Chicken Satay Recipe: An Easy-to-Love Indonesian Dish

Fancy yourself an adventurous eater? In almost every country you visit, you’ll come across a dish that will test how intrepid your taste buds really are. Sannakji in Korea and tamilok in Palawan are two that come to mind.

Deemed too extreme for foreigners not named Andrew Zimmern, they may even be too much for some locals so there’s no shame in chickening out! My sister-in-law is Korean and the thought of eating sannakji repulses even her. In short, they aren’t for everyone.

Satay is NOT one of those dishes.

Spelled sate in Indonesian and Malaysian but pronounced the same as the English “satay”, this skewered meat dish is almost impossible not to like (unless you’re a vegetarian or vegan). It’s one of the first dishes we look for on every return visit to either country.

WHAT IS SATE/SATAY?

Satay is a seasoned and skewered meat dish that originated from the Indonesian island of Java. You can think of it as the Indonesian version of grilled meat skewers like Japanese kushiyaki/yakitori, Korean dakkochi, Georgian mtsvadi, or Armenian khorovats.

To prepare, different types of meat like chicken, lamb, fish, shrimp, and offal are marinated in turmeric and other ingredients before being grilled over charcoal. Depending on where it’s from and what it’s made with, satay can be served with different types of sauces like kecap manis (sweet soy sauce) or sambal, though the most common is a peanut dipping sauce (aka satay sauce).

The exact origins of satay are unclear though one common belief asserts that it was adapted from Indian kebabs that were introduced to Java by Muslim traders in the early 19th century. Since its invention, the dish has spread throughout the Malay Archipelago and has taken root in neighboring countries like Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, Thailand, East Timor, and the Philippines. It’s even become a part of Dutch cuisine thanks to the shared colonial history between Indonesia and the Netherlands.

In Malaysia as in Indonesia, satay has become so popular that it’s now recognized as a national dish.

TYPES OF SATAY

Satay was originally made with grilled meats but these days, it can be prepared with anything – even non-meat ingredients like tofu and vegetables. Limited only by the imagination, you’ll find an almost limitless array of satay made from both common and exotic ingredients like liver, squid, tempeh, oyster mushrooms, crocodile, rabbit, and snails.

To whet your appetite and inspire you to cook satay, pictured in this section are some of the tasty sticks of satay we’ve enjoyed in Southeast Asia over the years, starting with these bouquets of beef and chicken satay waiting to be grilled at a streetside stall in Kuala Lumpur.

You can find similar dishes in almost every culture but one of the things I love most about this particular type of grilled skewered meat, apart from its flavor, is the size. They’re small, about three or four small chunks of meat per stick, so you can enjoy each stick in one mouthful. That allows us to order different kinds so we can try as many as we can in one sitting.

Here’s evidence of us overordering at a popular satay restaurant in Jakarta. As we learned that day, you CAN have too much of a good thing!

Satay sauce is usually served on the side but this restaurant drenches their lamb and chicken skewers in a sweet and spicy peanut sauce. The beef satay was served dry but it was enhanced with the aromatic flavor of toasted coconut. Delicicious!

These long charcoal grills are a common sight on the streets of Indonesia and Malaysia. A traditional satay grill is narrow and rectangular in shape and looks like a long loaf pan.

I can almost taste the smokiness of these beef and chicken satay skewers just from looking at this picture!

What you’re looking at below is a type of communal steamboat or hot pot called lok lok. Popular in Penang, I didn’t realize it at the time but lok lok is considered a type of satay as well.

It works like this – diners would sit around a table with a central pot of boiling water surrounded by skewered food ranging from seafood to meats and vegetables. Sticks are colored according to price and you grab whichever you want and dunk them into the pot to cook. Like kaitenzushi restaurants in Japan, it’s a fun dining experience that gives you full control over your meal.

Those three bowls on the right are the sauces. If I remember correctly, they had peanut sauce, sambal, and kecap manis.

Don’t eat meat? No worries. In a vegan-friendly destination like Ubud or Canggu in Bali, you won’t have any trouble finding plant-based versions of satay.

What you’re looking at here is a vegan version of sate taichan, a type of chicken satay served without satay sauce or kecap manis. Probably made with soy protein, this “chicken” satay was smothered in a supremely spicy but delicious sambal.

Aside from Indonesia and Malaysia, satay is common in Thailand and Singapore as well.

Thai chicken satay (pictured below) is pretty much the same as the Malaysian and Indonesian versions. Grilled chicken and peanut sauce go so well together so why change anything?

FINAL THOUGHTS

And voila! Follow the chicken satay recipe above and this is what you’ll wind up with. Don’t you just love the grill marks on those chicken skewers?

Mrs Traveleater served these sticks of chicken satay with peanut sauce, steamed rice, and cucumber slices but on other occasions, she’s made them as part of a nasi lemak platter as well. I suggest trying that if you if you like the taste and aroma of coconut milk rice.

And feel free to experiment with the satay sauce. The recipe above is for a classic peanut dipping sauce but some recipes include other ingredients as well like fish sauce, lime juice, Thai red curry paste, and brown sugar, just to name a few. You’re encouraged to tweak the recipe based on your personal preference.

Speaking of personal preference, this wasn’t included in the recipe but Mrs Traveleater likes dhungar-smoking the grilled chicken before serving. Dhungar-smoking is a quick-smoke process popular in Indian Awadhi cuisine that allows you to easily add smokiness to food right on your stovetop.

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