalapan — raw cucumber, cabbage, basil and long beans that cool the heat. It is crunchy, spicy and very filling.

Diets

✓

No porkfor halal, the meat must be halal-slaughtered

✓

Gluten-freeno wheat, barley or rye in a typical recipe

✓

Dairy-freeno milk, cheese, butter or yogurt in a typical recipe

✓

High protein15 g protein per 100 g — 27% of the calories

Not vegetarianbecause of: chicken, sambal

Not veganbecause of: chicken, sambal

Not keto16 g carbs per 100 g

Allergens

Contains (in a typical recipe):

⚠ Crustaceans ⚠ Soy

What it is made of

chickensambaltofutempehricelalapan raw vegetables

Recipe

4 servings75 min

Ingredients

1 kg chicken pieces, simmered for 25 minutes in spiced water (garlic, turmeric, coriander, salt)
200 g firm tofu and 200 g tempeh, cut into thick slices
Sambal: 10 red chilies, 5 bird's-eye chilies, 4 shallots, 2 garlic cloves, 2 tomatoes, 1 tsp shrimp paste (terasi), 1 tsp sugar, salt
4 portions steamed rice (about 600 g cooked)
Lalapan: cucumber, white cabbage, long beans, Thai basil
Vegetable oil for frying

Method

Fry the chilies, shallots, garlic and tomatoes in a little oil until soft, then pound them in a mortar with the toasted shrimp paste, sugar and salt into a rough sambal.
Pat the simmered chicken dry and deep-fry at 180 °C until crisp and golden. Fry the tofu and tempeh until golden.
Place each piece of chicken on the sambal in the mortar and press it firmly with the pestle to flatten it slightly.
Serve with rice, tofu, tempeh, extra sambal and a pile of raw lalapan vegetables.

How to make it lighter

Fried tofu and tempeh add plenty of protein — choose them over a second piece of chicken.
Take half the rice and twice the lalapan: raw vegetables add volume for almost no calories.
Ask for skinless breast, or at home pan-fry with 1 tbsp oil (≈120 kcal) instead of deep-frying.

History

Penyet means “pressed” or “smashed” in Javanese, after the way the chicken is flattened into the sambal. The dish is usually linked to East Java, and it has since spread across Indonesia and on to Malaysia and Singapore through restaurants that specialise in it.

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Values are estimates per 100 g for a typical recipe; home and restaurant versions vary. Diets and allergens are worked out from the ingredients of a typical recipe — always check with whoever cooked the dish. Not medical advice. Nutrition data: Me Nutrition dish database v13. How we count →