Grilled Chicken with Sate Sauce

January 23, 2001

About 30 years ago my cousin Paddy's husband Adriaan introduced me to sate. He had spent time working in Indonesia and my aunt suggested I talk to him nicely and he might give me the recipe.

Adriaan was in a generous mood and he made the dish for me, complete with trimmings. It's a meal I have cooked many times in the ensuing years, with a variety of different meats. I've used pork fillets, lamb fillets and lamb steaks. This week, for the first time, I used cubes of chicken breast.

When Adriaan first walked me through the recipe there were herbs and spices I had never heard of, let alone tasted. Now they are commonplace in my pantry, but 30 years ago I had to track them down at a specialist delicatessen.

I've had numerous versions of sate (or satay) over the years. Sometimes the peanut sauce has been sweet, sometimes super fiery. I don't particularly care for a sweet sate sauce, but if you like it that way, add some sugar.

The main thing is to use a tender meat that will cook quickly. I like lamb fillets but the chicken was pretty good and as it's readily available, I'll use it here.

Chicken Sate

1 large skinned chicken breast per person
1 medium onion roughly chopped
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1 teaspoon dried ground cumin
1 teaspoon dried ginger
1 teaspoon turmeric powder
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon laos (dried galangal powder)
1 or 2 teaspoons sambal oelek (chilli paste)
1/4 cup soy sauce

Cube the chicken and place it in a bowl and mix the remaining ingredients together. Pour over the chicken, add about 1/4 cup water and mix through thoroughly. Set aside to marinade for at least an hour.

Meanwhile take several bamboo skewers and soak them in cold water.

Thread the chicken onto skewers, placing them on a rack so they can drain a little. Reserve the marinade, removing the onion with a slotted spoon.

Grill the chicken until it is cooked, either under a griller or on the barbecue.

To make the sate sauce, put about half a cup of smooth peanut butter in a pot and stir in the reserved marinade. Heat slowly. The sauce will thicken considerably, Keep thinning it with some additional water. You can add extra sambal oelek, spices and a little more soy sauce as you go - but don't overdo the soy sauce and make the dish too salty. You can make the sauce ahead and give it a quick nuke in the microwave before serving if you feel you can't cope with grilling the meat and making the sauce at the same time.

Serve the sate sticks with rice (plain boiled rice or nasi goreng) and side dishes of sliced banana, sliced gherkins and small quartered tomatoes. Or you can accompany with a salad, but the peanut sauce goes particularly well with the above side dishes.