Our comfort food brings joyful memories and a sense of belonging. As an Indonesian away from my homeland, I get the longing for my comfort food. The limited-time I have to prepare food prompted me to find shortcuts so that from time to time I can still have a taste of those foods at home. The perks of preparing them yourselves are that you get to pick and choose and substitute the ingredients with healthier ones so in the end, you get both comfort and nourishment.
This recipe is only for the Satay Sauce as the Chicken Skewers were store-bought. They were pre-marinated in a little curated grocery store chain that cares about their ingredients. Here is how I came up with the Indonesian satay sauce that did not involve deep-frying your peanuts. It took me less than 30 minutes:
Ingredients:
Organic Peanut Butter, 5 heaping tbsp or more (I used half a jar)
Garlic, Shallots, Chili, chopped
Coriander, Ginger, Sea Salt, Coconut Sugar
Organic soy sauce & sweet soy sauce (I used MU Artisan Soy Sauce First Draw & Gula Melaka Soy Sauce)
Water, 1/2 to 3/4 cup
Lime Leaves
Olive Oil or Coconut Oil
Directions (you can do this while cooking the chicken skewers in a separate cast iron grill):
Pre-heat the oil on a pan for a few minutes, then heat garlic, shallots and chili until fragrant.
Add peanut butter into the pan, sprinkle herbs and spices and salt and pepper. Stir.
Pour water slowly, paying attention to your preferred consistency. Stir.
Add soy sauce and sweet soy sauce. Sprinkle lime leaves. Stir.
Pour sauce over the cooked chicken skewers (remember to check the doneness of the chicken).
Top with fried shallots if preferred.
