Chicken Satay with Peanut Sauce [Zack]

If you’ve ever been to a Thai restaurant, you have most likely had an appetizer called Chicken Satay. It’s about as popular as the ubiquitous Pad Thai (i.e. the General Tso’s Chicken of Thai food). Well, It’s popular because it’s a great crowd-pleaser. The sauce couldn’t be easier to make if you have a food processor. You can knock this appetizer out in less than 20 minutes from start to finish.

The first time I tried to make this was in Manayunk, PA at Lauren’s house. We were feeling adventurous, so we bought some peanut butter, ginger, vinegar, and guessed what else was in it until we got close.  It's near the authentic version, but has a little bit of a twist on it.  We’ve used this sauce on everything from shrimp to steak to whole roasted chickens.

Process:

We will marinate the chicken first.  

Cut the chicken thighs or breasts into long strips about 1 inch wide by 3 inches long.  Put them into a bowl and toss with the vinegar, sesame oil, curry powder, and garlic powder.

Now, move on to your peanut sauce.  

Loosely dice the ginger, garlic, onion and chile (optional) and put them into your food processor.  Process until you have a paste.  Then, add the peanut butter, hoisin sauce, sriracha, and rice wine vinegar.  Take it easy on the sriracha at first, you can always add more later ;)

Process until smooth.

Start your grill or pre-heat a saute pan to medium.  Take your marinated chicken and skewer them.  

Add a bit of oil to the pan and cook for about 3 minutes per side.

Serve on a plate with a generous glop of peanut sauce!

Ingredients:
(makes about 12 skewers or so)

4 chicken breasts or 8 chicken thighs
2 T garlic powder

2 T curry powder

1 T sesame oil

1 T rice wine vinegar

1 1/2 tsp salt

bamboo or metal skewers

1 inch ginger
2 garlic cloves
½ small onion
1 birdseye chile
3 T rice wine vinegar
3 T hoisin sauce
1 cup peanut butter
4 T sriracha sauce (I add this much, but you can back off a bit if you want)

Busta Rhymes - Woo ha