Chicken Satay

Satay is one of those gold standard dishes that I tend to judge a restaurant by. I've had some realy horrible Chicken Satay that more closely resembled leather on a stick than actual food (usually found at chinese buffets), and I've had some that still makes my mouth water just thinking about it (such as Sakura's Satay- which I had in Paris last year- shown below).

For me, this recipe falls closer on the scale to Sakura's and a bit more even towards the authentic than even Sakura's, which is not a bad thing at all. I must mention that I gleaned this recipe from yet another cookbook find this past weekend. It's called Street Food, by Clare Ferguson. It's a collection of street food recipes from every corner of the world. I was thoroughly impressed by the gorgeous pictures and rich, varied recipes I found... and I got the book for only three bucks!

I didn't really have any issues with ingredients for the recipe thanks to a trip to the Asian market in OKC this past weekend (other than not having fresh lemongrass stalk or tamarind paste), so I think my dish came out pretty close to the book's. I did lack tamarind paste, so I just left it out of the peanut sauce and added a little bit of peanut butter for some consistency, then when my mixture was still too thin, I brought the sauce to a boil, added about a teaspoon of corn starch, and the problem was solved.

Chicken Satays
1 lb. boneless chicken breast
2 T peanut oil
2 T distilled white malt vinegar (I substituted apple cider vinegar for GF purposes)

-Spice paste-
3 garlic cloves, chopped
4 shallots or 1/2 small onion, chopped
1 T coriander sees, crushed
1/2 stalk lemongrass, finely chopped (I didn't have this, but I did have a Thai spice mix with some in it, so I added 1 t. of that mix)
1 t. ground turmeric
2 small, fresh hot red chilies, finely chopped (optional in my opinion)

-Satay sauce-
1 t. fish sauce, toasted on a piece of foil for 1 minute
1 t. tamarind paste (sold in jars- but I didn't have any, so I added some natural peanut butter instead mainly for consistency)
1 oz. macadamia nuts or peanuts, chopped,
1 T brown sugar
1/2 stalk lemongrass, finely sliced (again, same substitution of spice mix here)
4 shallots or 1/2 small onion, chopped
2 small, fresh hot red chilies, finely chopped (optional in my opinion)
1/2 c canned coconut milk

Cut the chicken breasts into thin ribbons about 1 inch wide, then put pieces into a medium bowl. Chop the spice paste ingredients, mixing them all together in a food processor until it becomes a paste-like consistency (if you need to, add 1 T of water to help the consistency). Heat the oil in a skillet, add the spice paste, and saute until aromatic. Let it cool, stir in the vinegar, then add to the chicken. Marinate for about 20 minutes or up to 2 hours. Meanwhile, soak 8 wooden satay sticks in water.

To make the satay sauce, put the fish sauces in a food processor, add the tamarind paste (or peanut butter in my case), nuts, sugar, lemongrass, shallots or onions, and chilies. Heat the coconut milk in a small saucepan to near boiling point, then add to the processor and puree briefly to form a sauce. Preheat your broiler or light your grill until very hot.

Push the meat onto the sticks, threading it on in waves- then grill or broil or cook for about 3 minutes each side until done. Serve with the satay sauce.

Ratings from the Experts*: Hubby gave this (even lacking some ingredients) a solid 10. Better than 95% of the other chicken satay I've had, I gave it a 9, simply for the fact that it was a tiny bit dry for what I prefer, compared to the satay in Paris which is the best experience I've had.

Day 6: Recipe 2- Chicken Bierocks

My mother-in-law suggested making Bierocks when I put out a request on facebook for recipes that travel well. I’d made them before and found them very filling… but the problem was that I didn’t have enough ground beef or sausage, as is the customary meat filling. So I came up with my own concoction and I think it turned out well!

Chicken Bierocks
What you’ll need:
2 large boneless chicken breast, cubed
1 green bell pepper, sliced
1 can corn
1/2 large onion, sliced
1 - 4 oz. can mushrooms
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1/2 t. Paprika
1 T. Basil
pepper, to taste

Throw all of this into a CrockPot, mix well. Cook for 3-5 hours on high, stirring occasionally.


Dough

2 pkgs. yeast
1 t salt
1 c warm milk
4 c flour
1/4 c sugar
1/2 c warm water
1/4 c butter, softened

Dissolve yeast in warm water. Set in warm place. Add warm milk, butter and salt; let stand for 10 minutes with yeast mixture in it. Add flour and sugar and work together with fingers until all of the dry ingredients are worked in well. Let double for 50 minutes. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Roll out dough into a 1/4” thick layer, then cut into 7” circles of. Take cooked chicken mixture and spoon desired amount into the middle of dough circles, then fold dough over and pinch edges down, ensuring all the mixture is contained within the dough. (It’s easiest to do this on a cookie sheet so you don’t have to transfer them once done.) Bake for 20-25 minutes until dough is firm and slightly crispy on the outside.

This recipe yields 6-8 bierocks.

Rating from the Expert*: Delicious! 9/10, only for the fact that I might like to try adding some Thyme and maybe add potatoes to the chicken mixture next time. The dough is sweet and tasty and the dish is very filling overall.