Monday, March 14, 2011

Chicken Satay with Spicy Peanut Sauce


Satay is one of my favorite Thai appetizers.  When we lived in Miami, our favorite Thai restaurant was called Tani Thai, and had the best chicken satay.  They brought the skewers on these mini hibachi grills where you'd place the skewers to keep them warm while you ate. Fast froward a few years later and we still haven't had satay as good as that one.  I tried making satay last night for dinner with a spicy peanut sauce.  This dish was easy and a great way to use up boneless, skinless chicken breasts.  Serve with some refreshing cucumber salad and some Thai fried rice and you'll have a great meal.

Ingredients for the Satay:
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
4 shallots
5 garlic cloves
3 tbsp. palm sugar (you can use dark brown sugar as a substitute)
2 tsp.ground coriander seed
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. cumin powder
2 tbsp. canola oil
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp. freshly grated ginger
2 kaffir lime leaves (If you can't find this, use some lime zest- about 1 tsp. You can also use lemongrass.  Just the tender stalk, minced)
1 tbsp. fresh lime juice
2 bird chilies (if you can't find this, you can substitute with your favorite red chili, just use about 1 tsp and remove the seeds.  You can also use chili paste)
2 tsp. salt

Add the shallots, ginger, garlic, chilies, kaffir lime leaves, and lemon juice to a mini food processor.  Transfer to a mixing bowl and then add in the turmeric, cinnamon, cumin, coriander, lime juice and sugar.  Whisk well and then add the oil and salt.  You should have a thick paste at this point.  Slice the chicken breasts horizontally to think out the slices.  You could also pound out the breast to make it thinner.  Begin cutting the chicken into long strips and adding it to a zip-lock bag with the marinade.  Refrigerate for one hour.  Skewer the chicken onto bamboo sticks.  Spray your grill with a little non-stick spray and turn the heat up to medium high.  Place the skewers down on the grill and let it cook undisturbed for about 5 minutes on each side, baste the chicken with any remaining marinade about halfway through the cooking process.

For the peanut sauce:
5 shallots
3 garlic cloves
2 bird chilies (red chilies)
1 tbsp. canola oil
2 tsp. freshly grated ginger
1/2 cup peanut butter
2 tsp. ground coriander
3 tbsp. palm sugar (or brown sugar)
1/4 cup boiling water
2 tsp. soy sauce
1 tbsp. fresh lime juice
1/4 cup coconut milk

First roughly chop the garlic, shallots and chilies and saute them in a non-stick pan on medium heat with the canola oil.  Add in the grated ginger and cook for about 2 minutes before adding in the peanut butter.  Using a spatula, begin stirring the peanut butter as it melts into the sauce. Next add in the coriander, lime juice, soy sauce , coconut milk and sugar.  Cook everything until the sugar dissolves. Transfer this sauce into a blender or food processor and add in the water.  Blend until you have a smooth and creamy consistency.  Serve with the satay.

7 comments:

Jenna said...

I love satay! I haven't had it in years, though.
How are you liking your new camera? Your pics are looking beautiful. Are you getting comfortable with the settings?

Rox said...

Thanks Jenna! I love the camera, it's been lots of fun. So far I've been messing around with the settings and i've been shooting on manual mode, trying to figure it out as I go along.

Tessa said...

I love satay! Thanks for reminding me to make some :)

Caleah said...

Man this looks good! Ur making me hungry!

Kerri said...

I love your recipe but please, for the love of food blogging, put your ingredients in the order they're used. This was so unbelievably confusing to get through, I'm still not sure I added everything I was supposed to.

Rox said...

Hi Kerri- I am sorry. I have to be better about this! I will keep this in mind for future recipes.

Chloe said...

I saw this recipe a few days ago and couldn't wait to try it. I cooked it for my boyfriends family and everybody loved it so much we were disappointed when it finished. I made salmon and chicken satay's it was amazing!!


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