Grilled skewered chicken is ubiquitous in Southeast Asia and marinades differ from region to region. This is Thai-style chicken sate / satay with peanut sauce for dipping.

Course: Appetizer, Snack

Cuisine: Thai

Tag: Chicken fillet, Chicken skewer, Cooked with coconut

Cook’s notes

Just to be clear, sate / satay is the dish, not the peanut sauce.

In this recipe for Thai-style chicken sate / satay, the chicken is marinated in a mixture of coconut milk, fish sauce, soy sauce, Sriracha, garlic, ginger and turmeric.

Chicken thighs are ideal for cooking sate / satay. They have enough fat to prevent the meat from drying out during grilling. I’ll never understand the preference for white over red meat but if you if you absolutely have to use breast fillets, I recommend keeping the skin on.

For the dipping sauce, smooth or chunky peanut butter are both okay to use. Personally, I prefer chunky because I enjoy the occasional crunch from the bits of peanut.

If grilling over live coal, soak the bamboo skewers in water for at least 30 minutes to lessen the chance that they will catch fire on the grill.

Chicken sate / satay with peanut sauce

Prep: 15

Cook: 10

Marinating: 30

Total: 55

Servings: 4 people

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Ingredients

Chicken and marinade

500 grams chicken fillets (1.1 pounds)
½ cup coconut milk
3 tablespoons fish sauce
1 tablespoon soy sauce
2 tablespoons Sriracha (double the amount for more heat)
1 teaspoon grated garlic
1 teaspoon grated ginger
1 teaspoon grated turmeric

Peanut sauce

2 tablespoons lime juice (lemon juice is okay but you may need more)
2 tablespoons grated palm sugar (dark brown sugar is an okay substitute but the flavor of the sauce will be different)
1 tablespoon fish sauce
1 teaspoon grated ginger
¼ cup unsweetened peanut butter
1 teaspoon sesame seed oil

Instructions

Marinate the chicken

Pound the chicken fillets into uniform thickness then cut into bite size pieces.
Place the chicken pieces in a bowl, add the rest of the ingredients for the marinade and mix well.
Cover the bowl and let the chicken soak up the flavors for 30 minutes in the fridge.

Make the peanut dipping sauce

While the chicken marinates, whisk the lime juice sugar and fish sauce in a microwaveable bowl.
Add the peanut butter and ginger to the lime-sugar-fish sauce mixture.
Microwave for 10 seconds on HIGH to soften the peanut butter.
Stir in the sesame seed oil.
Taste and add more lime juice, fish sauce or sugar, until you get the balance that pleases you.

Grill the chicken

Drain the chicken.
Thread the chicken pieces with the bamboo skewers, three to five pieces per skewer depending on their length.
Grill the skewered chicken (charcoal is traditional but we did this on a stovetop grill) over medium-high heat, two to four minutes per side depending on the thickness of the meat.