This high-protein dish of chicken satay with a noodle salad is an ideal summer dish; light and fresh enough for hot weather but filling nonetheless. While satay (or saté) is well known as a traditional Indonesian dish, the salad is inspired by that other somewhat neglected Indonesian classic gado gado.
The chicken satay in this recipe is a fairly faithful rendition of the traditional Indonesian version, but the salad is a more pan-Asian iteration rather than traditional Indonesian. Taking its inspiration from gado gado— a "vegetable platter" rather than a salad—this version uses noodles in lieu of the boiled potatoes of traditional gado gado. Overall, this is a high-protein, lower-fat dish and no one is going to get scurvy on your watch with all that lime.
This recipe serves two to three adults and is easy enough to scale up or down.
Shopping List
You can either make your own satay (see below) or buy a decent store-bought version.
The Indonesian noodle salad
120g udon noodles; dried or fresh (or the same quantity of glass noodles, egg noodles, rice noodles etc.)
1 small red bell pepper; sliced vertically
1 small yellow bell pepper; sliced vertically
1 small green bell pepper; sliced vertically
1 large sweet red chilli (deseeded and finely sliced)
2 large shallots; vertically sliced
2 tbspns ginger & garlic paste (or equivalent grated fresh garlic and ginger)
2 skinless chicken breasts, filleted vertically
2 tbspns concentrated tomato purée diluted in ½ cup boiling water
Sunflower oil, (or peanut oil); about 3 tbspns
2 medium carrots; scrubbed and very finely sliced, vertically
⅓ cucumber; scrubbed and finely sliced, vertically
2 tspns sesame oil
3 tbspns rice vinegar (or mirin)
5 or 6 spring onions; sliced
7 or 8 ripe small or cherry tomatoes; halved or quartered (depending on size)
1 additional small fresh hot red chilli; deseeded and chopped
2 fresh limes
2 eggs; hardboiled and quartered or sliced
2 handfuls of dry roasted peanuts; roughly broken with a pestle and mortar
ground pepper to taste
Satay sauce
As with many other recipes, debate rages as to what exactly goes into "authentic" satay. The truth is that peanut sauces—used as dipping sauces or marinades—are common across much of Asia in Thai, Vietnamese, Malaysian and Indonesian cuisines, all having their own versions—and I really do mean "versions", plural, because even within each region there is a lot of variation. About the only thing they all have in common is peanuts.
Frankly, I don't think the differences are so vast that there's any point getting aeriated about it. My recipe is a hybrid, combining the things I like most from two different friends' recipes; one Malaysian, the other Indonesian.
I usually make it in roughly the quantities below. You won't use all of it for this dish. But it stores well, sealed, in the fridge for up to three weeks and, you can freeze it in an ice try, taking out as many cubes as you need at a time. Yes, it's also great with wok-fried noodles.
1 cup dry roasted peanuts; store-bought or roast your own
1 tbspn Kecap Manis (or sweet soy sauce)
2 shallots; peeled and very finely diced
2 tbspns honey (or palm sugar if you prefer)
5 tbspns vegetable oil (or peanut oil)
3 tbspns ginger & garlic paste (or equivalent grated fresh garlic and ginger)
4 tspns minced red chillies (or 6 fresh hot chillies, deseeded and finely chopped)
1 tspn tamarind paste
½ tspn galangal paste
The juice of ½ a lemon
¼ cup cold water
¼ cup coconut milk
approx.1 tspn corn starch (maize flour)—if needed
Cooking method
If making the satay from scratch, do this first. You can do this up to 3 weeks before and store, sealed, in the fridge. Otherwise move on swiftly to the chicken satay recipe.
