สะเต๊ะSatay

The chicken, minced with the lemongrass, the kaffir lime leaf and the shrimp paste, worked with the oil into a paste that holds the skewer, and grilled fast and hot until the outside is charred and the center is just set. The peanut sauce, the cucumber, the sliced shallot and the puffed rice are the table, and the sauce is the half of the plate that is not cooked.

The page is the marinating article, on the slow end, and the grilling article, on the hot and fast end, on one skewer. The marinade is the salt-plus-oil-and-fats job the marinating article describes — the lemongrass, the kaffir lime, the shrimp paste, the oil — and the grill is the heat the moo yang page already does for the pork, moved to the chicken and the paste that holds. The sauce is the sauces 101 article's fish-sauce–lime–sugar spine, thickened in peanut rather than cut.

Origin

Malay, and the market stall — the street table

Difficulty

2 / 5

Servings

4

Prep

1 hr, of which the rest is the paste, the sauce and the trim

Cook

15 min

Total

~1 hr, 15 min

Equipment

• Thick bamboo skewers (the satay skewer, the one the paste holds on), 10–12, soaked in water 30 min so they do not burn at the fire — the paste is the fill, and the skewer is the half that is not
• A mortar and pestle, or the fine side of a food mill, for the paste — the lemongrass and the kaffir lime have to be broken, not cut, into pieces that the paste will hold
• A flat, heavy-bottomed pan, for the sauce — the peanut sits on the bottom, and the pan does the work of browning it without the fire doing it
• Small plates for the sauce, the cucumber and the shallot — the table is three, and one that holds them all together

Ingredients

• The paste
• 300 g chicken mince, the thigh preferred, the breast also, if the day is leaner
• 3 stalks of lemongrass, the white ends, the 3 cm or so of each, bruised and then broken fine — the marinating article's "the flavor is in the oil, not in the salt" line is the one that does the paste
• 4 kaffir lime leaves, torn
• 1 small dried chili, broken, or a ¼ tsp of the paste — the heat, as much or as little as the day runs
• 1 tbsp of the shrimp paste, the curry paste article's own salt and ferment, the one the section is built on
• 1 tsp turmeric, ground
• 1 tsp ground coriander
• 3 tbsp of the oil, the paste's body, and a small pinch of salt
• The sauce
• 80 g peanuts, the skin on, the one the sauce is named for
• 2 tbsp of the tamarind pulp, the sour of the sauce
• 2 tbsp of the dark soy
• 2 tbsp of the sugar, the palm if you have it
• 1 small dried chili, or to the 2 if the day runs hot
• 120 ml of the water, the body of the sauce
• The table
• 1 cucumber, the middle, 1 cm thick
• 4 small shallots, the outer skin on, 2 mm thick
• 2–3 tbsp of the puffed rice ( ket thiao), the crackle over the plate

