This Next-Level Roast Chicken Is The Perfect Sunday Lunch
You know a recipe is good when it gets handed down from generation to generation. In Our Bali, Your Bali, chef-restaurateur Dean Keddell – the man behind the restaurants Ginger Moon Canteen and Jackson Lily’s – has collected the favourite family recipes from his staff, including a mouthwatering recipe for ayam betutu, Balinese roast chicken.
“This is a family recipe from Ayu [pictured above with her mother], the manager of Ginger Moon Canteen. Three generations of women from the one family cooked this dish for me – Ayu, her daughter, Giva, and her mother, Gusti Ayu Suarthi. This recipe has been a well-guarded family secret, till now.”
Our Bali, Your Bali is more than just a cookbook. The 400-page coffee-table book, which features more than 100 recipes including gado gado, laksa, sambal and satay, is a fundraiser to help support those hardest hit by the economic effects of COVID-19 on this tourism-dependent island.
Dean had to cut his staff by more than 50 per cent. “I started wondering what I could do to give the staff some hope.” The result was this book, which Dean describes as a community book focusing on families and the dishes that bring them together.
“Bali is steeped in tradition and this tradition is reflected in the food people eat. The women of Balinese families are the proud custodians of tradition. Family recipes are passed down from mother to daughter, and are prepared today exactly as they were at their inception.
“I was aware of the power of food before I started this book but I was surprised by the passion and emotion a simple question like, ‘what is your favourite dish?’ evoked. One of my chefs gave me a recipe for a dish that was not his favourite but his mother’s. He told me she passed away two years ago and he now makes this dish when he misses her. When he cooks it, he feels her warmth.
“Food cooked with love and a shared table, helped us all to forget just for a couple of hours one of the worst times in recent history.”
Buy this book or donate to Balinese charities here.
Balinese roast chicken
1 whole free-range chicken
250g cassava leaves* that have been boiled till tender (the time needed to cook these leaves depends on the age of the leaves; young leaves are best and cook quickly.)
3 lime leaves, fresh and thinly sliced
3 salam leaves**, fresh and thinly sliced
Banana leaves
Spice mix
7 large red chillies
3 red shallots
2 garlic cloves
2 candlenuts
1 tsp shrimp paste
30g ginger
20g kencur***
20g galangal
2 tsp turmeric powder
2 tsp coriander seed
½ tsp ground cumin
½ tsp black pepper
½ tsp ground nutmeg
½ tsp ground cinnamon
3 tbsp tamarind water
10g lemongrass (use the white part)
2 tsp sugar
2 tsp salt
¼ cup coconut oil
Butterfly the chicken by cutting through its back bone, wash and dry the chicken with paper towel.
Blend the spice mix with the coconut oil. Cook over a medium heat in a heavy wok or pot until the mix becomes aromatic and the oil separates, this will take about 60 minutes. Once ready divide by two, half of the spice paste for the chicken seasoning and the other half for seasoning the cassava leaves.
Rub the spice paste all over the chicken and mix the other half of the spice paste with the cassava leaves.
Lay the chicken out flat and put the cassava leaves on top, roll the bird up so it looks like a whole chicken again. Top the chicken, with lime leaves and salam leaves.
Wrap the chicken with banana leaves then wrap again with aluminium foil. Put the chicken in the refrigerator to marinate overnight.
Roast the chicken at 200C for about one hour.
Rest the chicken in a warm place for 30 minutes, then remove the foil. Served wrapped in the banana leaves for unwrapping at the table.
*Any hearty green leaf such as Asian spinach (amaranth) can be used
**Salam leaves can be replaced with curry leaves
***If kencur is unavailable add extra galangal
Proceeds from Our Bali, Your Bali go to helping those in need via these five charities.
Bali Wise by R.O.L.E Foundation, empowering marginalised women through skills education.
Bali Children’s Foundation, providing food relief to vulnerable families and helping children to complete school and find employment.
Scholars of Sustenance, combating the effects of COVID-19 by providing nutrition to those in need.
East Bali Poverty Project, sharing food and caring during COVID-19.
Friends of National Park Foundation, protecting wildlife and their habitats and supporting local communities.