members recipes

The latest Asian Fusion recipe from Mango Ginger: www.mango-ginger.blogspot.com Satay is found all over South East Asia and the recipe varies from country to country. This version reflects the melting pot culture and cuisine of Singapore. It has notes of Chinese (in the soy), Indian (in the garam masala and cumin) and South East Asian (in the lemongrass) flavours. This makes a fun starter or a meaty main. Timing: 1 hour plus plenty of marinating time Rating: Moderate – a little effort to make the sauces Serves: Makes 9-10 sticks which can serve 4 as a starter or 2 as a main

Ingredients
Ingredients

450g pork (or beef, prawn, chicken or tofu if you prefer)

For the marinade:
½ red onion or 2 shallots
2 large garlic cloves
3 stalks lemon grass (white part only)
4-5 sprigs coriander
1cm knob ginger
1 tbsp dark soy sauce
2 tsp ground turmeric
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 1tbsp brown sugar
½ tsp salt
100ml coconut milk
10 wooden or bamboo skewers

For the Peanut Sauce:
120gm salted roasted peanuts
2 shallots/ ½ small onion
2 cloves garlic
1 teaspoon garam masala
1 lemongrass stalk
1 small hot red chilli (e.g• birdseye)
200 ml coconut milk
1 tsp dark soy sauce
1 tsp brown sugar
juice of 1 lime

For the cucumber and yellow pepper relish salad:
Half a cucumber (about 250g)
1 yellow pepper
1 small hot red chilli (e.g• birdseye)
1 shallot, very finely sliced or ¼ onion
2 tbsp rice vinegar
2 tsp caster sugar
½ tsp salt

Method
1. First make the marinade. You should do this ideally 8 hours before cooking or even the night before. Very finely chop the onion/shallots, garlic, ginger, lemongrass, chilli (seeds included) and coriander. Then make into a paste either with a mortar and pestle or a food processor. If using a mortar and pestle, start with the hardest ingredient and adding the softest ingredient last. So pound the lemongrass first, then the chilli, ginger, garlic, coriander and finally onion.
2. Add all the other marinade ingredients and stir well.
3. Cut the pork into cubes about 1 inch in size, removing any fat. Pour all of the marinade over the pork. Cover and refrigerate.
4. While the pork is marinating make the peanut sauce. Start by roasting the peanuts – this gives them a deeper flavour and colour. Spread them out on a baking sheet and place in a hot oven for about 5 minutes, shaking the sheet after a couple of minutes, until lightly browned. Remove from the oven and allow to cool. Either in a food process or with a mortar and pestle grind the peanuts. It’s up to you how chunky you want the sauce to be. Some should be very finely ground as this will thicken the sauce, but also leave plenty of larger chunks to give the sauce crunch.
5. Finely chop the onion/shallot, chilli, garlic and lemongrass. Fry the onion and garlic in a little oil for about a minute. Then add the chilli, lemongrass and garam masala and fry for a further minute. Add the remaining ingredients and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 5 minutes. Allow to cool and refrigerate until shortly before serving.
6. A little while before you’re ready to cook the skewers, make the relish salad. If you want to prepare this in advance, don’t pour on the dressing more than an hour before you want to eat as it will make the vegetables less crunchy. Prepare the dressing first. Finely chop the chilli (seeds as well). Add the vinegar, sugar, salt.
7. Peel and deseed the cucumber and slice into medium sized chunks. Chop the yellow pepper into chunks of the same size. Finely slice the shallots. Pour over the dressing.
8. An hour before you are ready to cook the pork, soak the skewers in water to prevent them from burning during cooking.
9. When the pork has finished marinating, thread the cubes onto the skewers – about 4 or 5 cubes per skewer. Lay the skewers out on a wire rack and place over a baking sheet covered with foil (to catch the drips). Place the skewers under a hot grill and cook for about 5-6 minutes on each size, until they are nicely browned all over. The meat should still be tender inside, not tough.
10. Serve the skewers with the relish salad and the peanut dipping sauce.