Satay and Peanut Sauce

Are you familiar with Indonesian food? If not, let me introduce you to this versatile cuisine. In fact, you can’t speak of a Indonesian cuisine, every region in this country has it’s own specialties and varieties. I really like these spicy and various dishes a lot, and eat it very often, homemade or takeaway.

I’m sure you’ve heard or are familiar with dishes like satay, rendang and of course sambal! The recipes are mostly very simple and easy, and you can make as many dishes as you like for a real Indonesian meal. But it all starts with rice. That’s the most important ingredient. Later this week I’ll give you the recipe for fried rice (called Nasi Goreng), which combines very well with the recipe of today: satay!

Skewered marinated pork loin from the grill, served with peanut sauce…makes you hungry?? Okay, let’s start!

For this recipe you can also use chicken breasts (4 halves) instead of pork loin (1,5 pounds).

First of all, the marinade! This is the best recipe, trust me, and guess where it came from?

Martha Stewart! Funny, an Indonesian dish, made by the Dutchess with help from an American! How international can it be!

2 tablespoons chopped fresh ginger
1 small onion, cut into chunks
2 garlic cloves
1 cup soy sauce
1,5 teaspoon sambal
juice of half a lemon
1 tablespoon sugar
0,5 teaspoon cumin (ground)
2 tablespoons sesame oil

combine all the ingredients in a blender and purée until smooth.

Cut the meat into big chunks, and transfer to a bowl or bag.

Pour the marinade over the meat, and mix it well with the meat. Let it marinate in the fridge for at least 4 hours.

The best is to grill this on your BBQ, but it's also tasty in a cast iron grill pan for example. I grilled them for a couple of minutes indirect, and when they were almost ready to be served, I moved them directly above the hot coals. Be careful not to grill them too long!

Of course, you can't serve this without a spicy, hot Peanut Sauce! You can use any brand you like, or make it yourself:

1,5 cup smooth peanut butter

1 tablespoon sesame oil

1 teaspoon soy sauce (or more if you like!)

1 garlic clove

1 teaspoon sambal (or more if you like!)

1 tablespoon sugar

lemon juice

water

Put the first 6 ingredients in a blender, and purée until smooth. Transfer to a pan, add lemon juice to taste and use water to thin the paste until you have a thick sauce. Transfer the pan to the grill or stove to warm the sauce.

You can serve this with fries and a green salad, or, as I mentioned before, go Indonesian with fried rice and bok choy (recipes follow later).

Serve with a cold beer, and enjoy!!