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Chicken satay with peanut sauce

Chicken is hip. Rightly so. Because there’s little that beats a juicy, tender piece of chicken. In my latest book – Handbook for the Perfect Chicken – I explain how you can make a superior chicken dish at home. Part 1 in a series: chicken satay.

Foto van culinair journalist Marcus Polman

door Marcus Polman

The tastiest chicken satay is made with chicken thighs. And you serve it with a thick, spicy-sweet peanut sauce like the one I once learned to make from the cook at the legendary Indonesian restaurant Garoeda in The Hague (with thanks to ‘Auntie Miriam’).

Preparation
Ask your poultry butcher or butcher for free-range chicken thighs. The thigh contains more fat and stays juiciest during grilling. Cut the chicken thigh into equal cubes of approximately 2.5 x 2.5 cm.

Marinating

Mix the oil and ketjap in a bowl. Add the red chilli pepper along with the lime juice, shallots, garlic, ginger, sugar, pepper and salt, and stir everything together well. Place the chicken cubes in the marinade. Cover the bowl with aluminium foil and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

The sauce

Meanwhile, make the peanut sauce. Fry the peanuts in a wok or frying pan for approximately 5 minutes in the oil over medium heat until golden brown. Remove the peanuts from the pan with a slotted spoon and leave them to drain and cool.

Once cooled, grind the roasted peanuts finely in a blender or mortar (set aside approximately 4 heaped tablespoons). Pound the lime leaf finely in the mortar with the remaining peanuts. Add the fried onions and sambal, and mix everything well to create a smooth paste.

Heat a splash of oil in the wok or frying pan and fry the garlic. Add the peanut-spice mixture and stir-fry briefly. Add a glass of water and bring everything to the boil over medium heat, stirring continuously. Add the salt, sugar, vinegar and ketjap as well. Taste and add more sugar or salt if desired.

Add the reserved ground peanuts to this sauce and stir everything together well. You now have a fairly thick sauce with coarse pieces of peanut in it. For a thinner sauce, you can add a little more water.

Grilling

Remove the chicken cubes from the refrigerator and let them come to room temperature for approximately 30 minutes. Thread them onto metal or wooden satay skewers, 3–4 cubes per skewer. Grill the satay over medium heat in a grill pan or on the barbecue. Turn the skewers regularly so that the meat becomes nicely browned on all sides.

Spoon the warm peanut sauce over the satay. Garnish with finely chopped spring onions, coriander and dried fried onions, if desired.

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