More than just chicken curry, Dhun Adhun is a culinary heritage from Madura that offers a unique dining experience, with rice balls dipped into savory curry gravy and eaten by hand.

If you are visiting Gresik and looking for a delicious East Javanese dish, make sure to try the chicken curry at Warung Kare Ayam Pelabuhan, owned by Mahmuda, affectionately known as Bu Mani. One signature dish that customers always seek out is Dhun Adhun, or Ayam Adhun—a coconut-milk-based dish from Madura traditionally served during the Eid al-Fitr celebration.

According to Bu Mani, people in Madura typically enjoy this dish in a rather unique way: with rice balls. A handful of rice is shaped into a small ball, dipped into the curry gravy, combined with chicken and sambal, and then eaten by hand.

At her restaurant, the original family recipe has been preserved since the 1970s and remains a customer favorite. In Madura, the dish is usually served with a simple sambal korek made only from bird’s eye chilies and salt. Bu Mani, however, offers a different version using shrimp-paste sambal, which provides a stronger aroma and a more complex flavor.

Interested in trying it? Check out the recipe below!

Dhun Adhun Recipe

Ingredients

• 1 whole red chicken (young free-range chicken), cut into 8 pieces

• 1 liter chicken stock

• 200 ml thick coconut milk

• 2 stalks lemongrass, bruised

• 3 kaffir lime leaves

• 1 cinnamon stick

• Salt and sugar to taste

Ground Spice Paste

• 10 shallots

• 6 cloves garlic

• 4 large red chilies

• 4 candlenuts

• 4 cm turmeric

• 3 cm ginger

• 3 cm galangal

• ½ tsp coriander

• ¼ tsp pepper

• A pinch of cumin

• 3 cloves

• ¼ nutmeg

Shrimp-Paste Sambal

• 15 red bird’s eye chilies

• 5 curly red chilies

• 2 cloves garlic

• 4 shallots

• 1 tsp roasted shrimp paste

• ½ tsp salt

• 1 tsp palm sugar

• 1 small tomato (optional)

Accompaniments

• Warm steamed white rice

• Fried shallots

• Serundeng (seasoned toasted grated coconut)

How to Make It

1. Boil the chicken until partially cooked.

2. Sauté the ground spice paste with the lemongrass, kaffir lime leaves, and cinnamon until fragrant, then add it to the stock.

3. Add the coconut milk, salt, and sugar, then add the chicken. Cook until the chicken is tender and the gravy thickens.

4. Briefly boil or fry the chilies, shallots, garlic, and tomato. Pound them together with the shrimp paste, salt, and sugar until they form a smooth sambal.

5. Serve the chicken in adhun gravy with warm rice, fried shallots, serundeng, and shrimp-paste sambal.

How to Enjoy It

1. Shape the rice into a ball using your hands.

2. Dip the rice and chicken into the adhun gravy.

3. Add a little shrimp-paste sambal to the chicken.

4. Enjoy it together with the serundeng in a single bite.