Satay

It's not often that I make satay. We used to buy our satay from the Restaurant Mulia on the corner of Jalan Gurney and Jalan Tun Razak - the satay was good and the kuah kacang was also tasty. This is the first time that I really took the time to prepare the satay the proper way - with full ingredients. 

Ingredients:

Diced into bite sized pieces:

• Beef (tenderise by pounding with a meat tenderising hammer). Cut small portions of the fat to insert between the third and last piece of meat on the skewer)
• Chicken (best to use thighs as breast meat is a bit dry)
• You can also use lamb or beef tripe (perut lembu) if you want

Satay marinade: 

3-4 tbsp coriander seeds (biji ketumbar)

1 tbsp aniseed (jintan manis)

1 tsp white pepper (lada sulah)

salt to taste

lots of sugar (6-8 tbsp) or to taste

1 tbsp turmeric powder (serbuk kunyit)

1 red onion (bawang merah)

3 cloves garlic (bawang putih)

2 tbsp palm sugar (gula melaka)

1 lemongrass (serai)

1 inch galanghal (lengkuas)

1 inch ginger (halia)

2 tbsp vegetable oil

Peanut Sauce (Kuah kacang):

This part was done by Doodlemon. See separate entry under kuah kacang / peanut sauce.

Nasi Impit / Ketupat:

I remember my mum used to make nasi impit (squeezed / pressed rice). You literally had to put the just cooked rice in a pot and cover it with a smaller lid with a heavy mortar on top to squeeze the rice. Nowadays life is made easy by the innovative and entrepreneurial folks. All you have to do is dump the rice packets into boiling water and let it cook.
Ketupat is a totally different story altogether.

Satay Method:

Grind / pound using a pestle and mortar the satay marinade ingredients. Which ones to pound first is your preference but the end result it to combine the all with the vege oil last.

Pour the marinade into the diced pieces of meat/chicken and mix well.Cover and leave in the fridge for about 24 hours to get it well marinated.

Next step: cucuk satay (poke the satay - [put it on the stick])

Some people would advise immersing the satay sticks for a few hours to prevent them from burning. (Take this advise with a pinch of salt - trust me, it will burn if left unattended and the stick exposed to fire).

The poking part - the meat is very cold especially if you just took it out of the fridge and can numb your fingers and hand. So having your other half to help is very useful.

Once all the satay has been poked or to use a proper term, skewered, prepare your bbq pit. Place the satay sticks so that the fire does not burn the sticks.

Dab the satay occasionally with vegetable oil. Use a stick of lemongrass (pound it a bit so that the fragrance infuses into the oil). Be careful as the oil tends to make the coals flare and overburn the satay.

Once cooked, serve with peanut sauce, nasi impit / ketupat, cucumbers and onions.