Daring Cooks – January 2010 – Satay
The January 2010 DC challenge was hosted by Cuppy of Cuppylicious and she chose a delicious Thai-inspired recipe for Pork Satay from the book 1000 Recipes by Martha Day.
I really like Satay so I was excited by this challenge. I used Lamb instead of Pork, just because I felt like lamb that night!
I made the marinade with the suggested fish sauce and extra ginger and also added a squeeze of chilli in a tube. (I know… i know…) I also left out the onion cause I really hate onion.
I left that to marinade all day before skewering them.
I cooked them over a grill and they smelt amazing! The smell made me really hungry and I couldn’t wait to dig in. I served them with rice and the Peanut sauce. ( and pappadums but shhhh! I’m mixing my food ethnicities!)
Then I bit in and… well, I didn’t really like it. It was ok, but it didn’t taste like satay I’m used to. Plenty of other people on the Daring Cooks board loved it, but I don’t think I’d bother making this recipe again. I wouldn’t mind trying other, more authentic, Satay recipes though.
Pork Satay with Peanut Sauce
Satay Marinade
1/2 small onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 T ginger root, chopped (optional) (2 cm cubed)
2 T lemon juice (1 oz or 30 mls)
1 T soy sauce (0.5 oz or 15 mls)
1 tsp ground coriander (5 mls)
1 tsp ground cumin (5 mls)
1/2 tsp ground turmeric (2-2.5 mls)
2 T vegetable oil (or peanut or olive oil) (30 mls)
1 pound of pork (loin or shoulder cuts) (16 oz or 450g)
Feeling the need to make it more Thai? Try adding a dragon chili, an extra tablespoon of ginger root, and 1 tablespoon (0.5 oz or 15 mls) of fish sauce.
Directions:
1. Cheater alert: If you have a food processor or blender, dump in everything except the pork and blend until smooth. Lacking a food processor, I prefer to chop my onions, garlic and ginger really fine then mix it all together in a medium to large bowl.
2. Cut pork into 1 inch strips.
3. Cover pork with marinade. You can place the pork into a bowl, cover/seal and chill, or place the whole lot of it into a ziplock bag, seal and chill.
4. If using wooden or bamboo skewers, soak your skewers in warm water for at least 20 minutes before preparing skewers.
5. Gently and slowly slide meat strips onto skewers. Discard leftover marinade.*
6. Broil or grill at 290°C/550° F (or pan fry on medium-high) for 8-10 minutes or until the edges just start to char. Flip and cook another 8-10 minutes.
* If you’re grilling or broiling, you could definitely brush once with extra marinade when you flip the skewers.
Peanut Sauce
3/4 cup coconut milk (6 oz or 180 mls)
4 Tbsp peanut butter (2 oz or 60 mls)
1 Tbsp lemon juice (0.5 oz or 15 mls)
1 Tbsp soy sauce (0.5 oz or 15 mls)
1 tsp brown sugar (5 mls)
1/2 tsp ground cumin (2.5 mls)
1/2 tsp ground coriander (2.5 mls)
1-2 dried red chilies, chopped (keep the seeds for heat)
1. Mix dry ingredients in a small bowl. Add soy sauce and lemon, mix well.
2. Over low heat, combine coconut milk, peanut butter and your soy-lemon-seasoning mix. Mix well, stir often.
3. All you’re doing is melting the peanut butter, so make your peanut sauce after you’ve made everything else in your meal, or make ahead of time and reheat.
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Pity you didn’t like it that much I added a lot of extra tweaks to get the recipe to taste like real Thai satay. Well at least you have this under your belt. Cheers from Audax in Sydney Australia.
to bad you did not care for it. but we learn as we go along. I hope next time it will be something you can fall in love with.
Sorry to hear you didn’t like your satay, but at least when you choose to make some again, you’ll know to go for a different type of recipe. Good luck with your next one though
In most of the challenges there is plenty of leeway to adjust the recipes to your taste. I like that you actually grilled the satay. So many people didn’t take that step and it is such an important one.
I got all pumped up with you in the beginning, and I felt your let down at the end. Heh… bummer.
Rochelle’s right – perhaps you’ll find a recipe you like next time. Thank you for trying it! And although it didn’t taste great, it still looks really pretty… ;o
Did the lamb tenderize at least?