This is an authentic chicken satay recipe.
I love chicken satay for its taste and versatility. You can use this satay recipe as an appetizer or a main course with rice and vegetables.
This recipe shows you how to make the sauce from scratch.
Of course you can always just buy the sauce, but if you want to make it from scratch, here’s how.
This is a wonderfully healthy recipe. The herbs and spices in the satay, plus the lemon, ginger, garlic and nuts all add a wide variety of heath benefits.
Chicken Satay Recipe
Ingredients
For the Chicken Satay Marinade:
- 2 1/4 cups boiling water
- 1 cup shredded coconut
- 1 green onion, washed and chopped
- 1 inch fresh ginger, grated
- 1 lemon rind, grated
- 1 pinch ground cinnamon
- 6 cardamom pods
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1 teaspoon ground coriander
- 1 tablespoon parsley, chopped
- 1 1/2 pounds boneless chicken, cubed
Satay Sauce:
- 1/4 cup peanuts
- 4 shallots, peeled and chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, peeled
- 6 macadamia nuts, almond or cashew nuts
- 2 stems lemon grass, optional
- 3 tablespoon coconut oil, or peanut oil
- 2 - 3 teaspoons chili powder
- 1 1/4 cups coconut milk
- Tamarind water, See notes below the recipe.
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar
- salt to taste
- chopped green onion, for garnish
Instructions
- Pour the boiling water over the coconut. Leave for 15 minutes, then squeeze out. Measure out 1 1/4 cups of the liquid and reserve it. Mix the rest with the marinade ingredients.
- Cut the chicken breasts and thighs into small pieces. Marinate the chicken overnight in the refrigerator or at least for several hours. Remove from marinade and thread onto wood or metal skewers.
- To make the sauce, toast the peanuts in a hot oven for 2 or 3 minutes. If your peanuts have the skins on rub them off using a dish towel and then grind the nuts for just a few seconds. Do not reduce the nuts to a powder - this would spoil the consistency of the sauce. Grind or pound the onions and garlic and grind or pound the macadamia nuts and lemon grass.
- Fry the onion mixture in hot oil, then add the nut and lemon grass paste. Reduce the heat, then add the chili powder and cook for 2 minutes. Add the reserved coconut milk, stirring all the time while. Allow the mixture to come to a boil, then reduce the heat and add tamarind water, sugar, salt to taste and peanuts. Cook for 2 - 3 minutes and stir frequently until the sauce thickens.
- Broil the chicken skewers for 4 minutes each side under a high heat, then allow to cook for a further 4 minutes each side under a medium heat.
- Serve with the satay sauce garnished with the chopped green onion.
Notes
To make the Tamarind water:
Take 1 tablespoon tamarind pulp or dried tamarind and soak in 4 tablespoons hot water. When it is hydrated, squeezed it out to remove the excess water. OR... Simply buy tamarind sauce. That's what I do.Nutrition
Here’s a Tip…
A bit of a shortcut would be to buy the tamarind sauce instead of the tamarind pulp.
Tamarind is a very distinctive and often used flavoring for Thai and other Asian dishes. It adds a lovely flavor to chicken satay as well as many other Asian recipes. I usually keep a bottle of the sauce in my pantry. (I feel I am a bit too lazy or time constrained most times for the raw tamarind.)
This is a fantastic diabetes recipe. The only thing I would do to make it healthier for diabetics is to cut the amount of brown sugar in the sauce by half, or replace it with something like coconut sugar or stevia. The coconut sugar is a great switch. It is somewhat sweet but much lower in carbs than brown sugar.
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