I made a satay this weekend to take to a family buffet, and did not even get to taste it, because by the time I got to the buffet table there was no Satay to be seen.

I was first introduced to Satay or sate as it is called in Indonesia in Singapore in the late 1970′s. Basically it is cubes of meat threaded onto bamboo skewers, and served as street food with a peanut sauce. Today it is served all over South East Asia but the satay spices and meat varies.

Historical background of Satay

The recipe was brought to South East Asia by the Arabs, the nomads have long has a tradition of threading their meat onto metal skewers. The Arabs came to Malysia and Singapore in the late Sixteenth Century when the spice trade through the Dutch East Indies company opened up new trade routes. From Singapore it spread to Malaysia, Indonesia and China.

The satay sauce is made from freshly ground peanuts and spices, it is firstly a marinade and then left over is used to dip the satay kebabs after cooking. The muslems use chicken, beef or lamb, but the Chinese have introducced pork Satay’s. The satay is traditionally barbecued over a flaming charcoal fire, and it is basted with oil as it cooks to stop it drying out. Modern chefs also use prawns as a Satay ingredient.

The travelling satay man was a food paddler cycling with his food along the streets of Singapore, but today it is eaten in food halls because the laws on cooking safety have changed. The collection of street stalls seen below was open every evening and it was known colloquilly as the Satay Club.

My Pork Satay

My pork satay was made with peanuts I roasted myself, but for convenience I have scaled the recipe down, I made 300 sticks. I also think most people will use peanut butter, for ease and quickness.

Ingredients

500 g pork tenderloin cubed
175 g chunky peanut butter
50g roasted peanuts
1 200ml tin of coconut milk
3 kaffir lime leaves
1 stalk of trimmed lemon grass,
3 red chillis deseeded
3 cloves of garlic
1 thumb of chopped fresh root ginger
juice 2 limes
grated zest 1 unwaxed lime
1 tablespoon fish sauce
Large handfuls of fresh coriander
25 g light brown soft sugar
red peppers to thread between the pork on hte skewers to give it a little colour.

Method
The sauce has to be made first because it is used as a marinade before becoming the dipping sauce. Shred the lime leaves finely, if you can’t get them leave them out. Put them in hte food processor, with the lemon grass, making absolutely sure that you have removed the tough outer stalks, the chillis, garlic, ginger, the lime juice, zest, the fish sauce and the stalks from the fresh coriander, whizz around for half a minute, then add the peanuts, coconut milk and the sugar.process until smooth and then add the chunky peanut butter and fold in. if you like your sauce completely smooth then add them to the food processor with the peanuts; I like mine to have a chunky texture. Seperate the sauce into two bowls and add the corander leaves. Leave the sauce in hte fridge for na hout to allow the flavours to develop.

After an hour add the pork to the marinade and leave for two hours. if you are using wooden sticks then soak them in water to stop them from burning. When you are ready to cook the kebabs, thread the meat onto oiled skewers, with the strips of red pepper in between. Brush liberally with the marinade and barbecue them for about seven minutes turning a few times. The cooking times will vary depending on the sizes of the cubed meat.

Once hot serve with a sald and any remaining marinade as a dipping sauce. The Malaysian like their Satay sweeter and you cna use a sweet chilli sauce as well as the peanut to coat the satay. if you want a more substantial satay serve withNasi Goreng