Last Saturday was Independence Day in Indonesia. Since it falls on August the 17th, we also call it
"17-an", similar to "the fourth" for 4th of July. Indonesians commonly celebrate their Independence day with their neighbors. Each neighborhood will decorate their subdivision and there will be games, parade, and party. Since the night before the 17th, my dad had been continuously keeping me updated with the party in his neighborhood. He sent me pictures of what was happening in the party. The people and the food.

Hubby and I too, had Independence Day party at home. The day before, we got a whole free range chicken from
Earth Fare, which was a part of their coupon deal that week. We used
Alton Brown's turkey recipe but used Klatenese grilled chicken
(ayam panggang Klaten) ingredients for the brine. In case you don't know,
Klaten is a town in Central Java. It's famous grilled chicken is sweet and rich because of coconut milk, palm sugar, and many other ingredients. To make it look more official, we also made yellow rice, which is a common dish for our Independence day.
In general, the chicken tasted good, but the Javanese taste wasn't strong enough. I think I need to add more ingredients next time or boil the chicken with the brine ingredients until the liquid dries out before roasting.
Klatenese Roasted Chicken
Adapted from Food Network

Ingredients:
1 whole chicken
For the brine:
3/4 cup kosher salt
1/2 cup palm sugar
3 liters water
1 cup coconut milk
10 shallots, chopped
10 garlic, chopped
3 stalks lemon grass
5 keffir lime leaves
1 tsp coriander
1 tsp cumin
1 gallon heavily iced water
Combine all of the brine ingredients in a large pot and boil over medium-high heat. Turn the heat to low and let it simmer for 30 minutes to make sure the ingredients are cook through. Remove the brine from the heat, cool to room temperature, and refrigerate. Place the chicken breast side down in brine. Make sure the chicken is fully immersed, cover, and refrigerate or set in cool area for 8 to 16 hours, turning the chicken once half way through brining.
Please see
Food Network website for the rest of the steps.
I sent the pictures of our dinner to my family; and mom asked how long it would take us to finish the whole chicken. Hm... I don't know, but I believe I won't need to cook any meat for days!
MERDEKA!