Chicken Bumbu Bali

by Pauline Chavannes de Senerpont Domis · Published October 6, 2014 · Updated April 13, 2020

Chicken Bumbu Bali – Chicken in Balinese Spicy Sauce

You do not need many ingredients to make this lovely Indonesian chicken bumbu Bali (or Ayam Bumbu Bali). This dish needs some onions and garlic and the rest is probably in your pantry.

This chicken bumbu bali goes well with pandan rice and acar bening. I’m looking forward to make Beb’s recipe 314 ‘Duck with Balinese herbs’ now too.

Chicken Bumbu Bali #294 translated from Groot Indonesisch Kookboek, Beb Vuyk, page 250.

Ingredients

1 chicken about 1000 to 1200 grams
6 tablespoons oil
1/2 can tomato puree

herbs

1/4 liter water
3 tablespoons chopped onions
2 chopped cloves of garlic
2 teaspoons sambal terasi
2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 piece of sereh (lemongrass)
salt

Cut the chicken into pieces and rub with salt. Make the oil hot and sauté the chicken in it until golden brown.

Rub onions, garlic, chili, and ginger into a paste and sauté until the onions are yellow. Add the tomato paste, the lemongrass and a splash of water and let the chicken simmer in this sauce.

You can prepare this dinner easily a day before your guests arrive. In that case, you can cook the chicken for a slightly shorter time, cover the pan with tin foil. The next day the chicken will be moist and tender and will fall off the bone.

Sambal Trassi

Trassi is shrimp paste. It is used in Thai cuisine a lot as well. I make my own sambal trassi because it is more delicious than from the store and because it is super easy to do! Check out the recipe here.