Finally. Finally I have the recipe I wanted for a while. Some time ago at Steve’s we had chicken skewers with satay sauce that blew me away, but it took forever to get the recipe out of him ( swapped for the blackcurrant cake recipe!). This was the second attempt. The first one, which I followed to the dot, with whole peanuts produced more of a satay paste than a sauce. It tasted good, but it wasn’t what I wanted. Having consulted Steve again and also youtube, I ditched the whole peanuts and went with smooth peanut butter. And I got what I wanted.

I started with the marinade for my chopped, skinless and boneless chicken thighs. Toasted and crushed coriander seeds, about 1 tbsp. 2 garlic cloves, 1/2 tsp of turmeric, which gave the chicken a lovely yellow colour, 2 tsps of sugar, 1/2 tsp of salt, 2 tbsps of soy sauce, 1 tbsp of sesame oil, juice of 1/2 a lime. There were also fennel seeds and some lemongrass which I left off due to not having any. 🙂

Chicken sat in this lovely marinade for most of the afternoon. The satay was a creative process of adding and tasting, thinking about it and trying to make it the way I liked. It took 2 small, chopped shallots, 1 clove of garlic, mashed, 1 green chili, chopped, but ended up adding more chili flakes later, as the heat was a bit too shy for my liking. 1 tsp of fish sauce, 2 tbsps of tamarind sauce, 100 ml of coconut milk- ended up adding more, twice, as the sauce was splitting slightly. 1 tsp of honey. Peanut butter, 3-4 tbsps, plus a little of the crunchy one for the texture.

Now, Steve’s chicken was far superior, as it was barbequed, so mine, from the oven really could not compete. But it was tasty, juicy and when dipped in that satay, delicious. Fresh coriander completed the picture. Once the lockdown is over and Mariusz comes over, I will be making more, I think it will wow him too.