Home / All Recipes / Indonesian / Ayam Rica Rica - Manado Chicken with Chili Sauce
Ayam Rica Rica - Manado Chicken with Chili Sauce
Red chilies, lemongrass, kaffir lime leaves, and lime juice are the key ingredients to transform a chicken into a bold, spicy, fresh, and citrusy dish.
Ayam rica-rica is specialty chicken dish from the city of Manado in Indonesia North Sulawesi. Rica means chili in North Sulawesi language, so ayam rica-rica translates to chicken with chili sauce.
If you love bold, spicy, fresh, and citrusy dishes, you will definitely love ayam rica-rica. Maybe just add one or two bird eye chilies if this is the first time making this dish, especially if you have kiddies eating this too.
Also, don’t forget the steamed white rice, and copious amount of cold refreshing drink to counter the heat from all those chilies!
Choosing the correct size or weight of chicken for ayam rica-rica
Most Indonesian chicken dishes use a whole chicken to prepare. We typically ask our butcher to chop the chicken up to 8-12 pieces. The weight of a chicken sold in Indonesia averages about 1.5 kg, or about 3.3 lb.
For simplicity, you can just use chicken pieces such as drumsticks, thighs, chicken quarters, e.t.c., as long as they total to around 1.5 kg (or 3.3 lb).
Herbs and spices needed to prepare ayam rica-rica
Ayam rica-rica is all about red chilies, so you will need a lot of it. But aside from the red chilies (I use red fresno chilies, and occasionally, I sneak in some red bird-eye chilies), you will also need the following:
- lemongrass (Indonesian: sereh)
- kaffir lime leaves (Indonesian: daun jeruk)
- lime (Indonesian: jeruk nipis)
- shallots (Indonesian: bawang merah)
- garlic (Indonesian: bawang putih)
- ginger (Indonesian: jahe)
If you are familiar with Indonesian dishes, you will realize that you need a whole lot less of herbs and spices to prepare ayam rica-rica compared to many other Indonesian recipes. :)
Transforming this into a grilled chicken dish
If you wish, there is another alternative way of preparing ayam rica-rica. You can turn this braised chicken dish into a grilled chicken dish!
Once the chicken has finished braising in the pot, remove the lid and cook until the sauce really clings to the chicken.
Turn on a grill or an oven broiler, and grill/broil the chicken just until the skin is charred. Enjoy!
Ayam Rica Rica - Manado Chicken with Chili Sauce
Ingredients
- 1 chicken (about 1.5 kilogram/3.3 lb.), cut into 8 pieces (or use drumsticks, thighs, quarters, e.t.c.)
- 3 lemongrass (Indonesian: sereh), bruised and knotted
- 5 kaffir lime leaves (Indonesian: daun jeruk)
- juice from 1 lime
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon sugar
- Grind the following into spice paste
- 10 red fresno chili (Indonesian: cabe merah besar/keriting), seeded
- 10 red bird-eye chili (Indonesian: cabe merah rawit), seeded (optional, or use according to the level of spiciness you can tolerate)
- 100 gram shallot (Indonesian: bawang merah)
- 6 cloves garlic (Indonesian: bawang putih)
- 2 inches ginger (Indonesian: jahe)
Instructions
- Heat 5 tablespoons of cooking oil in a frying pan, stir fry the spice paste until fragrant, about 3-4 minutes.
- Add lemongrass, kaffir lime leaves, lime juice, salt, and sugar and cook for another 2 minutes.
- Add chicken pieces and mix well. Cover the pan with a lid and let cook undisturbed for 20 minutes on medium heat, or until chicken is fully cooked and tender. Serve with a bowl of steaming white rice.
Comments
What an exotic and delicious recipe to try! It's always nice to try something new with chicken...this is right up my alley!
What a fantastic looking recipe! I am adding this to my dinner line up for the week, indeed!
Do you know which aisle I could find kaffir lime leaves? I've never cooked with them so I am unfamiliar with where to look at the grocery store.
Kelly, I typically find them fresh along with other aromatics, such as the fresh curry leaves, fresh lemongrass, fresh Thai basil, e.t.c. When the fresh leaves are not available, sometimes I find them stocked in the frozen section alongside banana leaves and pandan leaves. The easiest is of course to just walk to the helpers and ask. A photo helps, and from my experience, the older helpers actually know where everything is.
Everyone loved this recipe! The spice paste definitely adds a ton of flavor to this dish. This recipe is a keeper!
I've never cooked with kaffir leaves and I'm not familiar where to find them. Where can I find kaffir lime leaves?
Looks delicious! The ingredients are very similar to those of our tom yum soup but this is a totally different dish!
Was so flavorful and delicious. Easy to make too!! Thank you SO much! Whole family approved.
This looks PHENOMENAL. I love how there's so much flavour from grinding some of the ingredients. Definitely pinning for later!
This sounds delicious and simple at the same time! Will definitely be making it soon, will make the spice paste with fewer chilis, though.
Made this for dinner tonight and it has easily become a new family favorite meal! Looking forward to leftovers tomorrow! It was delicious!
Thanks Anita! This ayam rica-rica is delicious and easy to make. I'll definitely make it again. I used the chili seeds but added more sugar to balance.
Wonderful! My Indonesian family friends shared this recipe. A chef in Bali added these 3 things I don't see in your recipe, so just asking please: Shrimp paste, ouster sauce, holy basil. We had fried Red snapper in rica rica sauce. I want to make shrimps with scallions dish for my husband who is fond of seafood... Best wishes, from Copenhagen.
Hi Laila, those 3 ingredients will be a great addition to this dish, and will increase the umami level too, so feel free to use them if you have them in your pantry. Shrimp paste and oyster sauce are both salty, so if you do use them, be sure to adjust the amount of salt to suite your taste. :)
Love lemongrass! Make any dish taste so yummy!
Looks wonderful! Did I miss how much water is added to cook the chicken in? Thanks
Hi Ann, there is no need to add water for this recipe. The spices and the chicken itself should yield enough juices to create the sauce. If for some reasons your dish looks dry and needs a little help to create the sauce, feel free to add 1/4 cup of water to step 3.
Leave a comment