Sate Ayam aka Chicken Satay 🐓
It wouldn't be an Indonesian food week without Sate Ayam aka Chicken Satay! This dish is one of our all-time favs and there are many ways to make this but we will teach you how we do it. You can view our step-by-step how-to on our IG highlights "🐔 Satay" if you wanna see a visual guide. If you don't have a BBQ, you can use a cast iron griddle pan, a normal griddle pan, or your oven! We hope you enjoy making this and please tag us if you do!! #SezPK
Serves: 15 - 18 satay sticks
Difficulty: Level 1
Wow factor: ⭐⭐️⭐️⭐⭐
Ingredients
600gr chicken meat (we used thighs but you can also use breast)
1 bunch of coriander
Oil to fry
for the marinade:
3 garlic cloves, minced - or 1tsp garlic powder
1tsp turmeric powder
1/2 lime, juiced
1 thumb-sized ginger, grated
1tbsp olive oil
1tsp soy sauce
3 to 4tsp of sweet soy sauce aka kecap manis
Sea salt and black pepper to taste
for the peanut sauce:
2 garlic cloves, minced
3 keffir lime leaves
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
120ml water
2tbsp dark brown sugar
2tbsp sweet soy sauce or kecap manis (check tip below if you can't find this anywhere)
Sea salt and black pepper to taste
1 bird's eye chili if you want it slightly spicy
Oil to fry
Instructions
Soak bamboo skewers for at least 1 hour in water, if using the oven to make your chicken satays. This will help ensure the sticks don't burn or break easily later on.
Cut your chicken meat into 2cm pieces then tip into a mixing bowl.
Add all the marinade ingredients and mix well. Ensure all the pieces are covered with this delicious marinade. Pop this in the fridge, covered.
Make your peanut sauce. In a food processor, add all the ingredients apart from the oil and blend this until it forms a smooth paste. Taste it and ensure you are happy with the flavour. If you want it to be sweeter, then add more sugar or kecap manis. If you want it to be more salty then add more salt! Set aside.
In a frying pan, heat up some oil (around 1-2tbsp is fine) over a medium fire.
When hot, add your peanut sauce paste and fry until the sauce thickens. The sauce is ready when you can see the oil separating. Set aside when done.
In a separate frying pan, heat up around 3tbsp of oil over a low-medium fire and fry coriander leaves. This oil will be used to baste your chicken later so the chicken satay will be fragrant and delicious. Fry for around 3-4 minutes, pass it through a sieve and discard the coriander leaves. If you really hate coriander, then just skip this step and use plain oil instead to baste the chicken later.
If using an oven to grill, pre-heat this now to 220 degrees celsius. We used our new cast iron griddle pan and it worked too so if you have a large one which can fit the chicken skewers, feel free to use this and heat it up now.
Take your chicken pieces out of the fridge and stick em with the pointy end. In other words, thread a few pieces of chicken onto the skewers. I would aim for around 4-5 pieces of chicken per skewer. Repeat until you have used up all your meat.
If using an oven to grill, lay your chicken skewers on the griller. You want to grill this for a total of 15-20 minutes until the chicken is done. Take it out every 5 minutes, so you can turn the skewers and baste it with the coriander oil that we have prepared in step 7. The coriander oil helps to keep the chicken meat moist.
If using a cast iron griddle pan then just grill on the pan until the chicken is done not forgetting to turn it every once in a while and basting it with the coriander oil.
Your satays are now ready! Drizzle the peanut sauce all over and serve with your fav carb. Indonesians love to add fried shallots and an extra drizzle of kecap manis before serving but you do you boo!
Hot tip: You can usually find sweet soy sauce / kecap manis / ketjap manis at asian supermarkets or sometimes Waitrose or a big Sainsbury's. If you can't find it then just sub this with equal parts of soy sauce and dark brown sugar (e.g. 1tbsp soy sauce + 1tbsp dark brown sugar) and cook over a low heat until it thickens into a luxurious sweet soy sauce liquid.
We hope you enjoy this one! It is seriously sooo delicious and perfect for parties 🥳 #SezPK
