Satay

Ingredients

Skewers

• 900 gchicken thigh, or beef rump, cut into 2 cm cubes
• 30bamboo skewers, soaked in water 1 hr

Marinade

• 6shallots, roughly chopped
• 4garlic cloves
• 3lemongrass stalks, tender parts only, sliced
• 30 gfresh galangal, peeled and sliced
• 2 tspground turmeric
• 1 tbspground coriander
• 1 tspground cumin
• 1 tspground fennel
• 3 tbsppalm sugar
• 2 tspsalt
• 3 tbspvegetable oil

Kuah kacang (peanut sauce)

• 300 groasted peanuts, coarsely ground
• 8dried red chillies, soaked and deseeded
• 5shallots
• 3garlic cloves
• 2lemongrass stalks, sliced
• 20 ggalangal
• 1 tsptoasted belacan
• 3 tbsptamarind water
• 60 gpalm sugar
• 500 mlwater
• 120 mloil
• 1 tspsalt

To baste and serve

• 1lemongrass stalk, bruised at one end into a brush
• 100 mloil mixed with 50 ml coconut milk
• Ketupat or compressed rice cakes
• 1cucumber, cut into chunks
• 1red onion, cut into wedges

Directions

1. Blitz all the marinade aromatics to a smooth paste, then mix with the turmeric, coriander, cumin, fennel, palm sugar, salt and oil.
2. Rub the paste thoroughly into the meat cubes, cover, and marinate at least 4 hours and preferably overnight in the fridge. Turmeric needs time to stain the meat through.
3. Make the sauce: blitz the chillies, shallots, garlic, lemongrass, galangal and belacan to a paste. Fry it in the oil over medium heat for 15–20 minutes until it darkens and the oil separates and runs red at the edges.
4. Add the ground peanuts, water, tamarind water, palm sugar and salt. Simmer 20–25 minutes, stirring often, until thick, glossy and the colour of dark caramel. It should fall from the spoon in a heavy ribbon.
5. Thread 4 or 5 cubes onto each soaked skewer, packing them close together so the meat stays juicy, and leaving a clean handle at one end.
6. Build a charcoal fire and let it burn to glowing embers with no flame. Satay needs intense radiant heat and real smoke; this is not a gas-grill dish.
7. Grill the skewers close to the coals, 6–8 cm above, turning every 45 seconds. Baste with the bruised lemongrass brush dipped in the oil and coconut milk mixture at each turn.
8. Cook 6–10 minutes in total, until the edges are charred and blackened in places, the surface is lacquered, and the meat is just cooked through and still juicy at the centre. Chicken should read 74°C (165°F).
9. Pile the skewers on a platter and serve straight from the grill with the warm peanut sauce, ketupat, cucumber and raw onion. Malaysians dip the whole skewer into the communal bowl of sauce.

Technique

• The lemongrass basting brush is a genuine technique, not decoration: it flavours the meat, keeps the surface moist and lets the cook control flare-ups. A folded pandan leaf is used the same way.
• Charring is wanted. Satay should have blackened edges against the sweet marinade, which is where the flavour lives, so keep the skewers close to the coals and moving.
• Frying the peanut sauce rempah until the oil splits is as important here as it is in sambal. An unfried sauce tastes of raw shallot and chalky peanut.
• Satay travels the region and the Malaysian version, with its turmeric-yellow marinade and thick chilli-heavy peanut sauce, is distinct from the Indonesian sate manis with sweet soy or the Thai version with curry paste.

Substitutions

• No galangal: use an extra stalk of lemongrass and a small piece of ginger, accepting a slightly sharper note.
• Crunchy peanut butter, 250 g thinned with water, can stand in for ground peanuts in the sauce if you fry the rempah properly first.
• No charcoal: a very hot ridged griddle or an oven grill at maximum works, though you lose the smoke that defines the dish.

Variations

• Satay kajang, the famous Selangor style with thicker cuts and a sweeter sauce.
• Satay celup in Melaka, where raw skewers are dipped and cooked in a communal pot of bubbling peanut sauce.
• Satay lok lok, the steamboat-style street version on a stick.

History

Skewered grilled meat sold nationwide by Madurese vendors, likely developed in Java under Arab and Indian kebab influence during the nineteenth century.

Frequently asked questions

What is Satay?

Satay is a street food from Indonesia: grilled skewers with peanut sauce and lontong; countless regional versions. Skewered grilled meat sold nationwide by Madurese vendors, likely developed in Java under Arab and Indian kebab influence during the nineteenth century.

How long does Satay take to make?

Satay takes 40 min plus 4 hr marinating of preparation and 25 min of cooking. The recipe makes 6 servings, about 30 skewers. It is rated medium to make.

What can I substitute in Satay?

Yes, within limits. No galangal: use an extra stalk of lemongrass and a small piece of ginger, accepting a slightly sharper note. Crunchy peanut butter, 250 g thinned with water, can stand in for ground peanuts in the sauce if you fry the rempah properly first. No charcoal: a very hot ridged griddle or an oven grill at maximum works, though you lose the smoke that defines the dish.

What is the most important thing to get right in Satay?

Pile the skewers on a platter and serve straight from the grill with the warm peanut sauce, ketupat, cucumber and raw onion. Malaysians dip the whole skewer into the communal bowl of sauce.