Craving some unique meat dishes during your stay at home? The good news is you can cook some satay in the kitchen. Being one of the 5 national dishes of Indonesia, satay is a popular dish that is not just easy to make but can be found everywhere in Indonesia, from the corner of the streets to the luxurious restaurants. Moreover, many regions add their own signature to this dish, creating their own authentic specialty. So add Indonesia to your bucket list and enjoy some scrumptious satay when you are able to travel tomorrow. Till then, we recommend you to make some satay at home and add your own little twist to the recipes.
1 | Sate Padang
Being sold throughout Indonesia, by pushcart hawkers and ‘Ampera’ (West-Sumatran restaurants), it would be no exaggeration to say that Sate Padang is one of the most favorite dishes in Indonesia. Different from any other satay, which either uses peanut sauce or soy sauce (and sometimes both), Sate Padang features a thick and spicy gravy that accompanies the skewers made from beef pieces and ox tongue. Actually, based on the spices and the gravy texture, there are three different kinds of satays originating from West Sumatra: Sate Pariaman, Sate Padang Panjang, and Sate Padang. However, Sate Padang is the common name used for all kinds of West-Sumatran satays in Indonesia.
Ingredients:
500 gr beef
500 gr ox tongue
1,5 l water
6 lime leaves, tear the edges
1 stalk lemongrass, bruised
1-inch galangal, bruised
1-inch ginger, bruised
150 gr rice flour, mix with 150 ml of water
Salt to taste
25 bamboo skewers – Soak in water for 20-30 minutes
Ground Spices:
5-6 long red chili
2 tsp roasted coriander seeds
1 tsp fennel seeds
5 garlic cloves, peeled
5 shallots
2-inch turmeric root
1 tsp salt
How to Make:
Beef Preparation: Parboil the beef and tongue in a pot for approximately 5 minutes. Throw away the water and scratch the white layer off the tongue. Now cut the beef and tongue into 2 x 2 x 3 cm pieces, and avoid cutting too small so that they don’t fall apart during cooking.
Beef Cooking: Marinate the beef and tongue with the ground spices in a pot for 30 minutes before adding water, kaffir lime leaves, lemongrass, galangal, and ginger. Bring them to a boil and then cook on low heat for approximately 30 minutes. When cooked through, remove the beef and tongue from the broth, and discard the herbs and spices. Strain and save about a liter of broth to use later. Season the broth with salt according to your taste.
Grilling: Thread meat and tongue pieces onto soaked skewers, inserting 3-4 pieces of meat and tongue on each skewer. Prepare your grill and brush some oil on both sides of the satay. Grill until slightly brown. Avoid grilling too long or the meat will become hard and dry.
Gravy Preparation: Bring the broth to a boil before adding stirred rice flour mixture. Stir continuously to reach the desired level of thickness. Then turn off the heat and pour the sauce over the satay. Serve hot.
2 | Sate Madura
Sate Madura is what comes to mind whenever the word ‘satay’ is mentioned: a meat skewer dish served with peanut sauce and sweet soy sauce. As the name implies, this dish originated in Madura, an island north of East Java. It is very easy to find Sate Madura as it is usually sold early evening to late night by pushcart hawkers. But you can also try to cook it yourself.
Satay Ingredients:
600 gram of chicken thigh meat, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
4 tablespoon of sweet soy sauce
2 teaspoon of vegetable oil
25 bamboo skewers
Peanut Sauce Ingredients:
250 gram of roasted peanut
3 candlenuts
6 red cayenne chilies
4 tablespoon of coconut palm sugar
Salt to taste
600 ml of water
How to Make:
Peanut Sauce: Grind the peanuts, candlenuts, and chilies in a blender or food processor. When the paste is smooth, transfer it to a sauce pan, add the rest of the peanut sauce ingredients, and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and let the sauce simmer until it thickens. Turn off the heat and set aside.
Satay: Mix chicken, sweet soy sauce, oil, and 150 grams of peanut sauce in a bowl and marinate for 30 minutes. Then thread the chicken pieces on bamboo skewers. Grill the skewers until cooked or slightly charred, basting with marinating sauce as required.
Serve the Sate Madura with peanut sauce.
3 | Sate Maranggi
Many people in Indonesians still debate whether this dish originated from Purwakarta or Cianjur. However, there is no doubt about the fact that Sate Maranggi is overwhelmingly delicious and perhaps the easiest rendition of satay from Indonesia that you can make in your kitchen. Unlike Sate Madura and Sate Padang, Sate Maranggi is not served with peanut sauce or gravy. Instead, these savory meat skewers are served with a chili sauce. Most people prefer their Sate Maranggi accompanied by grilled sticky rice or ‘Ketan Bakar’ with ‘Oncom’ or fermented peanut press cake as an additional condiment.
Ingredients:
600 gram of beef tenderloin, cut into small
3 tablespoon of sweet soy sauce
30 bamboo skewers
Spice Paste (Grind all the ingredients together):
12 shallots
8 cloves of garlic
1 1/2 tablespoon of coriander seeds
2 tablespoon of tamarind essence
1 1/2 teaspoon of salt
100 gram of palm sugar
Chili Sauce (Blend all the ingredients into a smooth sauce):
5 bird eye chilies, thinly sliced
1 tomato, cut into pieces
2 shallots
1 tablespoon of vinegar
5 tablespoon of sweet soy sauce
How to Make:
Mix the beef, sweet soy sauce, and spice paste in a bowl. Cover with wrap and jeep in the fridge for at least 2 hours to let the flavors blend into each other and into the meat. Skewer the marinated beef, grill until cooked and slightly charred. While grilling, baste with marinade sauce as required. Serve with chili sauce.
All these delicious satay recipes are bound to give you pleasure while you’re working from home. Moreover, you can also become familiar with the variety of satays in Indonesia. This might take you down the memory lane and make you reminisce about your last visit to Indonesia. So stay inspired while you stay at home and make plans to travel tomorrow.
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