Sambal goreng ati (chicken liver and gizzard in spicy coconut milk)

If you read my previous posts about opor ayam and rice cake, then you need to keep reading now because the dish I`m about to show you here makes them a set. Rice cake, opor ayam, and sambal goreng ati. A yummy trio.

Grind garlic, onion, ginger, and chili into paste and saute them. Add lime leaves, Asian bay leaves, galangal, and shrimp paste during sauteing. I added sliced dried chilies and gochugaru (chili powder) to add some more redness the dish. Yes, this has to be red.

I love looking at this big ball of liver and gizzard. What did I do? I just washed them, chopped up the liver, sliced up the gizzard, and put them in a bowl. But then the room temperature in my kitchen was probably really cold that they clumped up together and shaped into a ball.
Many other recipes require you to cook the liver and gizzard first by steaming, boiling, or frying. I never do any of these methods for the sake of speediness. At first I was concerned about them not being cooked through, but so far they always turned out fine, even without precooking them. Just make sure that you cook them long enough in a very hot gravy-to-be soup.

Stir up the liver and gizzard and pour in coconut milk. As the liquid should turn into gravy at the end, it`s better not to pour in too much liquid.

This amount is good enough. Stir well, stir well.

At the beginning the color will be creamy, but after the liquid has reduced in volume, it will get darker.

Now, when the liver and gizzard seem done, stir in potato chunks. Same with liver and gizzard, many other recipes call for fried potato for this. If you have time, go ahead with frying (grilling sounds very good too!). But if you`re like me, just dump in the potatoes in the pan.

Keep stirring up until you can see it turning into red thick gravy. Season it with fish sauce, salt, pepper, and a pinch of sugar.

And this, everyone, is how you serve the marvelous trio. A heavenly combination of the creaminess of the braised chicken soup with the deep spiciness of the liver and gizzard gravy on top of rice cake.
Enjoy!

Ingredients:
Spice paste:
Garlic
Ginger
Onion
Chili

Chicken liver. wash and dice
Chicken gizzard, wash and slice
Coconut milk
Chili powder
Lime leaves
Asian bay leaves
Shrimp paste
Fish sauce
Salt pepper to taste
Sugar, a pinch