Home > Recipes > Balinese chicken with cucumber mint salad

Balinese chicken with cucumber mint salad
( SERVES 4 )

Bite

Photo by Tam West

4.3 / 5 FROM 3

This Balinese chicken can be thrown on the barbecue or, as we have done here, cooked it in the oven. The sticky marinade is perfect for little hands to get stuck in and Hospobaby loves to use our speed peeler to make cucumber ribbons for the accompanying salad. We hope you enjoy the Balinese flavours and they help you escape to your own tropical paradise, no matter what the weather.

Ingredients

4	Kaffir lime leaves, remove the central vein and slice thinly
1 stick	Lemongrass, outer leaves removed and inner soft section chopped
1	Chilli, deseeded for kids, roughly chopped
1 Tbsp	Ginger, grated
30 g	Palm sugar, grated, about 2 discs
¼ tsp	Chilli powder
1	Cinnamon stick
¼ tsp	Freshly ground black pepper
125 ml	Kecap manis, we use ABC brand
80 ml	Coconut milk
1 medium	Butterflied chicken
1	Telegraph cucumber
1 bunch	Mint leaves
½	Lemon
1 sprinkle	Edible flowers, optional

Directions

Put the kaffir lime leaves, lemongrass, chilli, ginger, palm sugar, chilli powder, cinnamon quill, pepper and a touch of salt in a mortar and pestle or spice grinder and grind to a rough paste. If you don’t have a mortar and pestle or grinder just chop the fresh chilli and lemongrass finer and mix in a bowl.
Put the spice paste in a bowl and add the kecap manis followed by the coconut milk. You can make the marinade ahead of time and let it infuse if you like but do not marinate the chicken for more than 24 hours as it will cure the meat due to the inclusion of kecap manis.
Pour your marinade over the butterflied chicken. Getthe kids to wear gloves and massage the chicken with the marinade. Leave in the fridge for at least two hours but no more than 24 hours.
Heat up the barbecue or heat the oven to 190C and put the chicken on a prepared roasting tray. Roast for 40 minutes, basting the chicken with the leftover marinade a few times. Prepare the salad by using a speed peeler to make ribbons of the cucumber. Pick the mint leaves and put in a bowl with cucumber ribbons, season with salt, squeeze over the lemon and mix the salad.
You can garnish with edible flowers bought or foraged from the neighbourhood. Hospobaby helps us pick sorrel flowers that grow wild and they look beautiful on this salad. Serve the cooked chicken with the salad on the side.