Malaysian chicken satay
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There are hundreds of variations on satay across Southeast Asia – Mandy Yin takes inspiration from Malaysia, specifically her home city of Kuala Lumpur, for her take on this much-loved dish. Lemongrass, palm sugar and a range of spices form the backbone of the satay marinade and Mandy uses dry-roasted peanuts to provide deep, earthy flavour for her peanut sauce. Most important of all? A ripping hot grill – preferably a barbecue – to get that flavourful charring on the chicken. The satay recipe makes plenty of sauce – anything leftover will stay in the fridge for a couple of weeks, or you can freeze it.
Ingredients
Chicken
- 1kg boneless chicken thighs , skinless and cut into bite-sized pieces
Satay spice mix
- 1 lemongrass stalk , white bottom half only, hard outer leaves removed, finely chopped
- 1 large onion , peeled and roughly chopped
- 5 garlic cloves , peeled
- 1 tsp ground coriander
- 1 tsp chilli powder
- 1 tsp ground turmeric
- 1/2 tsp fennel seeds
- 1/2 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tbsp of salt
- 100g of palm sugar, or dark brown sugar
Peanut sauce
- 180g of dry-roasted peanuts , lightly salted, ground using a food processor to a fine crumb
- 200g of coconut milk
- 60g of palm sugar, or dark brown sugar
- 2 1/2 tbsp of tamarind paste
- 1 pinch of chilli powder
- 150ml of water
- 1/2 tsp salt
To serve
- red onion, diced
- cucumber , diced
Equipment
- Bamboo skewers (20)
- Food processor
Method
1
To begin, blend all satay spice mix ingredients together in a food processor until it achieves the consistency of a smooth, fine paste. Set 3 tablespoons of the spice mix aside for making the peanut sauce
2
Place the rest of the spice mix into a container with the chicken pieces and leave to marinade in the fridge for at least 4 hours, or preferably overnight
3
To make the peanut sauce for the satay, add all the ingredients (including the reserved 3 tablespoons of spice paste) to a medium-sized saucepan. Place over a medium heat and bring to boil, stirring every now and then to prevent it sticking to the bottom. Reduce the heat to low and simmer for 5 minutes until the sauce thickens. Set aside
4
Soak the skewers in water for 10 minutes. Skewer the chicken pieces onto skewers so that there are 6 pieces per skewer
5
To cook the skewers, you can use a flat-top griddle plate, a grill preheated to high or a barbecue. Turn the skewers frequently to char each side for around 5 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through
6
Serve with the peanut sauce and freshly cut cucumber and red onion
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Malaysian chicken satay
