InJava, the chicken is usually marinated with a mixture ofkecap manis (sweet soy sauce) andcoconut oil, applied with a brush during grilling. Thebumbu spice mixture may vary among regions, but usually it consists of a combination of groundshallot,garlic,chili pepper,coriander,tamarind juice,candlenut,turmeric,galangal, and salt. In Java, ayam bakar usually tastes rather sweet because of the generous amount of sweet soy sauce either as marination or dipping sauce, while ayam bakarPadang,Bali,Lombok, and most ofSumatra are usually spicier and more reddish due to the generous amount of chilli pepper,turmeric and other spices and the absence of sweet soy sauce.
The chicken pieces are usually partially cooked in the spice mixture using a small fire before grilling for the chicken to absorb the spices. During the grilling process, the remaining spices are applied upon the chicken. Ayam bakar is usually served withsambal terasi (chilli withterasi) orsambal kecap (sliced chilli and shallot in sweet soy sauce) as dipping sauce or condiment and slices ofcucumber andtomato as garnishing.
There are many recipes ofayam bakar, among the popular ones arePadang-style ayam bakar,ayam percik andayam golek from Malaysia,ayam bakar Taliwang ofLombok island,Sundanesebakakak hayam, and Javaneseayam bakar bumbu rujak (grilled spicy coconut chicken).[3][4] Usually, the chicken ismarinated with mixture of spice pastes, sometimeskecap manis (sweet soy sauce), and thengrilled.
