Recipe: how to make authentic Indonesian chicken satay yourself
The ultimate A to Z of the most delicious satay; that’s the new cookbook Indostok by Vanja van der Leeden. Vanja shows you how to make Indonesia’s most famous street food at home in various ways. From this classic chicken satay to saté lilit made with mackerel: every version is divine.
Vanja: “The good old classic chicken satay is ubiquitous in Indonesia, and there are many different varieties. It is also known as saté ayam Madura, after the island of Madura. Although on Madura it is simply called saté ayam, just as pizza napoletana doesn’t exist in Naples. This chicken satay is said to be impossible to beat. That’s why I absolutely don’t add ‘Madura’ to the name of this chicken satay, if only because it was made in Amsterdam-Noord, my current base. Let’s just call it insanely delicious chicken satay.”
How to make the saté ayam
- Remove the skin from the chicken thighs and cook it for one minute in boiling water – boiling makes the skin firmer and easier to skewer. Remove it from the cooking liquid and drain. Cut the skin into thin strips.
- Butterfly the thighs: flatten them by cutting across the thicker parts. Cut the meat into strips 3 centimetres long and not too thick.
- In a mortar, finely grind the ginger, garlic and Javanese sugar with a pinch of salt. Add the lime juice, soy sauce and kecap manis and mix everything together. Marinate the chicken strips in this for 1 hour (longer is fine too).
- Meanwhile, make the bumbu kacang pedis (spicy peanut sauce) and acar ketimun (sweet-and-sour cucumber) to serve with it.
- Thread the chicken lengthwise onto water-soaked skewers, four or five pieces per skewer, and fold them over as it were. Start and finish with chicken, alternating with chicken skin. Include small scraps and the like as well.
- Light the barbecue and wait until the flames die down and the coals are glowing white. Create a hot zone and a less hot zone.
- First grill the satay over the hot zone for a few minutes per side, until just cooked and seared. Turn it over quickly and keep turning it regularly.
- Pour kecap onto a large flat plate and mix with a few tablespoons of bumbu kacang. Drag the skewers through it. Turn them over and make sure all sides are well coated with sauce and kecap. Cook once more over the less hot zone until the chicken is beautifully caramelised.
- Serve with bumbu kacang pedis and acar ketimun.
How to make the bumbu kacang pedis (spicy peanut sauce)
- Heat the oil in a pan and fry the garlic, cabe rawits and lombok pepper for about 4 minutes over low heat.
- Grind 3 tablespoons of peanuts into small pieces in a blender or food processor and set aside.
- Put the remaining peanuts, garlic and chillies in the blender together with the petis, Javanese sugar, kecap, tamarind water, lime leaves and water. Blend until smooth, taste and season with salt.
- In principle, you eat the sauce at room temperature. If you do want to warm it up, bear in mind that it will thicken. Add extra water and adjust the seasoning.
How to make the acar ketimun (sweet-and-sour cucumber)
- Halve the cucumber lengthwise and scrape out the seeds with a spoon.
- Cut the halves into slices and put them in a food storage container.
- Heat the vinegar with the sugar, salt, shallots and water. Leave to cool and pour over the cucumber.
- If you like it spicy, add rings of cabe rawit. Stir everything together, cover and leave the flavours to infuse until serving.
Title: Indostok
Author: Vanja van der Leeden
Price: €22,50
Publisher: Nijgh & van Ditmar
Read also:
