Chicken Satay Mk2

Hello again! I've been remiss on my posting, but now I'm back.

We had a few leftovers the other night; a garlicky chicken stock from a roast chicken, some pieces of cold roast chicken, and the usual selection of seasonal veggies; so it was time for another chicken satay. Especially as my thoughts have turned to the island of Bali, where LW and I and a couple of good friends from Melbourne are heading in August...

I cooked the rice in the garlic and chicken stock for a rice that was quite delicious, and a wee bit "Heinanese"

I made a salad by finely dicing the tomatoes and cucumber, and then adding some coarsely ground roast cashews. I added parsley (because the coriander has all gone to seed) and Vietnamese basil, & then dressed it with a combination of rice wine vinegar, fish sauce and olive oil.

The chicken was too friable to stay on skewers, so I shredded it and fried it until frispy in hot oil, and then added a satay sauce made from peanut butter and all the usual condiments. In the frying pan it instantly curdled and clung to the fried chicken like a shy toddler to it's mother's leg.

I then served it all up, and within a matter of minutes, it was gone, and all we had left was a delicious aftertaste.

Chicken Satay

Mmm... I haven't made a satay sauce in ages, so, having suggested it for a friend's get-together, I thought we'd have some ourselves.

The sauce has more varieties than Heinz, and mine is different every time. Here's what I did this time:

Sweat finely-chopped onion, ginger and garlic in a saucepan with a little oil, and then, when softened, I added a glug or two of Chinese cooking wine, some soy sauce (light and dark), some oyster sauce, chilli sauce (homemade) and some palm sugar. I seasoned with some ground cumin, coriander and cardamon, and salt and lemon juice. Then, after simmering for a minute or two to get the alcohol out of the wine, I added about 2 tbs of smooth peanut butter and stirred the thick mixture. I then added hot water, a little at a time until the sauce was the ideal consistency. I seasoned more to taste, and that's it! Probably a million miles from an authentic Indonesian recipe, but it tastes good to me!

Meanwhile I cut some chicken breast into thick strips and skewered it and then battered it thin under some cling-film. I placed it on the grill pan and seasoned it with salt, pepper, lemon juice and then sprayed some oil onto it. Of course, I was in too much of a hurry to remember to soak the skewers...

Meanwhile, I made some coconut rice. (1 cup long-grain rice, 1.5 cups watered down coconut cream, salt to taste) Simmer for 7 minutes, then lid on and heat off for 20 min (no peeking).

Meanwhile I laid the table.

Meanwhile, I cooked the chicken under a hot grill (only needs 3 min) and served like so: (note the finely-charred skewers).

Delicious! And filling. I made too much satay sauce, so I will freeze the rest.