I’m always a fan of satay. Whether it’s the oddly dry sticks of party food or the oddly yellow chinese or, indeed, my mother’s oddly peanut free version. If it’s called satay I’ll eat it and I’ll enjoy it. However, until recently, I had never actually tried cooking it!
I had a few hit and miss experiments with this recipe (Do not use dark soy sauce unless you want dark chocolate coloured satay, for example!) but eventually I’ve hit upon this combo, which is pleasingly peanutty and a little spicy.
I serve it with either basmati rice or sesame noodles. I don’t yet have a recipe for the sesame noodles coz I basically mix some tahini, some lime juice and some soy sauce until it makes a dressing, toss it with some soba noodles and scatter some toasted sesame seeds over the top. Every time I do it I do it differently. If I’m serving it with rice then I do think it needs the sauce as the rice is a little boring otherwise.
I also like to serve this along with some stirfried veggies, whatever’s in the fridge. Because of the peanut butter and salt it can get a little claggy so something fresh and light really lifts it up and brightens your palate.
Serves 4
1 clove garlic
1 red chilli
1/2″ grated ginger
4 tbsp crunchy peanut butter
3 tbsp lime juice
4 tbsp light soy sauce
400g diced chicken breast (about 1″ cubes)
200ml coconut milk
– Put all of the ingredients except the chicken and coconut milk in a mini food processor (or a big one if that’s what you have!).
– Blitz until well combined and smooth (except for some lingering chunks of peanuts).
– Reserve about 1/3 of the mixture.
– Mix the rest with the cubed chicken breast.
– Leave to marinade for at least 1 hour, preferably overnight.
– Now to get messy! Skewer the chicken cubes on metal or bamboo skewers. You should need 10-12 skewers.
– Slather any spare marinade over the skewers so they’re all evenly and well coated.
– Grill under the grill or on a bbq for about 8 minutes, turning after 4 minutes.
– To make a sauce take the reserved satay mixture and the coconut milk and mix in a small pan. Stir until combined and hot throughout.
– Serve with basmati rice or noodles and stirfried vegetables.
Anna in the kitchen 