Satay Kajang Malaysia - Meat

Nothing reminds me of home more than Satay. Be it chicken , beef or any meat of your choice, the robust spice blend in the meat marinade screams spice island all over. I love satay, it is grilled, charred and delicious. Personally, I think this dish showcases the expertise in spice usage.

It will be impossible to mention satay without associating the dish to its famous birth place, Kajang. After all, we have an entire town in Malaysia devoted to this one dish. Malaysian satay is different from its Thai neighbor's. It is always grilled unlike the fried Thai's version and is always served with the standard condiments of cucumber, red onions, pressed rice and spicy sweet peanut sauce. 

In the States, most Malaysian restaurants will not served the dish with pressed rice, mostly out of cost saving reason. However, ask any Malaysian, and they will tell you the dish is incomplete without a good serving of nasi himpit or ketupat (pressed rice in palm leaves) and peanut sauce. For that reason, I will present to you the recipe in a 3 part series: the meat, pressed rice and of course, the peanut sauce.

Try the recipe and I hope you will enjoy it as much as we do.

Satay Kajang Malaysia
Ingredients
2 lb chicken, beef or any meat of your choice, fat trimmed off and cut into 1/2 inch cubes
30 wooden skewers, soaked in water for at least 3 hours

Marinades
4 shallots
1 large onion, cut into wedges
2 inch piece of galangal or 2 tsp galangal powder
3 inch piece of fresh turmeric or 3 tsp turmeric powder
1 inch piece of ginger or 1 tsp ginger powder
2 stalks of lemongrass or 3 Tbsp frozen lemongrass or 2 tsp lemongrass powder
3 cloves of garlic
1/3 - 1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp salt
1 Tbsp cooking oil

Directions

Step 1: Cut the meat into 1/2 inch cube.

Step 2: Combine all the spices in a food processor. Blend till fine. Combine blended spices with sugar, salt and cooking oil. Mix till well combined.

Step 3: Combine meat with spice mix.

Step 4: Mix till well combined. Let meat marinade for at least 3 hours, preferably overnight.

Step 5: Using a wooden skewer, place at least 6 cubes of meat per stick. I like to do 8 pieces of meat.

Step 6: Preheat a grill to 400F. Grill meat till cooked and slightly charred, about 5 minutes per side.

 Serve with pressed rice, sliced cucumber, onions and spicy peanut sauce.