Chicken satay

I’ve been making satay inspired sauces for a long time and, like most things in the kitchen, its development over that time has benefitted from a better trained and more experienced palate! The things I most value in a satay are concentrated flavours, a hefty dose of lime and sweetness to balance the savouriness but also to help the chicken to caramelise and form those addictive gnarly bits.

I wanted to make a note of the three key things to a good chicken satay in my mind. One: chicken thigh over breast, every time. Two: grilling the skewers under an oven grill is far, far better than pan grilling or frying them. If you’re able to, cooking them on a barbecue is ideal. Lastly, my third point to note is to use full fat coconut milk or coconut cream and either are fine but if you are using coconut milk, skim off the thick/cream part of the coconut milk and set aside the coconut water. You’ll get a much richer satay this way and the flavour will be more concentrated.

That’s enough yapping from me. I hope you love these as much as I do and please let me know if you make them and what you thought! See ya 😌

Ingredients

Serves 2

4 skinless and boneless chicken thighs cut width ways (1 inch widthways) pieces.

4tbsp smooth peanut butter

200ml coconut cream (or just spoon out the thickest part of a can of full fat coconut milk)

1 1/2tbsp honey or sugar

2tbsp light soy sauce

Juice of 1 small lime

2 minced garlic cloves

1tbsp red curry paste/red Thai paste

Lime wedges, chopped spring onion & sesame seeds for topping.

Method

Mix the satay ingredients together in a large bowl. Remove 1/3 of the marinade and set aside in another bowl (this is for dipping).

In the larger bowl, add the chicken thighs and mix well. Leave to marinade in the fridge for 20 minutes minimum, but overnight or 8 hours is best.

Thread the chicken onto bamboo/wooden/metal skewers (you should be able to make 4 skewers).

Heat the grill to 220c. Place the skewers onto a sheet pan/baking tray and grill for 8-10 minutes until nicely charred.

In a small saucepan, heat the remaining satay sauce gently until warmed through (about 5 minutes) and serve alongside the skewers.