BBQ78/17 – Chicken Satay:
Chicken Satay: Years ago we travelled around Malaysia and I still remember the amazing food we eat each day fondly! When we got back we were keen to cook Malaysian food at home and I bought the book Amazing Malaysia by Norman Musa. I have cooked a lot of dishes from this book and the results are always fantastic. One of my favourite dishes from the book is Chicken Satay with peanut sauce, it is incredible!
I blitzed lemongrass and a bit of water with a hand blender until it was smooth then put it in a bowl with the chicken, turmeric, cumin, salt and sugar. I mixed it thoroughly (wearing gloves because turmeric stains!) then covered it and left it in the fridge overnight.
The next day I threaded the chicken onto some skewers I had bought to use with burgers previously.
I fired up the grill with some Oxford Charcoal hardwood blend (full chimney) and set the chicken to cook directly.
I kept an eye on the chicken and rotated it frequently. Whilst it was cooking I made the peanut sauce by dry toasting raw peanuts then blitzing them with a hand blender and putting in a bowl. I then made a pasted by blitzing lemongrass, garlic, ginger, shallots and chillies. Next I fried some lemongrass in a pan then added the paste, tamarind, sugar and salt followed by the peanuts, soy sauce, coconut milk and some water. I simmered this to reduce it. Tasted great!
Once the internal temperature of the chicken hit 75c I took it off.
The weather was bad, the light was bad so the final photos weren’t great!
I made coconut rice to go with the dish: Basmati rice, ginger, cinnamon, cardamom, star anise, bay leaves, coconut milk, lemongrass and salt. This was really easy to make but tasted fantastic, I love anything with coconut in so this will get made again!
I pulled the chicken off the skewer so it was easier to eat.
I love this dish, it’s one of my favourites. The peanut sauce really is incredible, folk doubt me about how good it is then they make it themselves and agree!
This wasn’t as good as I remember it and it’s been troubling me. I think I pushed too much chicken on each skewer which made it harder to cook. As I typed the recipe I spotted that I missed a brushing oil which you put on when cooking! I can’t believe I missed that as I nearly set myself on fire the last time I cooked this as it was on my Prakti stove and the brushing oil kept causing massive flare ups!
I will cook this again with the brushing oil and with less chicken on the skewers. I will also push the chicken to the end of the skewer to stop the end burning.
Cook Equipment: | Weber Grill |
Cook Method: | Direct over grill grates |
Charcoal: | 1 full chimney of Oxford Charcoal mixed lumpwood |
Smoking Wood: | None |
Cook temperature: | Hot |
Cook time: | About 20m |
Internal temperature: | 75c |
Notes: | 1: Make and use the brushing oil.
2: Put less meat on each skewer. 3: Push the meat over the end of the skewer to stop it burning. |