Resep Ayam Betutu Bali (Salt Crusted and Banana Leaves Wrapped Roasted Balinese Spicy Chicken)

Ayam Betutu

Resep Ayam Betutu Pedas Khas Bali Isi Daun Singkong or Balinese Style Spiced Roasted Chicken Stuffed with Cassava Leaves. Ayam betutu derived from the word ayam which means chicken and  betutu is a Balinese dish of steamed or roasted chicken or duck. Ayam or Bebek betutu used to be heavily seasoned and spiced and one of the iconic dish of Bali and Lombok Island. Once you visit Bali, your vacation in Bali won’t complete unless you tried their chicken or duck betutu dish, it’s available all over the entire island, from a street-sided food stall tent to a five star hotel restaurant.

Hot and Spicy Ayam Betutu, Stuffed with Spicy Cassava Leaves and Wrapped in Banana Leaves and Salt Crust Dough

Ayam betutu varies in tastes and cooking method according into three major regions of Bali; Klungkung’s style betutu chicken is stuffed with cooking-spices and cassava leaves. Gianyar’s style ayam betutu is cooked with banana or plantain leaveas wrapping. Gilimanuk’s style ayam betutu is also very popular with its reddish color spicy spices and kicking hot  flavors. So my version of ayam betutu is a combination of what i like from every region; so my chicken betutu is hot, spicy, stuffed with spicy cassava leaves and also wrapped in banana or plantain leaves.

Balinese Ayam Kampung Betutu Panggang

The spices mixture for making ayam betutu called base genep in balinese or bumbu lengkap in Bahasa or literrary translated as complete seasoning. Basic ayam betutu base genep spices consist or shallots, turmeric, chilies, garlic, ginger, galangal, lemongrass, shrimp paste and sand ginger (lesser ginger). The spices ingredients processed and mashed into fine paste with a traditional stone mortar and pastle. Slighly different from Balinese condiments that usually using raw ingredients, Balinese spices for cooking meat used to be fried up with coconut oil until fragrance and slighly charred first before added into the raw chicken or other meat and cooked.

Roasted Ayam betutu, Balinese festive dish!

Ayam Betutu is usually served in Balinese traditional ceremonies; wedding, birthaday or other festives occation.Nowdays, you can easily found ayam betutu in the entire island. Local Indonesian tourists also used to carry ayam betutu as a gift or oleh-oleh once they left Bali from their vacation. Alongside with Balinese Style Barbequed Baby Back Ribs, ayam or bebek betutu is a must dish to try once me and my family visit Bali.

Salt Crust Roasted Chicken Betutu

The ayam betutu chicken roasted wrapped in a salt crust dough which sealed the juices and moisture on the spicy chicken betutu even better. This is the similiar purpose of encasing Homemade Chinese Beggar Chicken with clay or bread dough.  The salt crust dough can create an oven within an oven once it cook because the solid sol of Natrium Chloride with bread dough conduct and kept the heat of the oven to the chicken better than regular bread dough without any salt addition. The betutu chicken cooked for hours within it’s own moisture and this is made all the spices of bumbu base genep flavour and the natural juices of the chicken blend together into a damn delicious and tender spicy chicken.

Roasted Ayam Betutu Wrapped in Salt Crust Dough

The salt crust dough is not edible because the generous ammout of salt on it made it taste overly salty. The commom salt crust chicken usually directly wrapped the chicken with the salt crust without any barrier to let the salt infused to the chicken. The ayam betutu is already spiced and salted; there’s no need to infused more salty flavour of the salt crust into it, so then i wrapped the spiced chicken with alumunium foil before wrapped it in salt crust. The salt crust chicken is not only used as a seal for lock up the moisture within the roasted ayam betutu but also qite made an impressive presentation in the table. I guess it will be quite interesting gig to encasing the betutu chicken in front of the guesses in the dinner table. The salt crust itself is not edible because it taste over salty

My Grandma Cutting The Salt Crust Dough

Here’s the fun part; how to enjoy salt crust Balinese roasted betutu chicken. My grandma did me a favour of honourable cut up salt dough roasted ayam betutu photograph. A small knive is what it’s need to carefully cut up the roasted salt crust dough to expose the ayam betutu. Slicing the salt crust dough is quite easy, slighly contrary with what i expecting that the salt crust needed to a little bit hack to crack it open

Encasing the Ayam Betutu from The Salt Crust

The smells of banana or plantail leaves bursting out within the ayam betutu vapour once my grandma lift up the salt crust dough. I said myseld, Damn, i really desperately need steaming hot rice and sambal matah now!!!