The satay sauce
Break up the dry roasted peanuts in a food processor or with a pestle and mortar, broken roughly into the size of the peanut "chips" in crunchy peanut butter
Mix the diced shallots, minced red chillies, garlic & ginger paste and galangal paste together to make a composite paste. For best results use a handheld blender or food processor, adding a little water as needed
In a reasonably deep saucepan, heat the oil on a high heat. Once hot, add your "wet" spice paste and cook, stirring constantly, until the mixture becomes a darker colour and gives off a rich aroma (this should not take more than 4 or 5 mins)
Add the peanuts, tamarind paste, honey, Kecap Manis and lemon juice, stirring constantly. Add the remaining cold water in increments. Reduce to a medium-low heat and, still stirring continuously, cook for a further 5 to 10 mins
When the oil (now reddish in colour) separates and rises to the surface, you know your sauce is cooked. Not for this dish—but for other dishes requiring a sumptuous peanut dipping sauce—remove it from the heat at this point and serve in sauce bowls, without stirring so that the oil and peanut elements remain separate
For this—and other dishes requiring a thicker, smoother consistency—add the coconut milk. Stir gently as it cooks in and reduces. If, after 5mins, it shows no discernible signs of thickening, add the cornflour, ¼ tspn at a time
Once suitably thickened, remove from the heat, stir thoroughly and allow to cool
The chicken satay
When your satay sauce is fully cooled, layer your chicken breast fillets into a sealable container, thickly coating both sides of the chicken with the satay using a pastry brush. I prefer to fillet the chicken into fewer, larger "mini fillets" than the more usual "finger food" size. But, the choice is yours. Seal and store in the fridge. For best results, marinade 24 hours before cooking. NB: you can season the chicken with a salt before marinading, but I don't given the salt in the Kecap Manis/sweet soy sauce in the satay
In a small container, mix some of your satay together with the additional chopped fresh red chilli—basically you only need enough extra satay to baste the chicken as it cooks. You can mix these elements together at the point of marinading and store, sealed in the fridge or just before cooking. Either way, make sure the satay has returned to room temperature before using as a baste
Slide your marinaded chicken satay onto skewers just before cooking, "topping" each skewer with pieces of the lime you've used for other parts of the dish
There are essentially three ways to cook the chicken: grill it; barbecue it; or cook it in the oven on a high heat on tin foil or a "crisping dish". All are equally good and require slightly different timings—you can work them out for yourself. For this dish, the chicken can be served hot with the cold salad or cold, as it often is in parts of Asia, perfect if it's too hot for hot food. Baste the chicken on one side before cooking, then turn and baste on the other. Depending on how well done you like you chicken, you can actually let it pretty much blacken ( personally I love this barbecue outcome) but at the very least let the baste turn a crisp golden brown. (You may need to finish it under the grill or with a chef's blow torch if your chicken is fully cooked and the baste has not yet crusted)
Once you've plated the noodle salad, plate your chicken satay alongside it and take to table
The Indonesian noodle salad
Boil the udon for 4 to 5mins (check manufacturer instructions); drain and run under cold water for at least 1min, pulling the strands apart with tongs or a large fork. Once drained, transfer to a heat-proof (e.g. "microwave friendly" plastic) container with a lid and allow to cool further
While the noodles are cooling, heat the sunflower (or peanut) oil in a pan or wok on a medium-high heat. When hot, add the garlic and ginger paste, allow it to sizzle for a few minutes. When it turns golden, add the shallots, stirring so that they break into thin strips. Add the sweet red chilli, stirring together
Once the shallots become translucent, add the bell peppers and stir in, cooking on the high heat for 5 or 6mins until they too start to soften. Season with freshly ground black pepper
Add 2 tbspns of satay to the pan, stirring so that it "melts" and coats all the veggies. As soon as it starts becoming sticky, or "cooking dry", gently pour in the diluted tomato purée, stirring so that the vegetables cook in a shallow layer of reddish "soup". If necessary, increase the heat until it comes to a healthy simmer. As soon as it is simmering, squeeze in the juice of one of the limes and stir in
Reduce to a low heat and simmer all the ingredients, stirring regularly. This should take about 7 to 10mins. If at any point the pan becomes too dry, add a little water: you want to be left with approx. ½ a cup of cooked liquid in the end
Once cooked, remove from the heat and allow too cool. Drain off approx. 4 tbspns of the "sauce" and set aside for later
When the remainder of the ingredients in the pan have sufficiently cooled, add to the cooled noodles and fold in. Then, allow to fully cool. NB. you can undertake this step up to 48 hours before and store sealed in the fridge (once fully cooled), removing to return to room temperate before plating and adding the rest of the salad ingredients
Into a separate dish, add the tomatoes, cucumber and carrots—dress with a little lime juice if doing this some time before serving to preserve the freshness. You can store these ingredients, sealed, for up to 24 hours before in the fridge.
Make the "dressing" of the four tbspns of "juice" set aside earlier, the juice of one lime, the sesame oil and the rice vinegar. Ideally, make it in a closed bottle, shaking in the style of a cocktail shaker
Plate the dressed noodles; add the fresh salad elements. Pour over the dressing and garnish with the crushed peanuts, chopped spring onions and hardboiled egg. Take to table together with your chicken satay skewers. Serve with krupuk and a little dipping sauce if you wish
Variations
The noodle question — I've cooked this dish with numerous forms of Asian noodles—udon, Singapore noodles, glass noodles, egg noodles, yakisoba, blah, blah, blah. My two favourite tested options are udon and glass noodles, primarily because they tend not to stick together if you handle them properly and taste great cold. However, it's entirely up to you
Pescatarians — substitute the chicken with large pieces of squid, large king prawns or even lobster if you're feeling decadent, marinaded and cooked with satay in the same way as the chicken above
For a veggie version, use large pieces of smoked tofu, tofu, tempeh or baby corn (or a combination thereof) and treat much like the chicken in the version above; cooking once marinaded in the satay. Vegans should obviously omit the hardboiled eggs and the krupuk (which involve some animal ingredients) though other similar Asian "crackers" may not
Pairings
Oddly, I've most often eaten this dish with a simple drink of iced sparkling water with a dash of lime. Last week I ate it in the garden of a friend accompanied by slightly over-chilled common-or-garden sauvignon blanc and it was surprisingly good. So perhaps more exploration is needed in that direction...
Obviously, it also screams "beer". So that's another voyage of exploration for a future date.
Comments