Method

1. The paste. The lemongrass, the kaffir lime leaf, the chili, the turmeric and the coriander, broken fine in the mortar or the mill — the lemongrass, bruised first, is the one that does the work, and the paste, when it is done, reads as a single, fragrant thing, not a salad. The chicken, the shrimp paste, the oil and the pinch of salt, come in, and the paste is worked 2–3 min, until it holds the skewer, releases the 2 cm of the thumb, and is the faintest brown-orange. The paste, wrapped, rests 30 min — the marinating article's slow half, on a plate, instead of a pan.
2. The skewer. The paste, pressed into the 4–5 cm of the skewer, in a neat, even cylinder — about 40 g each, and the ket thiao waiting on the side, as the crackle that comes last. The skewers, wrapped and set, hold until the fire is ready — the paste is the half that is not cooked, and it is the one that does not forgive a rush at the plate.
3. The fire. The pan, or the grill, hot, and the oil brushed on lightly — the grilling article's "the surface is at its window before the skewer is down" line, and the paste, the outside charred in the 2–3 min, turned in the 4 turns as it goes, is the satay of the name. The pull is the char, and the color that follows, and the center, just set, with the faintest give in the middle of the cylinder — a skewer that is pale around is a skewer that missed the fire, and one that is black is a skewer that had too much of it.
4. The sauce. The peanut, the tamarind, the dark soy, the sugar and the chili, into the pan with the water, and brought to a gentle simmer over a medium-low heat, stirred, for 5–6 min, until the sauces 101 article's line — "the sauce that coats, and not the one that runs" — is the test: the sauce, turned with a spoon, should draw a slow, visible line, and the peanut should read as the body, not as the grain. The sauce, off the heat, rests, 5 min, to the sauces 101 article's nappe, and the spoon, the slow line across the surface, is the one that does the telling.
5. The table. The skewers on one plate, the sauce, the cucumber and the shallot on the three small plates, and the puffed rice over the sauce, as the crackle. The first bite, the skewer with a little of the sauce, the cucumber on the side, the shallot as it goes, and the ket thiao the last of the plate — the table, as the Thai section does it, and the moo yang the half of the section that is not cooked, and the massaman the half that is, on the same register of the peanut and the spice.

Common failures

• The paste, dry around, with no char. The fire, not at its window, or the skewer, too thick — the paste, the outside pale when the center is already set, and the grilling article's pull, missed on both ends. The 40 g of the paste, the 4–5 cm of the skewer, and the fire at its window before the skewer is down, are the three marks that keep the outside charred and the center just set, and the one that misses them is the one that is pale all the way around — the fire, up, and the skewer, turned in the 4 turns, is the fix, and the char, and the color that follows, are the two that do the telling.
• The paste, crumbly, sliding off the skewer. The oil, or the work, not enough of it — the paste, the lemongrass and the kaffir lime not broken fine enough, and the paste, the one that holds the 2 cm of the thumb, is the one the marinating article is about, not a salad that will come off in the first turn. The work, the 2–3 min, and the 30 min of the rest, are the two that hold the paste on the skewer, and the one that is pale and crumbly when the plate is down is the one that missed one or both of them.
• The sauce, thin, running off the plate. The simmer, too short, or the water, too much — the sauces 101 article's nappe not reached, and the sauce, the one that runs, is the one the skewer does not carry with it. The 5–6 min of the gentle simmer, and the spoon drawing the slow, visible line, are the two that do the telling, and the sauce, off the heat, resting the 5 min, is the one that stays on the skewer as it is lifted.
• The kaffir lime, absent, with the paste flat. The one the section is built on, and the one the day ran without — the paste, the lemongrass without its partner, and the curry paste article's own register, the one the Thai section does on the whole table, is the one the paste is missing. The 4 leaves, torn, and the work in the mortar, are the two that do the half the paste does not do on its own, and the one the day ran without is the one that reads as satay, not as the satay the name is.

Variations

• The pork ( satay moo): the paste, the same, with the 300 g of the pork mince in place of the chicken — the moo hong the half of the section that does the pork slow, and the satay the half that does it on the fire.
• The peanut, the thick one: the sauce, made with the 100 g of the peanut instead of the 80, and the water to the 100 ml, — the massaman register, and the one the Thai section does on the whole table.
• The puffed rice, the last one: the ket thiao, the 2–3 tbsp, and a little more of the sauce over the skewer — the plate, as the one the sauces 101 article describes, and the crackle, as the last of it.

What to serve with it

The moo yang, as the half of the Thai section that is not cooked, and the massaman curry, as the half that is, on the same register of the peanut and the spice. The khao man gai, as the plate that does not need the sauce, and the boat noodles, as the half of the section that runs in water, are the two that the satay sits beside on the table. The tea, hot and unsweetened, is the one the peanut and the chili do their work against, and the plate, with the ket thiao and the last of the sauce, is the dish as it is.

Marinating · Grilling · Massaman curry