Tinoransak Chicken

Name: Tinoransak Chicken
Ingredients: 500 gr chicken filet, cut in small lengthy pieces; 1 pc onion, roughly sliced; 1 stem lemon grass, outer leaves discarded, slice in 2 cm thinly cm; 5 pc kaffir lime leaves, finely sliced; 2 pc spring onions, slice in 1 cm long; 2 pc bunch or a handfull of Indonesian/Thai basil leaves; 1 tsp sugar; 1 tsp salt or to taste; 250 ml water; vegetable oil; 5 pc shalllots, chopped; 3 pc large red chillies , peeled; 10-15 pc small red chillies / bird chillies , roughly chopped; 2 cm ginger, peeled

Origin: North Sulawesi

Ingredients

500 gr chicken filet, cut in small lengthy pieces
1 pc onion, roughly sliced
1 stem lemon grass, outer leaves discarded, slice in 2 cm thinly cm
5 pc kaffir lime leaves, finely sliced
2 pc spring onions, slice in 1 cm long
2 pc bunch or a handfull of Indonesian/Thai basil leaves
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt or to taste
250 ml water
vegetable oil

Spice, roughly pounded

5 pc shalllots, chopped
3 pc large red chillies , peeled
10-15 pc small red chillies / bird chillies , roughly chopped
2 cm ginger, peeled

Tinoransak Chicken

Tinoransak Chicken is a very spicy chicken dish from Minahasan people who inhabit North Sulawesi Region. Many Indonesians also call them as Manadonese, refer to the capital city of North Sulawesi province. Manado cuisine is well known for their generous amount of spices that sometimes takes more than a half of the whole dish ingredients.

The spices that commonly used in Minahasan cuisine include: lemongrass, kaffir-lime leaf, sweet basil leaf/daun kemangi, pandanus leaf, lime juice, birds chilli, spring onion, shallots, garlic and candlenut. The Manadonese prefer to extremely hot and spicy food, mostly made from freshly chopped bird chili!! So if you are a chili lover, please feel free to try this recipe 😉

Instructions

Prepare and peel of the spices to be grinded, Chop in smaller pieces if necessary: shallots, chillies and ginger.
Put all ingredients for the paste in a blender or wet grinder and grind just roughly.
Prepare and slice onion, lemon grass, kaffir-lime leaves and spring onions.
Heat 3 tbsp oil in a wok or shallow pan over medium-high heat. Add the grinded spices, sliced lemon grass, kaffir-lime leaves & ginger.
Sautee and by stirring all the time until fragrant & well cooked (it takes about 3-5 minutes).
Add the sliced onions and stir until just soft/wilted.
Stir until soft.
Add the chicken filet and stir to mix and until the chicken becomes harder and it's colour turns to whiten.
Add the water, salt & sugar. Stir to mix.
Add sugar.
Reduce the heat and cover the pan. Cook over medium heat until the chicken becomes tender.
Add the spring onions and sweat/thai basil.
Cook briefly until the leaves just wilted.
Adjust the taste. Add salt or sugar if necessary. Remove from heat & rerve hot with rice.

Note & Tips

Instead of chicken filet, you can also use bone-in chicken part such as chicken wings, chicken breast or whaterver you prefer and cut in smaller pieces to obtain the best taste.

Endang Lestari

Keyword bird chillies, chicken, kaffir lime leaves, spice, spicy, Tinoransak