Chicken Satay with Thai Peanut dip

Chicken Satay and Thai Peanut dip is such a superb pair. They go so well with each other and they’re fun. Satay is a great option for a party appetizer, can be prepared well in advance and then grilled or barbecued at the last minute. Satay is super-quick to barbecue or grill, is done in less than 10 minutes. The best part of it is the Thai style peanut dip. It is a delightful medley of flavours and textures – hot, sweet, and nutty with the peanut butter and peanuts giving the dip a smooth yet crunchy texture. Yummy! There are lots of things going for this recipe. You don’t have to make a marinade and a dip separately. It’s all just one thing. You make the peanut dip and use half of it (or how much ever you require) as the marinade and the remaining as the dip. One dip fits all! How about that? A Somberi’s dream come true!

This is such a delicious dip that I wouldn’t really mind having extra. I can imagine the dip being extremely chummy with Chinese spring rolls or wontons or any kind of fried fritters. It is really a cool dip to hang out with. I adapted the recipe from Mark Bittman's book.     

  

Barbecuing is fun. Kids find the whole thing so amusing they’re out of your way the whole time that the fire is being set up. That buys you enough time to prepare lunch, wash and clean up. My husband loves to barbecue, loves starting a fire, some kind of primordial instinct I suppose. So effectively he is also out of the way. Peace! Being able to cook un-plugged, un-interrupted, without being called a hundred times and without being tugged by a 2 ft. little one is what I call peace. Barbecuing is a great weekend family activity and I’d recommend anyone who doesn’t have a barbecue to go out and get one. It need not be any of those very expensive, tripod mounted ones. For weekend barbecuing and the occasional get-togethers, you could go in for a much smaller one.

Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 5-8 minutes
Serves: 5

Ingredients

Chicken breasts – 4 cut lengthwise into strips

Marinade and Dip

Peanut Butter – 2 tbsp
Soy Sauce – 2 tsp
Sweet lime juice – 3 tbsp
Peanuts – 3 tbsp coarsely crushed
Brown sugar – 1 tsp
Garlic – 4-5 cloves
Shallots – 3 peeled
Dry red chillies – 4 deseeded
Cumin powder – 1 tsp
Coriander powder – ½ tsp
Oil - 1 tsp
Salt to taste

Method

1.      Clean chicken and cut into long strips. Set aside.

2.      Soak 15-20 bamboo sticks (as many strips as you have) in water for 30 minutes to 1 hour.

3.      Grind together shallots, deseeded red chillies and garlic with a little water to a paste.

4.      In a small bowl, combine peanut butter, soy sauce, sweet lime juice, cumin powder and coriander powder and whisk till smooth. Add a little water to thin it a thick sauce consistency. Set aside.

5.      In a skillet/kadai, heat oil and tip in the ground chilli garlic paste. Let fry for a minute. Now add the peanut butter mixture and mix well. Add the crushed peanuts, mix well and season with salt. Stir and let cook for a minute. Switch off when it is a thick sauce consistency.

6.      Use half of the peanut sauce to marinate the chicken pieces for about 20-40 minutes. Transfer the remaining peanut sauce to a bowl to be used as a dip.

7.      Thread the chicken onto the soaked bamboo sticks and place on a barbecue. Cook on a barbecue or grill in an oven at 200 degree centigrade for 5-8 minutes. Baste with the remaining marinade halfway through.

Notes

1.      Soaking the bamboo sticks in water ensures that they don’t burn while being grilled or barbecued. You can find these bamboo sticks in Poppat jamal.

2.      Make sure the chicken strips aren’t too thin or you wouldn’t be able to thread them onto the sticks. Freezing the marinated chicken for 10-15 minutes should make it easier to thread them onto the bamboo skewers.

3.      You could try this stove-top too though I haven’t tried it myself. You could place the marinated chicken skewers on a tawa and cook.