Fortunately, I am still alive because I did manage to have some satay a couple of times. The first time was in Nottingham, where Malaysians gathered for the Nottingham Games: how can there be no Malaysian food there? Sadly, it was the worse satay I have ever had in my life: the meat did not look appetising (it looks grayish brown!) and the peanut sauce was all diluted. Shortly after that, I had another set of satay at a Hari Raya event. Although the meat is still grayish brown (I don't know whether to use the word healthy or moldy to describe it), the peanut sauce more than made up for it.
So after that, it was 2.5 months without any satay. Naturally, I am at the verge of starvation. Until today.
At least this looks more like satay (I hereby proclaim that all satays must be yellowish brown!). And with lots of chicken skin... just the way I like it! And lots of cucumber. Yum yum. I am a little disappointed that there's no burnt parts at all though... charcoaled skin is the best!!
If you have been reading my posts, you should have guessed by now the master behind this masterpiece! (^________^)
I totally outdid myself this time. Desperate times call for desperate measures. Spent 2 hours in the kitchen the night before deboning, slicing and poking the chicken; I've marinated it with some weird spices and left it in the fridge overnight. Spent another hour grilling them the next day.
Here's the making of my satay...
Satay after leaving it to marinate overnight. It smelt promising.
Satays on the grill.
Satay ready to be consumed!
And the Satay sauce! As desperate as I am, I don't have time to grind and pound peanuts, so I used an instant satay sauce (cap Brahim) instead. Throw the whole package unopened into boiling water for 5 minutes, remove the satay sauce and you're done! I cannot say it's not nice: it had a very strong peanut taste. Tastes like the one I had from Malacca's pasar malam. I just found that it did not go quite well with my satay (^^;)
I would like to congratulate myself on a job well done, but I am not too satisfied with it. Then again, I have high requirements for satay: I have not given any satay full marks yet. I think there is a difference (in terms of taste) between barbecuing satay over charcoal and grilling it over ermmm... a grill. The chicken skin became all crunchy instead of soft and juicy. Maybe I should have used just a small fire instead? Well... there is always next time... but it won't be that soon. I think I will just order take-out from a (not-so-nearby) Malaysian take-out shop (it's 4+ pounds for only 5 sticks!!) the next time around...