Manuk labakh — Aceh, Indonesia

Manuk labakh is a chicken dish, manuk being the Acehnese word for chicken, cooked down in a spiced sauce until the meat turns tender and the sauce clings to it. It sits within the wider spice-forward, coconut-and-aromatics style that runs through much of Acehnese cooking. It is reported from Aceh, in Indonesia, at the northern tip of Sumatra, a region whose cuisine is known for a heavier hand with spice than is typical elsewhere on the island, shaped in part by a long history of trade contact. The dish is prepared at home and served as part of a shared rice meal. A paste of shallot, garlic and fresh turmeric is fried until fragrant along with bruised galangal and lemongrass, and the chicken pieces are turned in it before coconut milk, lime leaves and salt go in. The pot simmers uncovered so the sauce reduces and thickens around the chicken, finished with a little lime juice for brightness before serving. The spice paste and the ratio of coconut milk to chicken shift from one cook to the next, some keeping the sauce thick and clinging, others thinner and more like a soup, and the choice of chili — or its absence — changes the dish from mild to sharp. What stays constant is the base: chicken cooked slowly in an aromatic, coconut-based sauce.