A Little Satay on a Thursday.

Satay or Sate originated in Java, Indonesia and is considered a popular national delicacy across their country. It is a dish of marinated, skewered and grilled meat and served with a sauce. There are numerous ways to prepare Satay, using pork, chicken, beef, goat, mutton, fish or other meat. The more authentic version uses skewers  from the midrib of the coconut palm frond. Satay can be obtained from a traveling satay vendor, a street-side tent restaurant to an upper-class restaurant or during traditional celebration feasts.

We found it here at home, in the backyard on the grill. Though we didn't use a coconut palm frond, we did use wooden skewers to create an amazing Beef Satay. A thumbs up from everyone!! I must say, it was a whirlwind day. I decided at noon that I was going to make this meal so I ran to the store over my lunch our, came home and quickly mixed up the marinade, sliced the meat and bagged the meat and marinade together. I could have easily made just one marinade but was paranoid that it was going to be too hot for the kids with the red chili pepper that was added so I divided and mixed part of the marinade with and without. Raced back to work and paused until my next run.

From there, I raced home to retrieve my fish from the neighbor who kindly took him in over Easter and now Thursday, I was just getting around to getting him back. Only because her two-year old decided to dump the entire bottle of fish food into the tank and she had to clean the tank. I felt so bad. Abandoned fish. Traumatizing neighbor in cleaning the tank (the fish is like Clifford. It's rather large for a Gold fish and it's not Gold...hmm). You really have to like to touch flopping fish to clean the darn thing.

So back to the night. With Hannah in place at Driver's Ed and Katy home from a cancelled softball practice, I managed to prepare dinner, grilling and all! Andy was busy working in the garage so I let him know dinner was ready and he said he would come in to grill and I proudly said, "I already did"... so gratifying to be a woman who is mastering the art of grilling.

Indonesian Beef Satay with sweet soy sauce
Marinade:
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 - 2 garlic cloves
2/3 large onion, cut into chunks
1 - 2 hot red chili peppers, sliced
2 Tbl. fresh coriander, chopped (I used 1 Tbl. dry)
1/4 cup roasted peanuts
1 tsp. sesame oil
1 1/2 Tbl. brown sugar
1/2 - 1 tsp. pepper

Skewers:
2 lbs. beef sirloin, cut into 1-inch cubes
Bamboo skewers, soaked for 1/2 hour in cold water so they don't burn

Sauce:
1/2 cup soy sauce
1 Tbl. dark molasses
1 Tbl. brown sugar






Directions:

1. Combine all marinade ingredients and puree in blender or food processor
2. Allow beed to marinade in mixture for at least 2 hours
3. Skewer beef and grill, turing frequently until desired doneness
4. Mix together sauce ingredients and serve skewers with dipping sauce and rice

Simply Delicious. Katy loved dipping her steak in soy sauce. Elie enjoyed it all. Happy is.