Colombo's Malay community, descended from Javanese exiles of the Dutch era, keeps a local satay tradition alive in Slave Island 'sathe kades': beef or chicken cubes in a turmeric-heavy marinade, grilled and doused in a curry-leaf-inflected peanut gravy hotter than its Southeast Asian ancestor. It is the island's clearest link between the satay and kebab families.
Also known as: sathe, sri lankan satay, malay satay colombo, sathe kade, slave island satay, ja satay
Watch it made
Ingredients
- 600 g beef or chicken thigh, 2.5 cm cubes
- 1 stalk lemongrass, tender core minced, plus extra stalks as optional skewers
- 1 tsp turmeric
- 2 tsp ground coriander and cumin
- 1 tbsp tamarind paste
- 1 tbsp kithul or palm treacle (or brown sugar)
- 2 shallots and 2 garlic cloves, ground
- 100 ml coconut milk
- 1.5 tsp salt
- for the sauce: 100 g roasted peanuts, 1 tsp chili powder, 100 ml coconut milk, tamarind
How to make it
- 1
Grind the lemongrass, shallots and garlic with turmeric, coriander-cumin, tamarind, treacle and salt, loosen with coconut milk, and marinate the meat 3 hours.
- 2
Simmer the sauce: crushed peanuts, chili, coconut milk, a little tamarind and salt, 10 minutes to a spoonable thickness.
- 3
Thread the cubes onto sticks and grill over medium charcoal 8-10 minutes, turning when each face takes color.
- 4
Warm the peanut sauce and thin with a splash of water if it has tightened.
- 5
Serve Slave Island style — skewers dunked or doused, with bread or seeni sambol rice.
Pro tip: Kithul treacle chars faster than sugar dissolved in a Malay-style kecap baste — turn at 2-minute beats or the sweetness turns acrid.
The story of Sri Lankan Sathe
Sathe is the Sri Lankan Malay community's satay, kept alive in the sathe kades of Slave Island in Colombo. The community descends from Javanese exiles and soldiers brought by the Dutch, and the dish came with them — then diverged, as everything does on an island.
It is the island's clearest link between the satay and kebab families, and the divergence is easy to taste: the marinade is turmeric-heavy, and the peanut gravy is inflected with curry leaf and considerably hotter than its Southeast Asian ancestor. A Javanese cook would recognise the dish and would not recognise the sauce.
The technique that defines it
The marinade is dry-spice-forward rather than sweet. Turmeric dominates, with coriander, cumin, fennel and chilli, and there is far less palm sugar than in an Indonesian satay — which means the skewers char rather than caramelise, and the sweetness that balances the dish lives entirely in the sauce.
The peanut gravy is built like a Sri Lankan curry rather than like a satay sauce: onion and curry leaf fried in oil, spices bloomed, then ground roasted peanut, coconut milk and tamarind, simmered until thick. Curry leaf is the marker, and it is added at the start so its oils permeate rather than sitting on top.
Choosing your ingredients
Beef or chicken in small cubes. Turmeric, coriander, cumin, fennel, chilli powder, ginger-garlic. Roasted peanuts ground coarse rather than peanut butter, which is too smooth and too sweet.
Curry leaves, fresh if possible, and pandan (rampe) in the sauce for the Sri Lankan note. Coconut milk and tamarind. Bamboo skewers, soaked. The sauce should be thick enough to coat the skewers when they are doused, which is how it is served.
Mistakes that ruin it
Using peanut butter
It is too smooth and too sweet. Grind roasted peanuts coarsely for the right texture.
Adding curry leaves at the end
They need to be fried in the oil at the start so their aroma permeates the sauce.
Making it as sweet as Indonesian satay
The Sri Lankan version is hotter and less sweet. Restraint with the sugar and generosity with the chilli.
Skipping the tamarind
The sauce needs its sourness for balance. Without it the peanut and coconut are cloying.
How it is served
Skewers doused in the peanut gravy, with a cucumber and onion sambol and bread or rice. In the Slave Island sathe kades it is sold by the skewer in the evening. It is street food and it is eaten immediately, with the sauce still hot.
Questions about Sri Lankan Sathe
Is sathe the same as satay?
It descends from Javanese satay, brought to Sri Lanka by the Malay community, but it has diverged — turmeric-heavy marinade, curry-leaf peanut gravy, and considerably more heat.
Who are the Sri Lankan Malays?
A community descended from Javanese exiles, soldiers and political prisoners brought to Sri Lanka during Dutch rule. Slave Island in Colombo remains a centre of their food culture.
What makes the sauce Sri Lankan?
Curry leaf and pandan fried into the oil at the start, tamarind for sourness, and far more chilli than an Indonesian satay sauce carries.
Can I use peanut butter for the sauce?
It is too smooth and too sweet. Coarsely ground roasted peanuts give the correct texture.
