Homemade Oven Baked Chicken Satay & Easy Peanut Sauce

Satay is one of our family's favorite local delights. But we hardly buy them from roadside food stalls. We'd encountered a number of gross experiences eating satay bought from these stalls. Several times the chicken meat were not thoroughly cooked and we saw raw shiny bloody meat half way through eating our satay.  🤢 🤮  And that was from a well-known satay restaurant in Kajang. On several occasions, the meat was as burnt as charcoal and we discarded most of the satay.  If you don't already know, burnt food is carcinogenic (cancer causing potential) and I don't want to take any chances.  Have you ever observed that satay sold outside is totally unhygienic and may be contaminated? The meat is usually marinated early in the day and left in the open at the stall and not kept in a chiller. By the time the satay is grilled on a rust-and-grease coated grill many hours later, the meat may have already been contaminated by salmonella. I wonder if the black and greasy grill on top of the bed of charcoal is ever washed!

Fans of satay, sorry for being a party pooper.  That's just one of my pet peeves on hawkers food.

For this reason, I decided to make my own chicken satay. And it is SO EASY you won't ever want to buy satay from outside stalls again.

All you need is boneless chicken breast or thighs and a few other basic kitchen ingredients. Chicken thigh is preferred as it's more tender and juicier.

Marinate ingredients for the meat are turmeric powder, coriander powder, garlic powder, some curry powder, some soy sauce and chopped garlic.  In many recipes, the meat is marinated with freshly blended garlic, shallots, lemongrass (white part), turmeric and galangal. My method is for super busy parents where powdered spices are used.

Chicken Satay Recipe

Ingredients: 
4 chicken legs and thighs preferred or 4 boneless and skinless chicken breasts
Bamboo skewers soaked in cold water for 2 hours
2 cucumbers cut into small pieces
1 small onion quartered
Oil and honey / coconut flower nectar / palm sugar syrup for basting. I used organic coconut flower nectar as it is low in GI.  For oil, I used olive oil. You may use peanut oil for the aroma.


Marinade: 
3 tablespoons oil
2 stalks lemongrass white parts only
2 cloves garlic peeled 6 shallots peeled
2 teaspoons turmeric powder
1 teaspoon coriander powder
1 teaspoon chili powder (I used English curry powder as that's what I have in the kitchen)
A dash of soy sauce (optional)
1/2 tablespoon salt or to taste (optional)


Instructions 
Cut the chicken meat into small cubes.
Blend the marinade ingredients in a food processor
Add in a little water if needed.
Marinate the chicken pieces for 6 hours or best overnight.
Thread a few pieces of the chicken meat into the bamboo skewers and place in pre-heated oven at 180C.  Bake 10 minutes on each side or until nicely charred. I prefer mine not to be so charred.
Baste and brush with some olive oil / honey / syrup while grilling.
Serve hot with the fresh cucumber pieces and onions.

The first time I made chicken satay, I served it with creamy mushroom pasta for the girls.

My low-carb dinner of chicken satay, broccoli blanched with olive oil and water and creamy mushrooms, sans pasta.



I made chicken satay for dinner again today and this time made a very easy and yummy peanut sauce as dipping for the satay. This lazy satay sauce is so easy that you can prep it in less than 1 hour. It does not require toasting and grinding peanuts.








Easy Peanut Sauce

Ingredients 
1 Cup Natural Crunchy Peanut Butter
 ½ Cup + 2 Tbsp Sweet Chili Sauce
1 tsp Chili Powder
¼ tsp Galangal Powder
¼ tsp Cumin Powder
1 ¾ Cups Water
3 Tbsp chopped peanuts (optional)
Sea salt, to taste

Method 
Combine all the ingredients except chopped peanuts in a saucepan and mix well.
Bring it to a boil, lower the heat and simmer in low fire for about 30 minutes.
Make sure to stir often to prevent the sauce from sticking and burn on the bottom of the pan. (To prevent the sauce from splattering, closed the pan with a lid, and leave it slightly ajar)
Once the sauce has thickened, season with sea salt (optional), and mix in the chopped peanuts.
Serve the sauce warm or at room temperature with Satay.


Cass helped to thread the chicken meat into the skewers.









This easy peanut sauce goes well with gado-gado (Indonesian salad) as well. After giving some of the sauce (and satay) to Maria our part-time helper, I still have enough sauce for another batch of satay, which I will make again next week and this time, I will make double the recipe for the chicken satay 😊😋