Saté

Ingredients

Skewers

• 800 gboneless chicken thigh, cut into 2 cm cubes
• 4 tbspketjap manis (sweet Indonesian soy)
• 2 tbsplight soy sauce
• 4garlic cloves, crushed
• 2cm ginger, grated
• 1 tspground coriander
• 1 tspground cumin
• 1 tbspsambal oelek
• 1 tbspbrown sugar
• juice of 1 lime
• 16bamboo skewers, soaked 30 min

Pindasaus, peanut sauce

• 250 gunsweetened smooth peanut butter, or 250 g roasted peanuts ground fine
• 300 mlhot water or unsweetened coconut milk
• 2garlic cloves, crushed
• 1small onion, finely chopped
• 2 tbspketjap manis
• 1 tbspsambal oelek, or 1 Madame Jeanette pepper minced
• 1 tbspbrown sugar
• juice of 1 lime
• 1 tbspoil
• salt

To serve

• 8 slicessoft white bread, or steamed white rice
• 3 tbspcrisp fried onions
• ½cucumber, sliced

Directions

1. Mix the ketjap manis, soy, garlic, ginger, coriander, cumin, sambal, sugar and lime into a marinade and turn the chicken through it. Cover and refrigerate at least 4 hours, or overnight.
2. Thread 4 to 5 cubes onto each soaked skewer, pushing them close together so the meat stays juicy, and leave a bare handle at one end.
3. For the sauce, fry the onion and garlic in the oil over medium heat until soft and just golden, 5 minutes.
4. Whisk in the peanut butter, then add the hot water a splash at a time; it will seize and then loosen. Keep going until it is smooth and coats a spoon.
5. Add ketjap manis, sambal, sugar and salt and simmer 5 minutes, stirring, until the oil beads at the edges. Finish with lime juice off the heat and keep it warm and thick, not runny.
6. Get a charcoal grill to a medium-hot bed of coals with no flame, or heat a ridged grill pan until smoking.
7. Grill the skewers 3 to 4 minutes a side, turning often and basting with the leftover marinade, until the edges are charred black in places and the sugar in the ketjap has lacquered the surface.
8. Check one cube: it should be just firm with no pink at the centre, about 5 to 7 minutes in total. Do not grill past that or the lean thigh dries.
9. Pile the skewers on a plate, ladle the warm peanut sauce over so it pools underneath, and scatter the fried onions on top.
10. Serve with soft white bread to mop the sauce or with rice and cucumber, and pull the meat off the stick with your teeth.

Technique

• Surinamese saté came with Javanese contract workers from 1890 onwards and then went to the Netherlands with Surinamese migration, which is why it now anchors both countries’ takeaway menus.
• The sauce should be thick enough to hold a ridge from the spoon. Thin peanut sauce runs off the meat and tastes of nothing but water.
• Ketjap manis is not soy sauce. It is thick, molasses-sweet and it is what makes the char taste right; light soy alone will not caramelise the same way.

Substitutions

• No ketjap manis: simmer 4 tbsp light soy with 3 tbsp palm or dark brown sugar until syrupy.
• No charcoal: a very hot ridged grill pan or the top shelf under a fierce grill gives usable char, though not the smoke.
• Ground roasted peanuts give a rougher, more authentic sauce than commercial peanut butter if you have a mill.

Variations

• Saté babi, made with pork, common in Javanese-Surinamese households.
• Broodje saté, the skewers stripped into a soft roll and drowned in peanut sauce.
• Saté with extra Madame Jeanette in the sauce, for people who want it genuinely hot.

History

Brought by Javanese contract workers who began arriving in 1890; now Suriname’s most common street and party food.

Frequently asked questions

What is Saté?

Saté is a street food from Suriname: grilled chicken skewers with thick peanut sauce, eaten with bread or rice. Brought by Javanese contract workers who began arriving in 1890; now Suriname’s most common street and party food.

How long does Saté take to make?

Saté takes 30 min plus 4 hr marinating of preparation and 20 min of cooking. The recipe makes 4 servings, 16 skewers. It is rated easy to make.

What can I substitute in Saté?

Yes, within limits. No ketjap manis: simmer 4 tbsp light soy with 3 tbsp palm or dark brown sugar until syrupy. No charcoal: a very hot ridged grill pan or the top shelf under a fierce grill gives usable char, though not the smoke. Ground roasted peanuts give a rougher, more authentic sauce than commercial peanut butter if you have a mill.

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

Check one cube: it should be just firm with no pink at the centre, about 5 to 7 minutes in total. Do not grill past that or the lean thigh dries.