2nd September, 2008
JAMIE CROOKIVER (aka JAMES CROOK)

PICTURE: James Crook "The common use of peanut sauce makes partnering these dishes an obvious choice, and one that will leave your taste buds tingling for more!"

Both chicken satay and gado-gado are traditional Indonesian meals that I experienced when travelling there a couple of years ago. The satay are popular with tourists - immediately likeable, they are familiar chicken skewers often topped with a spicy peanut sauce.

Gado-gado is a little different, but is a good option for vegetarians and tastes awesome. The salad is served cold atop cold or lukewarm potatoes, tofu and eggs, with the only heated ingredient being the sauce.

The common use of peanut sauce makes partnering these dishes an obvious choice, and one that will leave your taste buds tingling for more!

INGREDIENTS:

PEANUT SAUCE

1/2 cup coconut milk
1/2 onion
1 long chilli
1 teaspoon crushed garlic
1 teaspoon crushed ginger
1/2 teaspoon cummin powder
1 tbs sesame oil
1/2 cup peanut butter

GADO-GADO

4 boiled medium potatoes
4 hard-boiled eggs
1 block firm tofu, cubed
2 tomatoes, chopped
Thinly-sliced lettuce
Other salad vegetables

CHICKEN SATAY

2 chicken breast fillets
1 teaspoon crushed garlic
4 tbs soy sauce

METHOD:

To prepare the satay:

Cut the chicken fillets into long strips, you should get five to six strips from each fillet. Marinade the strips in the garlic and soy sauce in a bowl in the fridge for a couple of hours. Thread the chicken strips onto bamboo skewers and grill for 20 minutes, turning to brown evenly. Meanwhile, prepare the peanut sauce.

For the peanut sauce:

Put all the ingredients except for the peanut butter into a food processor and blend until smooth. Add the mixture to a small saucepan and bring to the boil. Add the peanut butter and simmer for 10 minutes, stirring regularly. You'll smell when it's ready because the onion in it will be sweet rather than raw. Serve hot.

For the gado-gado:

Chop eggs in half and the potatoes into pieces about as big. These ingredients should be cooled down to about room temperature, but not cold. Arrange the potatoes and eggs on a plate with the lettuce, tomato and any other salad ingredients you like on top. Pour a generous amount of hot peanut sauce over the salad, then top with two or three chicken satay.

Delicious! Serves two.

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