Satay Chicken

1 February 2019 By

Without a doubt, satay is one of Malaysia’s best local delicacies, enjoyed by both young and old. Satay is, at its most basic – barbecued meat on skewers. A great satay is made up of three things – flavourful succulent meat, a good char and a great peanut dipping sauce. Out of the three, the sauce is the one that’s most often overlooked. But get it right, and it’ll be a real game-changer.

Satay Chicken

The versatility of satay dipping sauce is that it can be used as the base for various dishes. From a stir fry chicken and vegetable satay, to a marinade for satay chicken tenders (tenderloins) cooked over a stove grill pan or oven grill. Even use it for a one pot dish of marinated chicken drumsticks oven baked in the satay sauce.

The recipe below is yet another version where chicken is marinated with a few ingredients, then pan fried until it’s caramelised before being tossed in a satay simmer sauce to finish cooking.

If you’re looking for a Thai flavour, try marinating chicken thigh cutlets (bone in) with some of our Thai Red Curry Paste and coconut cream, pan fry until caramelised then finished off in the oven by baking in a satay sauce.

Ingredients − Serves 4

  • 2-3 tbsp cooking oil
  • 600 g chicken meat from legs and thighs, diced with bone in or 3 chicken maryland diced
  • 2 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp grated palm or brown sugar
  • 1 tbsp light GF soy sauce

Ingredients to be ground:

  • 3 stalks lemon grass
  • 3 cm fresh turmeric
  • 2 cloves garlic

Ingredients for sauce:

  • 1 tbsp coconut or peanut oil
  • 1 stalk thick lemongrass
  • 350 g jar Latasha’s Kitchen Malaysian Satay Simmer Sauce
  • 4-5 tbsp pure coconut cream
  • ½ cup ground roasted peanuts or use 2 tbsp store-bought peanut paste like Pics or Mayers’s brand

Method

  1. Chop chicken into chunky pieces.
  2. In a mixing bowl, put chicken, ground ingredients, salt, sugar and light GF soy sauce.
  3. Mix well and leave to marinate for preferably 2 hours or more.
  4. In a wok, add some oil then pan fry chicken until golden brown and caramelised. Do this a few pieces at a time so as not to overcrowd the vessel. Then remove to a plate. Continue this process until all the chicken pieces are caramelised.
  5. Alternatively, oil a baking tray with 2 tablespoons cooking oil, place marinated chicken and roast in a hot preheated oven for 35 minutes, basting every 10 minutes with bruised lemongrass dipped into the marinade ingredients and a touch of coconut oil.
  6. Next, heat a 350 g jar of Latasha’s Kitchen Malaysian Satay Simmer Sauce and a few tablespoons of coconut cream. Add additional ground peanuts or a store-bought peanut paste. Bring to a simmer then add back the caramelised chicken and continue simmering on a low heat until chicken is cooked through.