Satay is a popular local delicacy that can be easily found especially in the evenings or nights in coffee shops or night markets. It consists of marinated skewered meats that are grilled over an open flame using charcoal and served with a rich, savoury peanut dipping sauce, onion, cucumber and compressed rice (nasi impit). These meats can be chicken, beef or mutton.
Making satay had been in my to-do list for a long time. And I finally decided it was time. My journey in making satay started with buying chicken, all the required spices like cumin, fennel and coriander and herbs like ginger, lemongrass, turmeric and galangal. I left out candlenuts; the small amount will not affect the taste of the satay. Next, it was marinating the chicken, skewering and grilling the marinated chicken. I marinated the chicken for 3 days so that they are very flavourful when grilled.
Ingredients:
- 1.25 kg chicken breast
- 7.5 g cumin seeds (jintan putih)
- 7.5 g fennel seeds (jintan manis)
- 7.5 g coriander seeds (ketumbar)
- 25 g turmeric powder
- 200 g onions
- 50 g garlic
- 50 g lemongrass
- 50 g ginger
- 1 tbsp salt
- 1 tsp pepper
- 25 g sugar
- 3 tbsp cooking oil
Ingredients:
- Wash and slice the chicken into 2 cm wide and 6-7 cm length. set aside.
- Toast the cumin, fennel and coriander seeds till they are very fragrant. Grind them till very fine. (You may use store-bought powders.)
- Peel and cut onion and garlic and add to the blender.
- Slice the lemongrass and ginger thinly and add to the blender.
- Blend these ingredients till fine.
- Add the ground spices, turmeric powder, blended ingredients, salt, pepper, sugar and cooking oil to a mixing bowl. Mix them up very well.
- Add the chicken to the blend and mix, making sure the chicken is well coated.
- Cover the bowl and leave it in the fridge for 2-3 days.
- Soak about 35 bamboo skewers for a day to ensure they will not burn during grilling.
- On the day of consumption, skewer the marinated chicken.
- Prepare a stalk of lemongrass. Mash the end of the white part gently. This is required to baste the meat with the remaining marinade.
- Grill the skewered chicken using either charcoal grill or electric grill or grill over gas stove.
- Keep on turning the chicken skewers. Baste each side with the remainder marinade using the lemongrass.
- Remove the skewers from the grill once the chicken has cooked.
- Serve with peanut sauce, cucumber and onion.
