Satay – a favourite Street Food from Singapore and Malaysia

Satay is a favourite street food for so many people! Tiny pieces of marinated meat on skewers are barbecued to perfection before being served with a peanut sauce and slices of cucumber and onions.

Where does Satay come from?

Satay is found everywhere in South east Asia. So, where did Satay come from? Would it surprise you if I say that it does in fact owe its origins to the Middle East? Via India, of course.

It’s believed that Satay was introduced to the Indonesians by Indian traders in the form of kebabs, which of course, as we all know is a Persian invention. These kebabs were transformed into the satay or sate as we know it today by street vendors in Java.

Satay in The Netherlands and South Africa

Incidentally, Satay is also very commonplace in the Netherlands and former Dutch colonies, owing to the fact that Indonesia was a Dutch territory. This wonderful invention was one of the things the returning Dutchmen took home with them.

It is also a local food in South Africa, where it’s known as Sosatie, brought over by the Malays, known as Cape Malays. The term “sosatie” is a portmanteau of “sate” and “saus” (sauce).

Satay Club in Singapore

Singapore used to have an area just off the Singapore Cricket Club that was called Satay Club. All the vendors used to initially sell various forms of satay, which slowly expanded to include the usual local hawker foods like grilled ray, noodles and various forms of rice dishes.

This was a favourite haunt of mine and every Singaporean and expat I know!

Satay Recipe

The meat is marinated in a paste of spices before being cooked on coals. There is no magic formula for marinating the meat or for making the sauce. It is open to interpretations, according to one’s taste – with or without lemongrass and galangal, more chilli, less sugar, yu get the picture, don’t you?

The taste you are going for with satay is savoury and sweet. The traditional satay is marked by quite a bit of sweetness from the satay itself and hot and sweet from the sauce.

What’s important is, the size and thinness of the meat used. You want to cut your meat thinly for speedy cooking, so that it doesn’t lose too much moisture, yet is brown and crispy.

Vegan Satay

I frequently use firm tofu cubes, sliced thinly for this. They are fantastic! And these days (2019 – 5 years after I first wrote this post), the variety of meat substitutes is mind bogglingly amazing!

My kids have all recently gone vegetarian because of climate change. And because my girls are allergic to eggs, it’s just easier to look for vegan products.

I’m lucky that the folks I shop with, Ocado, focus on sourcing out small and new producers. Take a look at these chicken tikka skewers. My kids say taste like the real thing.

Satay Sauce

Satay sauce is made with ground peanuts. Traditionally, a whole lot of oil is used to make satay sauce. I am not a fan of this, and skip the oil altogether by just simmering all the ingredients together and cooking the sauce for about 10 minutes. 

A slightly different slant is to add about 50ml (1/4 cup) of coconut milk to the sauce, a very common practice in Thailand.

The sauce can be refrigerated for 3 days and is perfect with so many other things, especially as a salad dressing.

Got a peanut allergy?

I’ve made satay sauce with hazelnuts and it was delicious, for those of you with peanut allergy. Cashew nuts are also ok but will produce a creamier sauce.

Shall we put our aprons on?

♥ If you like the recipe, don’t forget to leave me a comment and that all important, 5-star rating! 😉 Thank you! ♥

And if you make the recipe, share it on any platform and tag me @azlinbloor.

Lin xx

Satay, a favourite Street Food of Meat on Skewers

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★★★★★

5 from 7 reviews

• Author: Azlin Bloor
• Prep Time: 30 minutes
• Cook Time: 30 minutes
• Total Time: 1 hour
• Yield: Serves 6–8 1x

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Description

Easy Satay recipe, a favourite street food for so many people! Tiny pieces of marinated meat on skewers are barbecued to perfection before being served with a peanut sauce and slices of cucumber and onions.

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Scale 1x2x3x

Ingredients

The Meat

• 500g (1.1 lb) meat (chicken, beef, lamb or pork)
• 1 large onion
• 1 clove garlic
• 1cm (1/2″) ginger
• 2 tsp ground coriander
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1/2 tsp turmeric
• 3 Tbsp white sugar
• 1 tsp salt

Optional

• 2 stalks lemongrass
• 1cm (1/2″) galangal

Basting liquid

• 50ml (1/4 cup) coconut milk
• 50ml (1/4 cup) vegetable or peanut cooking oil
• and about 20-30 wooden skewers, soaked in water for 30 minutes

Sauce

• 200g (7oz) peanuts, dry roasted, in a pan
• 1 large onion
• 1 clove garlic
• 1–2 red chillies, or more, to taste, I don’t like it too hot
• 125ml (1/2 cup) water
• 4 Tbsp palm sugar
• 2 Tbsp white sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 Tbsp tamarind or juice of half a lime

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Instructions

The Satay

1. Cut the meat into bite sized pieces, I’d say about 1-1.5 inches and thinly.
2. Grind all the ingredients up to “Optional” to a smooth paste, adding water as necessary.
3. Marinade the meat with the ground paste for a couple of hours at least but preferably overnight.
4. Soak the skewers in water for about 30 minutes before threading the meat. This will stop the skewers from burning. The threading will take about 10-20 minutes, depending on your skill!
5. Mix the basting ingredients and set aside.
6. Barbecue or grill, basting from time to time, you shouldn’t need more than 3-5 minutes each side, depending on the thickness of your meat and the strength of your heat source.

The Sauce

1. Chop the nuts to a coarse grind.
2. Grind the onions, garlic and ginger to a smooth paste.
3. Place all the sauce ingredients into a saucepan, bring to a boil and leave to simmer for 10 minutes or until thickened to desired consistency. Stir every so often.

Notes

Serve with the sauce, some cucumber wedges and slices of onion. Some traditional Malay compressed rice cakes called ketupat or lontong are usually also served alongside.

• Category: Street Food
• Method: Medium
• Cuisine: South East Asian

Keywords: street food, singapore recipes, malaysian recipes