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And another recipe. This was the other dish that required a bit of prep time at last Sunday’s party. But believe me – it’s worth every minute of it! The dipping sauce is complex to make, but also complex in flavors, which more than offsets the time spent in the kitchen. In preparing these, I was very inspired by the folks at Sub Rosa, whose recipe this dish is heavily based on. Unfortunately, I don’t have a barbecue to grill the skewers on, so a grilling pan has to do, but I’m certain that charcoal could only improve things. Read it after the fold.

Dipping sauce (make this first)

Ingredients

1 tsp oil (peanut or anything else that’s neutral)
1 red onion, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, pressed
1 “peperoncino”, pointy, hot italian pepper, cleaned and seeded, and very finely chopped
4-5cm of ginger root, peeled and finely grated
4 tsp curry powder (medium hot, mine’s chicken curry powder from Singapore)
4 tsp ground cumin
400ml coconut milk
4 Tbs. creamy peanut butter
2 Tbs. salted roasted peanuts, coarsely chopped (for extra crunchiness)
5 tsp Tamarind juice
1 handfull of coriander leaves, chopped
3 tsp fructose (or use 4 tsp honey instead)
Juice of half a lime
3 Tsp ketchup
150ml water

Preparation:
Heat oil to medium heat, and add onion, garlic ‘peperoncino and ginger. Cook while stirring until onion begins to get glassy. Add curry powder and cumin, continue to cook and stir into a paste, letting the flavors bond and develop. Now, add the coconut milk, tamarind juice, lime juice, coriander leaves, ketchup, and bring to a boil. Add peanuts and the peanut butter. Stir vigorously to avoid superheating (Siedeverzug for those that learned chemistry in german). Add water to correct the viscosity. The dipping sauce should coat the spoon but still be easily stirrable (it will get more viscous once cold).

Marinated Sate Skewers

Ingredients

1kg of minced chicken meat
1.5 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp tumeric (Kurkuma)
1/2 tsp fennel seeds
3 small shallots, minced
5 tsp lemon juice
2 tsp fructose
2 tsp tamarind juice
1 pinch cayenne pepper (optional)
120ml dipping sauce (and some more during grilling)

Preparation

With a mortar and pistil, grind the coriander, tumeric and fennel seeds together. Put them in a bowl with the lemon and tamarind juice and the fructose. Mix well. Add the shallots and the 120ml of dipping sauce. Mix to an even consistency.

Soak ~30 bamboo skewers in water for 30′. Put the chicken meat on the skewers. Dip each skewer in the marinade, and place on a plate. Keep covered in marinade for a couple of hours, or over night in the fridge.
Heat a grilling pan to high heat, oil lightly. Fry skewers for 3 minutes on each side, and bask with additional dipping sauce.

Serve skewers with a small pot of dipping sauce. They can also be prepared ahead of time, and warmed in the oven. This recipe makes about 30 skewers with enough dipping sauce. Preparation time: 2-4 hours, including sauce prep and frying. But it’s worth it.

Posted by Michael on Tuesday, July 8th, 2008 at 12:01 am.