Skewered Satay Chicken

Satay is a dish of seasoned skewered meat that is then grilled and served with a sauce. In the West it has become very commonly associated with chicken skewered and served with a spiced peanut sauce. It is a national dish of Indonesia but is also popular in Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and in former Dutch Asian colonies.

I first learnt how to make this dish when I got a job in a Malaysian owned Cantonese and Malay Restaurant when I was 13. It became a favourite dish at our home and as I got to bring food home after every shift, I would often bring this for myself and family to share.

I hope that you really enjoy this dish as much as I do.

To make enough to feed 4, you will want to have:-

800g Chicken breasts
1 egg white
10ml rice wine vinegar
1tbsp corn flour
8 skewers soaked in water for an hour
150g peanut butter (You can use some from this recipe)
2tbsp Soy Sauce
2 cloves of garlic
1 red chilli
200ml coconut milk
1tbsp honey

Star by mixing together in a bowl the egg white, rice wine vinegar and corn flour. Then chop your chickens into strips and put into the egg white mix, mix until thoroughly covered and place in fridge for an hour.

For the Satay sauce place the peanut butter, soy sauce, garlic, chillis, coconut milk and honey into a food processor and turn on until all combined. Place into a pan and cook for a minute.

Take your chickens out and thread onto the skewers and then grill on a medium-high heat until browned, about 10 minutes. Serve with the peanut sauce warm sauce.

The leftover sauce goes great as a sauce for noodles.

Peanut Butter

So I realised the other day that I have been having so much fun with life that I haven't updated my blog in two weeks, shock horror. So as an apology I will post two recipes this week.

I love peanut butter, for as long as I remember, I have spread this golden yummyiness on bread and savoured it at various times of the day. It can be traced back to the Aztecs but the first 'modern' variety originated in Canada from a pharmacist who sold it as a nutritious remedy for those who found it hard to chew solid foods. Talking of nutritious, when making home-made peanut butter, it is packed full of vitamins and minerals, we're talking about 45% of your Vit E RDA in 100 grams, 67% of your recommended Vit B3 as well as other things your body needs to stay healthy.

It is also easy and quick to make up a large batch and then consume at your leisure. You can also experiment with other kinds of nuts, mix up several kinds or add other tastes.

You will want to have at your disposal:-

500g peanuts, shelled and roasted
1 tsp salt
2 tsp honey
2 tbsp nut oil

Place all into your food processor and switch on. Keep going until you get the desired consitency. I had mine going for 5 minutes and it came out smoothly. Remember it won't even be as smooth as shop bought kinds but it can get pretty close.

That's it, really simple, not lies, so just get out there and make some.