Satay Chicken with Peanut Sauce

I usually took a picture of my food at night time because I only cook for dinner. I had to rely on the light in the ceiling to support my lighting. Since I don’t have a hi-tech camera (.. yet), I also have to rely on my “shaky” hands to be sturdy and not moving to get a clear picture. Well this time I had the chance, simply because they were leftover from last night dinner Although they weren’t look so shiny (like last night) and quite dry already, I still used my chances. However, I think the picture suffers from too much daylight. My peanut sauce looks so pale If I had another shot from different angle, they might look better.

My tips to this dish:

• Soak the satay sticks in the cold water for at least 30 minutes to prevent the stick from burning.
• Reserve the chicken oil whenever you cook the marinade chicken, so you can use it for grilling satay. You can freeze the oil too.
• It is best to marinade the chicken overnight.
• When you sticks the chicken onto the skewers, try to alternate the meat with the fat.

I haven’t include the peanut sauce recipe yet, simply because I never measure them every time I cook them. In fact, I rarely measures when I cook (don’t rely to much on my measurement ) Here are the step for making my peanut sauce (without measurement):

1. Using a wok, roasted peanut with skin on with low heat. It could take up to 30 minutes, depending on how much you have.
2. Peel the skin off the peanut. Try to rub them with your finger. The skin should fall pretty easily.
3. Puree the peanuts. You could leave some of them crush not puree.
4. Puree the bumbu (garlic, shallot, chilli).
5. Heat pan with oil. Fried the bumbu, lemon grass, lime leaves, bay leaves until fragrant.
6. Add the peanut and water (add as you need).
7. Add tamarind (diluted in hot water) and palm sugar and salt.
8. From this stage, you adjust the taste as you go along. They should be sweet and spicy with a slight saltiness and sourness.

Ingredients

• 500 gr chicken thigh fillets, cut into small pieces
• 5 cloves garlic
• 3 pcs shallot
• about 1 tbsp grated ginger
• 5 pcs candlenut, roasted
• salt
• chicken oil for brushing
• sweet soy sauce (kecap manis) for brushing
• satay sticks (to prevent the sticks from burning, soak them in cold water for 30 minutes or so)
• peanut sauce

Instructions

1. Using a blender, pureed garlic, shallot, ginger, and candlenut.
2. Marinate the chicken pieces with the pureed mixture overnight. Stick the chicken pieces into satay sticks.
3. It is best to use the charcoal BBQ,but you can still use the oven (like me). Grill the chicken at 200 C. Brush them once in a while alternately with chicken oil and sweet soy sauce.
4. Serve them with peanut sauce and cucumber or rice cakes (ketupat lontong).

Culinary tradition: Indonesian

Please leave your comment/suggestion if you find this recipe useful. Can’t wait to hear from you and Thank You !!!