Satay=Sate

It's recipe time!

I remember the first time I had this, in the home of Dutch friends while I was running a radio station in North Carolina. I didn't find restaurants that served it until I came to DC in 1985.

This is another one of those "base" recipes that you can play around with. Beef and shrimp are also traditional satays, the method is exactly the same. This is a great dish on the grill in the summer. I, of course, am all psyched about mynew grill and can't wait to try this recipe on the grill. With snow expected Monday, that day is a ways off, but your oven broiler will work as well and a top of the stove grill pan is also something that gets a work out around here. If you are an apartment or condo without a place to put a gas or charcoal grill, this last will work for you nicely if you have an exhaust fan on your stove hood. And, it is cheap. Remember to get the grill without the no-stick surface, we know now that the stuff is carcinogenic. Smart use of oils will take care of the sticking problem.

Chicken Satay with Peanut Sauce

Marinade:
1 cup plain yogurt
1 teaspoon freshly grated ginger
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 tablespoon curry powder
1 1/2 pounds skinless, boneless chicken breasts, cut into strips

20 wooden skewers, soaked in water 30 minutes
Vegetable oil, for grilling
Butter lettuce leaves
Fresh cilantro leaves
Peanut sauce, recipe follows

Combine the yogurt, ginger, garlic, and curry powder in a shallow mixing bowl, stir to combine. Place the chicken strips in the yogurt marinade and gently toss until well coated. Cover and let the chicken marinate in the refrigerator for at up to 2 hours.

Thread the chicken pieces onto the soaked skewers working the skewer in and out of the meat, down the middle of the piece, so that it stays in place during grilling. Place a grill pan over medium heat and brush it with oil to prevent the meat from sticking. Grill the chicken satays for 3 to 5 minutes on each side, until nicely seared and cooked through. Serve the satays on a platter lined with lettuce leaves and cilantro; accompanied by a small bowl of peanut sauce on the side.

Peanut Sauce:
1 cup smooth peanut butter
1/4 cup low-sodium soy sauce
2 teaspoons red chili paste, such as sambal
2 tablespoons dark brown sugar
2 limes, juiced
1/2 cup hot water
1/4 cup chopped peanuts, for garnish

Combine the peanut butter, soy sauce, red chili paste, brown sugar, and lime juice in a food processor or blender. Puree to combine. While the motor is running, drizzle in the hot water to thin out the sauce, you may not need all of it. Pour the sauce into a nice serving bowl and garnish with the chopped peanuts. Serve with chicken satay.

Yield: 3 cups

In Holland, where you are going to find this in Maylasian and Indonesian restaurants as part of a riijstafel of 17-19 courses (all small bites, like far eastern tapas) it will be served with rice and sambal oelek. I love hot food and find sambal to be a challenge. It has a quick afterburn but doesn't last quite as long as those deadly little Thai red chilies.

Satay is a classic first course in Thai restaurants, but it is in those multicourse Malay and Indonesian meals where it becomes a centerpiece. Serve it with tom kha gai soup and a pad thai. This is a very easy and satisfying excursion into a foreign cuisine.