Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Satay Chicken

I'm not sure why this particular recipe is called Satay Chicken because it's flavours does not resemble the well known satays. Maybe it is the use of fresh grounded ingredients such as candlenut and lemongrass that gives it kinship to satay. However one thing I do know or what the recipe book tells me, is that this is a Peranakan dish.

Peranakans are the Chinese who immigrated to the Nusantara region and to assimilate themselves into the local culture they had adopted some of the Malay customs. Their food and style of cooking became a blend of Chinese and Malay and thus the birth of Peranakan. Peranakan recipes always uses fresh ingredients and some of their recipes are quite complicated.

In the olden times when the food processor or blender was a rare kitchen equipment, a pestel and motar would be used to pound all the fresh ingredients. In fact till this day, some of the older generation Peranakans would still insist on using the old fashion method to pound the ingredients. They swear that Peranakan dishes taste so much better as the pounding releases the oils and flavours slowly.

satay chix 1


satay chix 4


Satay Chicken
Recipe Adapted from "Female Cookbook Vol 12"

Ingredients:

1.6kg whole chicken, cut into 12 - 16 pieces
3 candlenut
10 dried red chillies
4 fresh red chillies
7 red shallots
1 clove garlic
1/2 tsp shrimp paste
2 stalk lemon grass, the white part only
200 ml thick coconut cream (from packet)
1/4 cup water
3 - 4 Tbsp cooking oil
Salt to taste

Method:

1) Grind the candlenut, the chillies, shallots, garlic, shrimp paste and lemongrass until fine. Keep aside.

2) Heat the oil in a wok or a large pot until hot. Add the grounded paste into the oil, turn fire to medium. Fry the paste until oil starts to seep out and it smells fragrant. This should take about 4 - 5 minutes.

3) Add in the chicken pieces and fry for another 5 minutes.

4) Add 3/4 of the coconut cream and mix it with the 1/4 water. Add to the chicken and stir. Bring to a boil and then turn the fire to low/medium. Cook until the gravy thickens and reduced.

5) Add salt to taste. Then add the remaining coconut cream and continue to cook until the sauce has reduced.

6) I prefer this dish to have very little gravy but you could have more by reducing the cooking time.

satay chix 2


satay chix 3

14 comments:

Marina Mott said...

Delicious! Great photos! xx

Jean said...

looks absolutely delicious! ready to dig in my fork into the pot anytime :)

ann low said...

I definitely want to bookmark this delicious satay chicken for my family as they love spicy food.

Cookie said...

YUM! I like my gravy nice and thick too!

The Sweetylicious said...

WOW! this look so mouthwatering! and im defintely trying this! YUMMY!!

Passionate About Baking said...

Woah! This is really yummy! So Asian!

tigerfish said...

The spices are the highlight, accentuating the flavors of this dish.

Lee said...

Hello Jo....I cannot but exclaim, Holy Smoke! Your this satay chicken looks out of this world!
Where you learn to cook like this? Mummy or grandma or cookbook? Outstanding!

And Jo, looking at this delicious chicken satay, I think if invited for dinner, you'll be seeing a magic show....
how I make 3 plates of rice disappear. Arhaaaa ha ha.
You have a nice day, and keep a song in your heart.
Best regards.
Lee.

Jayanthy Kumaran said...

looks so yummy...wat a great combination of flavors..
first time here...amazing blog you have...love your presentation..
Am your happy follower now..:)
do stop by mine sometime..

Tasty Appetite
Event: Letz Relishh Ice Creams

Noob Cook said...

the sauce looks really flavourful. great photos and love that casserole!

pigpigscorner said...

I wonder why it's called satay too, maybe you should put them on skewers :P

Mai said...

wohh, looks soo soo good!

Jo said...

Hi all, thanks for dropping by and leaving me your comments. Always looking forward to reading each and every one!

Hi Ann and Jasmine, let me know if you and your family like the dish.

Hi Uncle Lee, you are funny and it's from cook books.

Hi Jay, thanks for being a 1st timer and bookmarking my blog. Enjoy your stay here.

Hi Wiffy, the bowl is actually handmade by my sister-in-law. She does great pottery pieces.

Hi Ann, haha .. yeah should have thought of the satay sticks.

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