Chicken Satay

The January 2010 DC challenge was hosted by Cuppy of Cuppylicious and she chose a delicious Thai-inspired recipe for Pork Satay from the book 1000 Recipes by Martha Day.

My kids loved this month’s satay challenge! And an added bonus is that it takes very little time to cook. I switched out the pork and used chicen. We served this over rice with a mango chutney and peanut sauce but I think it would pair equally well with couscous which takes about the same amount of time to cook as the chicken. The flavors are easy to change up and the chicken can marinate overnight or even be frozen in the marinade in most cases.
 Marinating was the real point of this challenge. Marinating is used to add flavor and/or to tenderize. A marinade generally has an oil and an acid along with spices or other flavorings. The acid helps break down connective tissue and the oil helps transfer flavorful oils from the flavorings and coats the food (sometimes only as it comes back out of the marinade) to help with browning as it cooks. The tenderizing effect takes quite a bit of time, at least overnight. Fortunately, that aspect is rarely needed. Many meats that we marinade are tender enough to begin with such as chicken or steaks. In these cases it is the flavor enhancing aspect of marinades that we are interested in.
 For cooks in a rush it might be helpful to note that this is definitely not a very precise procedure. “Some oil, some wine and some spices” is often precise enough. Of course you want to have enough of the marinade to coat the meat and seap into it a little but an ounce more or less than the recipe calls for probably won’t make much of a difference. Be careful with hot peppers and salt, you can always add more.
For the marinade:
1/2 small onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 T ginger root, chopped (optional) (2 cm cubed)
2 T lemon juice (1 oz or 30 mls)
1 T soy sauce (0.5 oz or 15 mls)
1 tsp ground coriander (5 mls)
1 tsp ground cumin (5 mls)
1/2 tsp ground turmeric (2-2.5 mls)
2 T vegetable oil (or peanut or olive oil) (30 mls)

Mix the above together and add your meat. If you are using skewers you should soak them for at least half an hour. The chicken cooked in a couple minutes under the broiler.

For the sauce:

3/4 cup coconut milk (6 oz or 180 mls)
4 Tbsp peanut butter (2 oz or 60 mls)
1 Tbsp lemon juice (0.5 oz or 15 mls)
1 Tbsp soy sauce (0.5 oz or 15 mls)
1 tsp brown sugar (5 mls)
1/2 tsp ground cumin (2.5 mls)
1/2 tsp ground coriander (2.5 mls)
1-2 dried red chilies, chopped (keep the seeds for heat)

1. Mix dry ingredients in a small bowl. Add soy sauce and lemon, mix well.
2. Over low heat, combine coconut milk, peanut butter and your soy-lemon-seasoning mix. Mix well, stir often.
3. All you’re doing is melting the peanut butter, so make your peanut sauce after you’ve made everything else in your meal, or make ahead of time and reheat.

Comments

[Audax Artifex]

Love that first photo it looks so pretty and so so delicious great to hear everybody liked it so much. Cheers from Audax in Sydney Australia.

[Term papers]

You switched out the pork and used chicken. You served this over rice with a mango chutney and peanut sauce but You think it would pair equally well with couscous which takes about the same amount of time to cook as the chicken. The flavors are easy to change up and the chicken can marinate overnight or even be frozen in the marinade in most cases.