Stew of chicken hearts and liver (hachee)

313-hachee-van-hart-afI’m extremely excited about this one: Beb’s stew of chicken hearts and livers. Beb calls this dish a hachée. Wiki says:

Hachée is a traditional Dutch stew based on diced meat, fish or poultry, and vegetables. Hachee based on beef, onions, apple butter, breakfast bread and acid (usually vinegar or wine) is a typical example of traditional Dutch cuisine. 

wikipedia

Hachee Asian style

This fusion version in Beb’s cookbook is almost a modern version of ‘hachee Asian style’. 😉

313-hachee-van-kippehartjesThe recipe requires either heart or liver, but I’m going to use both today. My local butcher placed them next to each other on display: I couldn’t resist. Chicken hearts are delicious. They are slightly firmer than the liver.

Beb’s hashee contains laksa. She means noodles. Laksa is known in Malaysia as a spicy noodle soup. This hashee actually looks a lot like that dish. Only it’s not pedis (spicy).

Because I have a kilo of meat in total, I double the ingredients in my dish. Here’s Beb’s original recipe. Her recipe is enough for 2-3 people and is ready in 45 minutes.


Hachee with chicken hearts #313 translated from Beb Vuyk’s Groot Indonesisch Kookboek, page 263.

Ingredients

  • 1/2 kg chicken hearts (and livers)
  • 20 grams laksa
  • 1 tablespoon oil
  • 1/6 block santen (coconut cream)

Spices

  • 5 tablespoons of chopped onions
  • 2 chopped cloves of garlic
  • 5 roasted kemiries (candle nuts)
  • 1 teaspoon of sugar (regular)
  • salt
  • pepper
  1. Cook the hearts (livers) with not too much water that is lightly salted.
  2. Cut them in half.
  3. Let the laksa (noodles) soak in hot water.
  4. Grind onions, garlic and candle nuts with the sugar until it turns into a paste and fry it in the oil.
  5. Add the hearts, and the broth and bring to a boil.
  6. Add the block santen and cook until the sauce begins to thicken.
  7. Stir in well squeezed-out laksa and let it simmer until the laksa is done.

313-hachee-van-hart-tjobekDutch hachee needs quite a lot of onions. So I rub about 10 tablespoons of onions and 4 cloves of garlic fine in my mortar (I use 1 kg of meat). It is a delicious, simple paste with candle nuts. I use ready-made kemiri paste. I buy it at a big supermarket or Asian food store. You can use whole candle nuts. Roast them in the pan before use, because they are slightly poisonous.

313-hachee-van-hart-kokenBroth

But first, make the broth. I cook the hearts for 10 minutes, I add the livers about 3 minutes later. They do not need so long. Make sure your meat is just under water. Do not make too much broth.

313-hachee-van-hart-bouillionWhile bubbling away foam forms on top. I scoop some off so the broth will be a nice creamy white color in the end.

313-hachee-van-hart-snijdenCut the pieces in two. Interesting how the hearts look inside. I cut all the meat just once. Nice to have the livers quite large. It looks great and the inside remains tender also.

313-hachee-van-hart-soepNow fry your onions and garlic mix from the mortar until the onions turn light yellow. Add the meat and immediately add the broth as well. The santen can go in now. Suppose you do not have santen use a cup of coconut milk. Let this simmer.

In the ingredients list Beb mentions ‘pepper’ but she doesn’t mention when to add pepper during preparation. I add a teaspoon of pepper to the broth now and let my dish simmer for 6 more minutes, stirring occasionally until the santen has dissolved about halfway.

313-hachee-van-hart-laksaLaksa
I buy egg noodles at the supermarket. I look for thicker, flatter noodles than the noodles I use for bami goreng. You can use any kind but this thicker noodle I think works best with this hachee.

313-hachee-van-hart-bordWe eat our hachee with chicken hearts and livers with some stir-fried bok choy and homemade sambal and serundeng. Enak!

This hachee is very tender because of the coconut cream. It can use some spiciness. Make sure you add enough salt to your hearts and liver dish as well. Selamat makan!

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2 Responses

  1. Lee Thayer says:

    Hi Pauline, this is certainly on my to cook list, and soon, this dish sounds absolutely amazing! Only thing I do not have is the candle nuts but that is not a show stopper. I will return and post results after I prepare this. Thanks for a wonderful recipe.

  2. Lee Thayer says:

    I made this on 25 Jan 2018, absolutely brilliant dish! I also 500 grams hearts and 500 grams livers. Instead of black pepper, I used white pepper, I like the taste of it. Instead of rubbing the onion and garlic I just finely diced and sauteed, I know that is a departure from the recipe but the flavor was spot on. The family, 4 of us, very much enjoyed this and my wife said I can make this anytime. Thank you for a excellent and flavorful recipe, Pauline 🙂

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