ayam tangkap — Aceh, Indonesia

Ayam tangkap is a spiced, fried chicken dish reported from Aceh, notable for chicken pieces being fried and then piled under, or mixed with, a large quantity of fried curry leaves (daun kari) and other aromatic leaves, so that diners have to search for the chicken. The name, which translates roughly as "caught chicken," refers to the way the pieces must be searched for among the leaves. It is found at warungs across Aceh and is increasingly known beyond the region as an Acehnese specialty, making it a dish diners often order out of curiosity as well as appetite. To prepare it, chicken pieces are marinated in a ground spice paste of garlic, shallot, ginger, galangal and turmeric, then fried until crisp. Separately, a generous quantity of curry leaves, along with sliced shallot and sometimes pandan, is deep-fried briefly until crackling; the fried chicken is then piled together with, or buried under, the crisp leaves. What defines this dish is the sheer volume of fried leaves relative to the chicken, and the crackling texture they take on when fried briefly; other fried chicken dishes of the archipelago typically use far less leaf garnish.