My version of satay

That morning was just another day. I’m sitting at the dinner table in my kitchen while thinking about what to cook for lunch.

I’ve always thought about what to cook for my family.  Usually, we always have rice and side dishes for lunch.

I want to make something other than rice and side dishes for that particular weekend. 

Then, there is a click in my mind to make satay.

Satay is a dish of seasoned, marinated and grilled meat, served with a peanut sauce.  

That very morning, I assigned my daughter to go to the fresh market to buy meat in order to make satay. The wet market is about 10 minutes drive from my house.

We made our own satay at home which is much cheaper for 1 kilogram of meat can produce 50 stick of satay.  

Whereas for the same cost (RM22 of 1 kilogram of meat)  that we made for ourselves equivalent to 15 stick of satay that we bought!

The ingredients for marinate

While my daughter was away at the market, I prepared ingredients to marinate the beef.

The ingredients could be used with any herbs from the kitchen.  

For me, I used garlic, onion, coriander seed, and lemongrass.  Then, I blend all ingredients and put them aside. 

I cut the beef that was fresh from the market into small pieces. We use meat with fat. 

Fat is essential to make the taste of satay authentic and original. I do the same thing if the satay that I made for that day using chicken. 

Afterwards,  I mix the ingredients and add them up with turmeric powder, salt and sugar. 

I have to put a lot of sugar in it to make the satay taste sweet.  Then, marinate the beef for four hours.  

While the beef and chicken being marinate I prepare the ingredient to make the satay sauce. 

Satay sauce or other name is peanut sauce, requires a tedious job to do. 

The ingredients make it quite plentiful. To name, groundnut, galangal, lemongrass, red onion, dried chillies, palm sugar, tamarind juice, sweet soy sauce, oil and water. 

There are many kinds of peanut sauce recipe that you can find online.  You may use any recipe that available and make one at home. 

It can produce more in terms of quantity and you may adjust the spiciness according to your liking.   

Time to grill the satay

Before we grill the satay, we soaked the stick with plain tap water for at least half an hour to a maximum of one hour.  

This technique is being done by my son and it actually does help in preventing the stick from burning.

After four hours, the satay is ready for the grill. 

Normally, the satay is grilled over a charcoal fire but it is troublesome for me to light a charcoal fire. 

So we did the easy way by grill the satay on the pan.

While we grill the beef, we have to spatter the oil on the satay to not dry the beef on the pan. This is less hassle and an easy method to grill satay because the outcome is the same. 

To do it, we used pandan leaves that grow in my garden.

I fold it in half, tie it with a rubber band at the other end, and cut a bit of the corner end to make it look like a brush. 

Then, I dip the “pandan leaves brush ” with cooking oil and spatter it on the pan.

How we eat satay

We eat satay with peanut sauce garnish with big onion and cucumber. We were told that onions can overcome the fat and oil on satay that we eat.

We cut the whole onion into the square by dividing it into four and slice the cucumber similar to how we cut with rojak, into a pyramid-like shape. 

Satay can become a complete meal when we paired the satay, peanut sauce, cucumber and onion with nasi impit. 

How to go to the famous Sate Kajang 

Satay is considered as one of the National food. It can be found anywhere in Malaysia. 

But here in my state of Selangor, we have a “ district of satay” known as Kajang. 

This is the famous spot in local to find many hawkers just selling satay of a different kind.

To go there by travelling through public transport will be a long journey and quite challenging and usually the local just drive to the place. 

Those who are familiar with public transport can go to Kajang by train KTM Berhad (Kereta Api Tanah Melayu).

There you can fetch a taxi or order a Grab service to move around the town. 

Alternatively, you can take the MRT (Mass Rapid Transit) from KL Sentral straight to the town of Kajang.

By this route, you can take a walk from MRT Kajang Station to the biggest and famous satay house in Kajang known as Restaoran Sate  Kajang Hj Samuri. 

Conclusion

I prefer to make my own satay at home for convenience. It took more time and hassle to go to the satay premise and I’m not kind like to eat outside. Nevertheless, once in a while it would be okay for me to dine outside.