The World of Satay
A cook's guide to the appealing and adaptable combination of skewers, meat, and heat.
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Balancing ActsSkewers of satay are powerfully seasoned in their own right, but it's the sauces and condiments that invariably accompany them that draw everything together. The serving of satay in Indonesia and Malaysia is an elegant art form: Skewers are arranged atop a banana leaf with a dollop of spicy, rich peanut sauce (top left), called saus kacang tanah, and a drizzle of sambal kecap (bottom right), sweet, thick soy sauce spiked with chiles and shallots. In Indonesia, these sauces often come with a cool pile of acar timun, sweet-tart vegetable pickles (bottom left), and in Thailand with ajad, a refreshing cucumber salad emboldened with sliced shallots and chiles (top right). Altogether, it's a brilliant composition of flavors, temperatures, and textures.
See the recipe for Javanese Peanut Sauce »
See the recipe for Sweet Soy Dipping Sauce »
See the recipe for Javanese Cucumber and Carrot Pickle »
See the recipe for Thai Cucumber Relish »
Equally unsatisfying was the "Satay Ayam." The recipe given doesn't even give enough moisture for a paste to even form.
Bottom line: photos trump good recipes. I have fallen for it for the last time.