To be honest, back when I was still in Malaysia I was never a huge satay fan. I liked it alright, but I never really craved it, unlike many people I know; like my brothers who would literally devour 20-30 sticks of chicken satay in one sitting. I really didn’t care for it, the most I would eat, IF I was in the mood for it was probably 4-5 sticks.

Of course since moving away, I can’t get enough! I guess you can blame the fact that in the 6-7 years give and take a few months I’ve been in the States, I haven’t been able to get my hands on what I think is truly authentic “Malaysian” Chicken Satay, or at least really GOOD Satay. Sure, you can go to any Thai restaurant or even some Chinese restaurants here and find satay on their menu, but more often than not I find the taste lacking, and IF I do find a place that does serve pretty good Satay, it’s often really expensive! $7-$8 bucks for 3-4 sticks? LOL. A far cry from the RM 0.60 (which is roughly only $0.20) a stick in Malaysia.

Anyways, because it’s been so hard to find really good satay here, and also because I like to cook and experiment, I figured it was high time I tried my hand at making it, with the help of Tom. I just had a baby mind you, so trying to make everything myself is a little overwhelming. Plus, Tom is the grill expert in our house. I cook indoors, and he’s usually the one who does the outdoor grilling. So I prepared everything and had him grill them, and I think we did a pretty good job. It tasted fantastic and actually did remind me of the satays I had back in Malaysia.

Chicken Satay

Ingredients :

• 6 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves – cut into cubes, or just small pieces.
• 1 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 4 tablespoons sugar
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 2 tablespoons cooking oil
• 10 (6 inch) wooden skewers, or as needed, soaked in water for at least  30 minutes.
• Extra oil and lemongrass (or you can use a normal baster brush) for basting

Blended ingredients:

• 1 large red onion
• 2 candlenuts
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 3 cm fresh turmeric or 2 teaspoons turmeric powder
• 4 cm ginger
• 2 lemongrass
• 4 cm galangal or 2 1/2 teaspoon galangal powder (You can usually find this at your local asian grocery store, or  through Amazon)
• 1 tablespoons coriander seed dry roast (without oil) over low heat till fragrant
• 1 teaspoon fennel seed dry roast (without oil) over low heat till fragrant
• 1 teaspoon cumin seed dry roast (without oil) over low heat till fragrant

Method :

1. Mix the sugar, honey, cooking oil and salt into the blended ingredients to form a paste.
2. Rub the paste mixture onto the diced chicken and leave it to marinate for at least 3 hours. I prefer to leave it overnight.
3. Thread the marinated chicken pieces on to the wooden skewers.
4. Grill over char- coal fire or under hot grill .
5. Baste with oil and the leftover marinate paste mixture to keep the meat moist.
6. Serve with peanut sauce, cucumbers and onion cut into wedges and cubed rice.

Peanut Sauce

Ingredients :

• 1 cup raw peanuts, dry roasted, skin peeled and ground coarsely
• 2-3 tablespoons oil
• 2 cups coconut milk
• 1 tablespoon tamarind mixed with 1 cup water
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 tablespoon palm sugar or brown sugar
• 2 teaspoon salt
• 2 inches galangal or 1 to 1 1/2 teaspoon galangal powder
• 4 large stalks lemongrass, bruised at the ends

Blended ingredients:

• 1-2 cups dried chillies, soaked in hot water
• 2 inches ginger
• 6 cloves garlic
• 2 medium sized red onions

Method :

1. Heat oil in a heavy bottom pot.
2. Saute the blended ingredients until fragrant
3. Add the galangal and lemongrass
4. Add the coconut milk, tamarind juice, sugar, palm sugar and salt.
5. Once the mixture begins to boil, add the roasted ground peanuts,
6. Leave on low heat for roughly 10 minutes
7. Stir and taste