Fragrance of banana Leaves Bursting Out!!!

My Grandma Cutting out the Excess Banana Leaves !!!

Ayam Betutu Khas Bali

My grandma then carefully encasing the banana leaves from the salt crust roasted betutu chicken  until the prescious roasted betutu chicken inside exposed. My grandma had an iniciative to cut the excess banana leaves wrapper to exposed the chicken betutu better.

Damn Delicious Ayam Betutu with Generous Base genep Spice and Young and Tender Cassava Leaves Stuffing

 This is the damn delicous Balinese Ayam Betutu, cooked in a salt crust dough made the chicken moist and tender, literrray more than just falen off the bone. The fragance of spices and banana leaves is bursting out all over the air and i even salivating once i typing this this post and remebering the smells. Just look at those generous ammount of spices paste covering the chicken betutu, spicy, hot and flavourfull, superb!!!

Roasted Betutu Chicken

Cassava Leaves Stuffed Ayam Betutu

The roasted chicken stuffing consist of young and tender cassava leaves, base genep spices and some chopped edible part of the kampung chicken viscera. The young and tender cassava leaves is removed from it’s vine, salted and bruised by rolling beetween both hand with a rolling movement. The chicken liver, heart, spleen, gizzard and intestine properly cleaned, cooked with addition of salt and kaffir lime juice then finely chopped before mixed within the cassava leaves stuffing. The cassafa leaves stuffing for the chicken must be a little bit over salty to made sure it’s will be infused it’s flavour from the inside of the chicken while maintaining the moisture during the cooking process.

Sambal Matah, Drizzed with Smoking Hot Coconut Oil!

Sambal matah is a spicy , shallots, chilies  and  lemongrass relish from Bali. Sambal matah made of thinly sliced red bird’s eye chilies, shallots and lots the tender part of lemongrass and thus sambal matah also called sambal sereh (lemongrass in Bahasa). Roasted or charred solid shrimp paste or terasi also added within the sambal matah, then just before serving, sambal matah usually drizzled with smoking hot oil and then seasoned with salt and drizzled with kaffir lime juice for extra tangy flavour. Authentic sambal matah using coconut oil, but regular vegetables oil will be just fine.You can find the recipe or sambal matah or Balinese spicy chili, shallots and lemongrass relish on my Grilled Baby Lamb Leg with Sambal Matah Recipe.

Ayam Betutu Panggang Pedas Bali dengan Daun Ubi SIingkong dan Sambal Matah

Balinese Roasted Betutu Chicken in a Bed of Cassave Leaves Stuffing and Sambal Matah

This is ayam betutu already carved, served with bed of spicy young and tender cassave leaves stuffing and sambal matah. Honestly, i didn’t carved the chicken with any knives, but i just pull the tender roasted chicken leg from it’s bone and it comes out right away easily with my bare hand. I said myself that i need more often of this salt crust roast cooking technique in my kitchen.

Spicy Balinese Style Salt Crust Chicken Betutu

Delicious Ayam Betutu Panggang Garam or Salt Crusted Balinese Spiced Roasted Chicken using a young or junvenile F or malay chicken, a native breed of free ranged chicken. Ayam kampung betutu muda panggang is a premium and rather expensive compare to the regular chicken, it’s also more lean and tough thus suits even more for long and slow cooking method. You can use free ranged chicken or spring chicken too for making this salt crust roasted betutu chicken recipe.

