Ayam bakar
Ayam bakar is an Indonesian and Malay dish, consisting of charcoal-grilled chicken. Ayam bakar literally means "grilled chicken" in Indonesian and Malay.
In 2023, TasteAtlas ranked Indonesian grilled chicken, 'Ayam Bakar', as one of the best traditional chicken dishes in the world.
Marination and spices
In Java, the chicken is usually marinated with a mixture of kecap manis and coconut oil, applied with a brush during grilling. The bumbu spice mixture may vary among regions, but usually it consists of a combination of ground shallot, 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 bakar Padang, Bali, Lombok, and most of Sumatra 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 with sambal terasi or sambal kecap as dipping sauce or condiment and slices of cucumber and tomato as garnishing.