Lemper Ayam

I am craving for this authentic Indonesian snack after reading a comment from an American student who came to Indonesia and becoming obsessed with this food call LEMPER AYAM. She also love mata kebo, but I already put the recipe of mata kebo HERE, I know it still in Bahasa Indonesia, maybe one day if I decided to make it again I'll post it in English with a better picture :P (Will see!)

Traditionally, Lemper Ayam is wrapped in banana leaves, the shape is round with some chicken fillings inside.  But since I live in the country where banana leaves only come frozen, somewhat prissy and a bit inconvenience (for me :D) so I choose to use wax paper instead :D
To save some time and process, I did not shape the lemper one by one with hands, instead I layered the rice and chicken and another rice, as you can see on the pictures.

LEMPER AYAM
Indonesian glutinous rice with aromatic chicken filling

Ingredients :
500 gr glutinous rice (soak it for at least 2 hours, I did it overnight)
500 ml coconut milk
2 Indian bay leaves
2 Kefir lime leaves
1 Pandanus leaf
1 stalk lemon grass (bruised)
1 tsp salt (or to taste)

Chicken filling :
350 gr chicken breast (boiled until cooked, then shredded)
2 Indian bay leaves
4 Kefir lime leaves
200 ml coconut milk
1 tbsp Javanese tamarind's juice
1 1/2 tbsp sugar
3 tbsp cooking oil

Grind into paste :
9 shallots (I used 1 big size of onion)
5 cloves of garlic
1 1/2 tbsp coriander powder
5 pcs roasted candle nut
1/2 tsp cumin
1 inch galanga
Salt and pepper to taste

Method :
1. Drain the rice, then steam it for 15 to 20 minutes, remove from heat, set aside.
2. Heat the coconut milk together with lemon grass, bay leaves, kefir lime leaves, pandanus leaves and salt until it simmers.
3. Add the rice into simmering coconut milk, stir and let it cook until done. Watch this process carefully, fold the rice to make sure you do not overcook the bottom part, but at the same time you do not want to over do it, you do not wanna ended up having one big clumpy sticky rice ball :). Remove from heat, discharge all the leafy herbs/seasoning and divided into 2 parts, set aside.
4. Heat the cooking oil in a large pan, saute the seasoning paste until fragrant. Add the shredded chicken and the rest of the ingredients. Stir until everything is well blended and no more liquid. Remove from heat and set aside.
5. Prepare a non stick square or rectangular baking pan such as pyrex, then layer one part of the rice and gently spread it all over the pan. Then add the chicken filling and spread it on top of the first layer. Last add the other part of the rice and spread it all over using spatula.
6. Steam until it's cooked. Remove from the heat and let it cool.
7. Release it from the pan, slice it as desire then wrap it with wax paper. Enjoy it!!

Risoles Ayam

Risoles Ayam is a very popular Indonesian snack or appetizer, some people enjoy it for brunch. The concept is similar to spring rolls but taste completely different. The wrapper uses for risoles has to be home-made. You can't subtituded it with a store-bought lumpia wrappers otherwise it will be called lumpia goreng.
It took whole day to make everything from scratch but it really was worth it, my whole family loves it! I packed some for my kid's bento the other day, you can check it HERE.

RISOLES AYAM

Skin/wrappers :

200 gr all purpose flour
1 tbsp corn starch
500 ml milk (fat free or 2%) --> you can use 150 ml of evaporated milk mixed with 350ml water.
4 eggs
1 tsp salt
75 gr melted margarine 

Filling :
100 gr ground chicken
150 gr carrots (julienne or diced) 
100 gr green bean (cut into small pieces)
2 stalks celery finely chopped/diced
4 cloves of shallots or 1 big onion, finely chopped.
2 cloves garlic, minced.
¾ tsp salt 
½ tsp black pepper
¼ tsp sugar
¼ tsp nutmeg
1/2 cup milk (chicken broth is optional)

1/4 cup all purpose flour
3 tbsp cooking oil (I use margarine)

Egg wash :

2 eggs mixed with 1.4 cup of milk
150 gr bread crumbs

Method :

1. For fillings : Heat the cooking oil/margarine in a large pan then saute garlic and onion until fragrant, add ground chicken and stir until the chicken turns white. Add carrots, green beans, and celery then keep stirring for about 5 minutes. Add salt, black pepper, sugar and stir until all blended. Add milk/broth, keep stirring until bubbling, then add some flour. Keep stirring until the mixture is thickened. Remove from the heat and set aside.

2. For the wrappers : Mix well all the ingredients, I like to do this ahead of time to make sure everything is well blended and set. You can use regular whisk or electric mixer but make sure there are no lumps in the batter, if there are some then you need to strain it.

Prepare a non stick pan, I use a small one like smaller than 8" so the final size of the risoles wont be too big. 
Brush the pan lightly with margarine, set the stove on medium low. Ladle the batter into a pan and kind a gently swirl the pan in a circle motion to make sure the batter is evenly covered the surface. This step is important to produce a nice thin skin that is gonna be easy to work with. 
Let it cook for about 1-2 minutes, just check at the surface if the batter is all evaporated then it should be done, at this point release the edge of the skin using spatula, then gently remove it from the pan. You do not need to cook the skin on both sides. Repeat the same process for the rest of the batter. 

3. Spoon a little bit of the filling in the upper center of the wrapper, fold the wrapper from the top then the left and right side like you do an envelope, then gently press it and roll it down.

4. Put the risoles inside the egg wash, then roll it onto some breadcrumbs, make sure all the sides are coated with breadcrumbs. And ready to fry.

5. Deep fry the risoles until golden brown and cooked, then let it sit on a paper towel. 

5. Ready to serve with your favorite chili dipping sauce. I personally enjoy it with raw Thai bird chili.

NOTE :

1. I did the step 2 and step 3 at once, I found this way to be very effective for me. So when one wrapper is done, I ladle the batter for the next one and let it cooked in low heat stove. In the mean time I do step 3. I always think if I stack the wrappers when it's still hot it will be all sticking together. But you have to be sure you are confidence with your speed, if you choose to make the whole wrappers at one time then you should put parchment paper in between the layers to avoid sticking.     


2. You can also use this below filling option for more variety flavors :

Cheese and smoked beef :

200 gr smoked beef, thin sliced.

4 hard boiled egg, quartered or cut into 6 pieces.
150 gr shredded cheese.