Ayam Lado Mudo

Nitalanaf’s ayam lado mudo is a green-chilli chicken dish associated with Koto Gadang in West Sumatra. The creator’s version uses both curly green chillies and green bird’s-eye chillies, with onion and lime bringing savoury sweetness and a fresh sour note.

The ground spice mixture fries in oil with bruised galangal, lime leaves, daun salam, torn turmeric leaf, bruised lemongrass and a little cinnamon. This first stage develops the aroma before the green-chilli mixture is added.

The green-chilli mixture, sliced onion, salt and stock powder then fry together until fragrant. Chicken cut into eight pieces is mixed into these aromatics and cooked briefly before water joins the pan.

The chicken simmers slowly until tender and the flavours have absorbed into the meat. More water can be added if needed. If the chicken is tender while the broth remains thin, the creator lifts the pieces out briefly to reduce the liquid, then returns them.

The creator adjusts the green bird’s-eye chilli amount to suit the desired chilli heat. Onion contributes a savoury, slightly sweet flavour and lime adds fresh acidity, keeping the green-chilli sauce central to this version.