Daring Cooks January Challenge: Satay

The January 2010 DC challenge was hosted by Cuppy of Cuppylicious and she chose a delicious Thai-inspired recipe for Pork Satay from the book 1000 Recipes by Martha Day.

Satay? No problem for me - made it a dozen times before, only not knowing it was called satay. In my days of study I was famous for my chicken skewers I used to bring for BBQs. They were one of my first attempts to "cook" or rather make meals from scratch. I started with joghurt based and indian spiced marinades and later came to the one I still use today, a mixture of soy sauce, honey, chili powder and garlic, seasoned with ginger or other spices at hand. Because I lately had some cravings for sea food, I added king prawns - for a litte bit surf & turf style. With the peanut sauce I was familiar too - I use peanut- and coconut-based sauces a lot with my Indian curries.

Chicken-Prawn Satay with Peanut Sauce

Satay Marinade

• 1/2 small onion, chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• 1 T ginger root, chopped (optional) (2 cm cubed)
• 2 T lemon juice (1 oz or 30 mls)
• 1 T soy sauce (0.5 oz or 15 mls)
• 1 tsp ground coriander (5 mls)
• 1 tsp ground cumin (5 mls)
• 1/2 tsp ground turmeric (2-2.5 mls)
• 2 T vegetable oil (or peanut or olive oil) (30 mls)

I added:

• 1/2 tsp chili powder
• 1/2 T fish sauce

Meat & sea food

• 1 pound of chicken (eg breasts) (16 oz or 450g)
• about a dozen king prawns (already prepared)

If you have a food processor or blender, dump in everything except the pork and blend until smooth. Lacking a food processor, chop my onions, garlic and ginger really fine then mix it all together in a medium to large bowl. Cut meat into 1 inch strips, cover with marinade. Add the prawns and mix. You can place everything into a bowl, cover/seal and chill, or place the whole lot of it into a ziplock bag, seal and chill. The chicken will need about 2 to 4 hours (the longer the better), you can also marinate it overnight.

If using wooden or bamboo skewers, soak your skewers in warm water for at least 20 minutes before preparing skewers. I didn't have skewers at hand, so I used bamboo fruit forks - they were shorter but easier to arrange in the pan. Gently and slowly slide meat strips onto skewers. Place a king prawn at the end of each skewer/fruit fork. Discard leftover marinade. Broil or grill at 290°C/550° F (or pan fry on medium-high) for 8-10 minutes or until the edges just start to char. Flip and cook another 8-10 minutes.

Peanut Sauce

• 3/4 cup coconut milk (6 oz or 180 mls)
• 4 Tbsp peanut butter (2 oz or 60 mls)
• 1 Tbsp lemon juice (0.5 oz or 15 mls)
• 1 Tbsp soy sauce (0.5 oz or 15 mls)
• 1 tsp brown sugar (5 mls)
• 1/2 tsp ground cumin (2.5 mls)
• 1/2 tsp ground coriander (2.5 mls)
• 1-2 dried red chilies, chopped (keep the seeds for heat)

Mix dry ingredients in a small bowl. Add soy sauce and lemon, mix well. Over low heat, combine coconut milk, peanut butter and your soy-lemon-seasoning mix. Mix well, stir often. All you're doing is melting the peanut butter, so make your peanut sauce after you've made everything else in your meal, or make ahead of time and reheat.

Served with rice and steamed vegetables it's a tasty and satiating meal. Enjoy!