Resep Ayam Betutu Khas Bali

Resep Ayam Betutu Khas Bali ( Ayam Panggang Bumbu Pedas Isi Daun Singkong Dibungkus Daun Pisang dan Adonan Garam)

Recipe Bali Style Salt Crust Roasted Spicy Chicken Betutu Stuffed with Cassava Leaves

Ayam Betutu Chicken Ingredients:

• 1 ayam kampung, whole young kampung chicken ( Sping Chicken or Young Free Ranged Chicken)
• 2 daun salam, Indonesian bayleaves
• enough banana/plantain leaves to wrap the chicken (or use alimunium foil if you don’t have access to Banana leaves)
• enough alumunium foil to wrap the betutu chicken

Ayam Betutu Chicken Stuffing:

• 100 grams daun singkong or young and tender cassava leaves (you can replace with spinach or curly kale)
• 4 tablespoon or Base Genep Balinese Spice Paste
• finely chopped cooked chicken etrails (liver, spleen, hearth, gizzard and intestines)

Bumbu Base Genep (Bumbu Lengkap Bali)/Balinese Spice Paste:

• 100 grams bawang merah (red shallots)
• 6 bawang putih cloves (garlic)
• 1 jempol jahe (thumb-sized piece of ginger)
• 1 jempol kencur (thumb-sized piece of lesser galangal)
• 1 jempol laos (thumb-sized piece of galangal
• 1 jempol kunyit (thumb-sized piece of tumeric)
• 4 batang sereh (stalks of lemongrass, use only the tender white part)
• 50 grams cabe merah (cayenne chillies pepper)
• 10 grams cabe rawit merah (red bird’s eye chili pepper or more for more spicy)
• 4 kemiri (candlenuts)
• ½ sdt lada hitam bubuk (tsp freshly ground black peppercorn)
• ¼ sdt pala bubuk (tsp nutmeg powder)
• ¼ sdt jinten bubuk (tsp cumin powder)
• 1 sdm terasi bakar (tbsp charred shrimp paste)
• 1/4 sdt parutan kulit jeruk purut (tsp kaffir lime zest) #optional
• salt (to taste)
• 4 sdm minyak kelapa (tablespoons coconut oil for stir frying)

Salt Crust for Roasted Chicken Recipe:

• 800 grams flour
• 600 grams fine ground salt
• 2 egg white
• about 2 cups water
• 2 tbsp vegetable oil
• 2 egg yolk for egg wash

How to Make Salt Crust for Roasted Chicken:

• Mix all ingredients except the egg yolk in a large glass bowl
• Knead the salt crust dough until flexible enough to flaten and wrapped the betutu chicken, add more water if the salt crust dough too fragile and easily tear up once it flaten
• Let the salt crust dough rest at least about 20 minutes covered with cling wrap plastic before using to made it more flexible

How to Make Salt Crust Roasted Balinese Ayam Betutu Chicken :
1.Put all the spice paste/bumbu base genep (except the coconut oil) into the food processor bowl and then  process until it become a thick paste.

2. Heat up 3 tablespoons of coconut oil in a heavy bottom non stick  pan, saute the base genep spice paste and bay leaves  until fragrance and cooked through, set aside 4 tablespoon for cassava leaves stuffing mixture

3. Mixed the young and tender cassava leaves , 4 tablespoons of spice paste and the chopped cooked chicken innard, set aside

4. Place the chicken into the bowl, and then mix well with the remaining base genep spice paste, rub the chicken a little bit inside out

5.Put the cassave leaves stuffing  inside the chicken cavity, set aside

6. Wrapped the chicken with the banana or platain leaves. Do a cross wise wrapping like you making an envelope parcels

7. Wrapped the banana leaves wrapped chicken betutu with alomunium foil, press the foil a litttle bit to made sure there’s no empty room beetween the banana eaves and the foil.

8. Flaten the salt crust dough and then wrapped the betutu chicken parcel with the salt crust dough, close the salt crust parcell in the chicken back bone side to make a fine thight closing and kept the excess salt crust dough for ornameltal  matter

9. Put some artifisial wings, tail and chicken head with the excess salt crust dough on your chicken, use your imagination and creation for it!!

10. Grease the salt crust chicken parcel with egg wash for a betetr presentation,

11. Put the Salt Crust Roasted Balinese Betutu Chicken into 200 C preheated oven and baked the salt crust chicken for about 2 and half hours

12.Voila, your Salt Crust Roasted Balinese Ayam Betutu Chicken is Done and Ready to served!!! Cross your finger above your head now!!!

13.Serve with rice, sambal matah, fried peanuts and a cold beer!

You May Also Like (Click!)