Indonesia's everyday chicken skewer: small pieces of thigh threaded on bamboo, grilled over coconut-shell charcoal and drowned in sweet peanut sauce with kecap manis. Street vendors fan the coals by hand, giving the meat its signature smoky char.
Also known as: sate ayam, satay ayam, chicken sate, Indonesian chicken satay, sate ayam bumbu kacang
Watch it made
Ingredients
- 700 g chicken thigh, in 1.5 cm pieces
- 80 ml kecap manis, divided
- 30 ml oil and 1 tsp ground coriander
- 150 g fried or roasted peanuts
- 2 garlic cloves and 3 bird's-eye chilies
- 20 g palm sugar and 1 tsp tamarind paste
- 200 ml warm water
- Fried shallots and lime wedges
- Lontong or steamed rice
- 20 bamboo skewers, soaked
How to make it
- 1
Grind the peanuts with garlic, chilies, palm sugar and tamarind, then loosen with warm water and simmer 5 minutes to a pourable sauce.
- 2
Toss the chicken with half the kecap manis, the oil, coriander and a spoonful of the peanut sauce; marinate 1 hour.
- 3
Thread 4-5 small pieces per stick, keeping them tight.
- 4
Grill over very hot coals (coconut-shell charcoal if you can), fanning and flipping for 6-8 minutes, brushing once with kecap and oil.
- 5
Flood a plate with peanut sauce, lay the sticks on top, zigzag the last kecap manis over, and finish with fried shallots and lime.
Pro tip: Stealing a spoon of the finished peanut sauce for the marinade is the warung move: meat and sauce end up tasting of each other, so the skewer never reads as grilled chicken with sauce on the side.
