#MotherFood Podcast recipe: Eleanor Ford's Chicken Sate
This recipe is shared by Eleanore from her award-winning cookbook Fire Islands: Recipes from Indonesia by Eleanor Ford (Murdoch Books 2019)
The highlight of any Indonesian street food market is the sate, usually sold by someone from Madura where they are famed for their tasty skewers. The first sign is the glorious smoky smell from coconut husk coals, then you’ll see the vendor busily twirling the sate and fanning the embers with practised hands. The sugar glaze makes flames jump and crackle as they cook, charring and caramelising the meat. These are a favourite with children - certainly with my children.
From ‘Fire Islands’
INGREDIENTS
400 g (14 oz) skinless chicken breast
1 garlic clove, roughly chopped
1 tablespoon kecap manis
oil, for grilling
juice of ½ lime, to serve
Peanut sauce, warmed
METHOD
Cut the chicken into a 2-3 cm (1 inch) dice. Mix with the garlic, kecap manis and a pinch of salt. Set aside to marinate for 10 minutes (or if longer, cover and keep in the fridge).
If using bamboo skewers, soak in water to stop them burning whilst the meat marinates. Thread the chicken onto the skewers, keeping the pieces tightly packed together.
The best results are indisputably on a barbecue - add coconut fibres or wood chips for the wonderful smoky notes - but you could also grill or griddle on a high heat. When searing hot, brush your grill with a little oil and cook your sate over a direct heat (keeping the sticks away from the coals). Turn until browned on all sides and cooked through.
Spritz the lime juice over the sate and douse with the warm peanut sauce.
For the peanut sauce
INGREDIENTS
100 g (⅔ cup) raw peanuts, skin on
1 tablespoon oil, for frying peanuts
1 garlic clove, crushed
½ teaspoon shrimp paste, toasted (optional)
½ teaspoon dark palm sugar (gula jawa), grated
3 tablespoons kecap manis
juice of ½ a lime
METHOD
Fry the peanuts to bring out their toasty flavour. Heat the oil in a wok or frying pan over a high heat. When shimmering, add the nuts and stir-fry for a minute. Reduce the heat to medium and continue to fry, stirring often, for about 5 minutes, until the nuts are deep golden brown. Remove with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towel.
Tip the nuts into a food processor (keep the skins on) with the garlic, shrimp paste, palm sugar and a good pinch of salt. Blitz to a sandy rubble, then scrape the sides and process for another minute. Continue scraping and blitzing for a few minutes at a time until you have a smooth puree (it should get there, with some perseverance).
Transfer the peanut butter to a saucepan, add the kecap manis and a small glassful of water. Cook over a medium-high heat, stirring often, until you have a sauce that is dark and slightly sticky. Thin with more water if it gets too thick - you want it to thickly coat the sate but be just pourable. Leave to cool and taste for seasoning, adjusting the saltiness and sweetness if you like. A final spritz of lime juice will brighten the flavours.
Listen to my conversation with Eleanor on the MotherFood podcast here