Chicken Satay

I love chicken satay especially those selling at the Satay Club. However, with a 3 years old active boy there is no way we can sit down nicely to enjoy our satay.

I've been wondering about making and grilling my own satay ever since I bought the Happycall pans. The wonders about these pans are the fact that they can cook, stew, bake & grill. So, to give that grilling bit a test and to satisfy my cravings for chicken satay, I decided to make them and see how well it turns out.

The results are just awesome! The satay was grilled so nicely and the best part....all grilled without using oil! Ok, ok, I've already added oil to the meat while marinating but STILL ... no oil during grilling! I only brush on some honey just to make it look more authentic! hahahahah The taste is really nice, not quite close to those from Satay Club but nice enough for me and it is not spicy so kids can get to enjoy as well.

The peanut sauce is really yummy! I think I shall make this peanut sauce again for my Satay Bee Hoon this weekend, that is, if time permits :D

Making the satay sauce is a breeze too espcially now since we can easily purchased ground peanuts from the shelves like NTUC etc... In the past, I had to help my mum to fry the peanuts, skinned it and then pound it to get it to the right texture.

The paste is also not difficult to make. I took the lazy way out of just grinding everything with my chopper /processor. My mum would certainly frown on that as she always insisted that pounding give out a better quality paste due to the release of oil from the various ingredients. I do agree with her but just not in the mood to tone my arms today hahahahaha. So go ahead, you can either pound or grind, up to your convenience :)

Chicken Satay

Makes 35 sticks

Ingredients

400g Chicken Thigh Meat
OR
400g Chicken Fillet Meat

Spice Paste
1 tsp Coriander Powder
1/8 tsp Cumin Powder
1 stalk Lemongrass, only use the white parts
6 Shallots, peeled
2 Cloves of Garlic, peeled
1cm Knob of Galangal (Blue Ginger)
3 Tbsps Cooking Oil
1 tsp Chilli Powder
2 tsps Tumeric Powder
4 tsps Kecap Manis
1 tsp Oyster Sauce
2 tsps Sugar (Palm Sugar is better)
1 tsp Salt
1 Tbsp Tamarind pulp, soaked in 1/4 cup (60ml) warm water, squeezed & strained for juice.
Bamboo Skewers (please soak in water overnight to avoid splitting)
1/2 cup Honey (for glazing during the grilling process)

Garnishes
1 Japanese Cucumber (I prefer Jap. Cucumber to the regular ones)
1 Small Onions, quartered

Methods

1. Cut the chicken meat into small cubes
   
2. Grind/pound the spice paste until nice and fine.
   
3. Add in a little tamarind juice if the paste is too dry.
   
4. Marinate the chicken pieces with the spice paste for at least 6 hours
   
5. Place the marinated meat in ziplog bags and store in the fridge.
   
6. Thread the marinated meat onto the bamboo skewers
   
7. Grill for 3-5 mins on each side, brush some honey as you grill.
   
8. Serve with Peanut sauce.