Chicken Satay for a party
I had about 60 people over in the last 2 days. We grilled chicken satay (and tofu satay). I looked it up and found a zillion recipes, but figured I'd post what I ended up with. (though I actually used 2 cans coconut milk and 10 pounds of chicken, we had twice as much peanut sauce as we needed)
Method is slicing chicken breasts, then marinading (some recipes were coconut based, others soy based, but I got bold and did both together), then grilling, and serving with peanut sauce. Peanut sauce is not, as I'd previously believed, peanut based, but in fact, the main volumetric ingredient is coconut milk. The recipe below splits one can of coconut milk between the marinade and the sauce. Instead of spicing it very carefully, I went to Penzey's Spices (a midwestern gourmet staple, but there's a branch in Arlington MA) and got their Sate mix. Key ingredients: salt, garlic, ginger, brown sugar (added all 4 of these to taste afterwards anyway), coriander, lemon grass, shallots, turmeric, paprika, various hot peppers, and galangal. Something about this stuff was magic and made the dish taste authentic - I'm guessing it was the lemon grass; if I didn't have Penzey's and had to invent it myself, the thing I'd scrounge for is a packet of lemon grass.
Anyway, here's what I think I did, cut in half:
1/2 c coconut milk
1/4 c soy
2 Tbsp lime
2-3 cloves garlic
1/2 Tbsp grated ginger
2 Tbsp Sate spice blend
Marinade meat overnight, or whatever. Spear it on skewers, and grill it. Serve with peanut sauce.
1 1/2 c coconut milk
4-6 Tbsp chunky peanut butter
1 Tbsp soy sauce (suprisingly little, but adding too much really ruins the subtleties)
1 Tbsp lime juice
3 Tbsp sate powder
1-2 Tbsp brown sugar
Whirl in a blender, stir enthusiastically by hand, or use an immersion blender. By hand leaves the chunky peanut butter as chunks; machines cut those chunks into grainy peanutty base. Or use smooth peanut butter.
Add spices to taste: soy sauce, garlic powder or fresh garlic, ginger powder or fresh ginger, extra brown sugar, extra lime juice, extra hot pepper (suggestions: red curry paste, rooster chili sauce, or cayenne, whatever's handy). If it's super thick, add a bit of water.
Method is slicing chicken breasts, then marinading (some recipes were coconut based, others soy based, but I got bold and did both together), then grilling, and serving with peanut sauce. Peanut sauce is not, as I'd previously believed, peanut based, but in fact, the main volumetric ingredient is coconut milk. The recipe below splits one can of coconut milk between the marinade and the sauce. Instead of spicing it very carefully, I went to Penzey's Spices (a midwestern gourmet staple, but there's a branch in Arlington MA) and got their Sate mix. Key ingredients: salt, garlic, ginger, brown sugar (added all 4 of these to taste afterwards anyway), coriander, lemon grass, shallots, turmeric, paprika, various hot peppers, and galangal. Something about this stuff was magic and made the dish taste authentic - I'm guessing it was the lemon grass; if I didn't have Penzey's and had to invent it myself, the thing I'd scrounge for is a packet of lemon grass.
Anyway, here's what I think I did, cut in half:
1/2 c coconut milk
1/4 c soy
2 Tbsp lime
2-3 cloves garlic
1/2 Tbsp grated ginger
2 Tbsp Sate spice blend
Marinade meat overnight, or whatever. Spear it on skewers, and grill it. Serve with peanut sauce.
1 1/2 c coconut milk
4-6 Tbsp chunky peanut butter
1 Tbsp soy sauce (suprisingly little, but adding too much really ruins the subtleties)
1 Tbsp lime juice
3 Tbsp sate powder
1-2 Tbsp brown sugar
Whirl in a blender, stir enthusiastically by hand, or use an immersion blender. By hand leaves the chunky peanut butter as chunks; machines cut those chunks into grainy peanutty base. Or use smooth peanut butter.
Add spices to taste: soy sauce, garlic powder or fresh garlic, ginger powder or fresh ginger, extra brown sugar, extra lime juice, extra hot pepper (suggestions: red curry paste, rooster chili sauce, or cayenne, whatever's handy). If it's super thick, add a bit of water.