Ayam Rica-rica

Hands down to this dish!
Rica-rica is sooo mouth-watering - literally, because it's sooo hot you'll trade your diamonds for a glass of water (ok, that's a bit outrageous, but you get the point).

'Rica' in its original word means chili or hot, so a rica-rica dish is meant to be hot. But it's not only about chili, the thinly sliced kaffir lime leaves and lemon grass make the dish very aromatic, tempting you to attack straight away.

The one on the picture was toned down as I was cooking for a group of people including children. I ran out of red chili so I mixed in green chilies. The original version would be bright red from the chili. Will have another go and upload the pic when time permits :)

Now, since the dish needs a lot of chili, red onion and garlic, sometimes people will just blend them together.  Yet the best way is to actually pound them using mortar and pestle, or if you don't have one at home, use food processor or hand mixer. The idea is not to use any liquid to ground the spices as it will affect the flavor. The spices also must still be quite coarse, not in paste consistency.

Serve hot with steam rice (and lots of water!)