Vietnamese chicken satay with nuoc cham

November 19, 2009 • Hello. I am currently out of the country and unable to respond to comments and e-mails. Rest assured, however, that future posts have been scheduled so new recipes will go live almost everyday during my absence. I'll be back soon with lots of stories and photos. Ciao for now! ~ Connie
Go to page 1 2 »»

Chicken satay without peanuts. I couldn’t believe it myself having associated satay with peanut butter. But this recipe from Vietnamese Cooking Made Easy (recipes by Nongkran Daks, Alexandra Greeley and Wendy Hutton; published by Periplus) is peanut-free. It is light and succulent, delicate with just the right hints of complementing flavors. Served with nuoc cham, the Vietnamese sweet and sour dipping sauce, it satisfies the craving for barbecue without the grease and the fat. If you marinate the chicken and make the nuoc cham in the morning, grilling takes less than fifteen minutes so dinner is ready in no time at all. We had these grilled chicken satay for dinner last night along with the Korean noodle dish called japchae, more popularly known in the Philippines as chapchee.

Grilled lemongrass chicken satay

Note that I deviated a bit from the proportion of the seasonings given in the original recipe. I found the marinade a bit bland and made some adjustments.

Serves 4 to 5.

Ingredients :

For the chicken satay:

10 chicken thigh fillets (about 500 grams)
2 stalks of lemongrass (light-colored bottom portion only)
1 onion, peeled and chopped
1 finger chili
half a head of garlic, crushed and peeled
4 tbsps. of soy sauce
2 tbsps. of oyster sauce
3 tbsps. of patis (fish sauce)
1 tsp. of salt
4 tbsps. of honey
freshly ground black pepper (as much as you like)
about 12 bamboo skewers, soaked in water for an hour prior to grilling

Cut the chicken thighs into 1-inch cubes. Place in a bowl.

Cut off the stem of the chili, slit lengthwise and scrape off the seeds and chop. Leave the seeds on if you prefer spicier satay.

Bruise the lemongrass by pounding the stalks a few times with a pestle or the side of a cleaver. Chop.

Place the chili, garlic, onion, lemongrass and liquid seasonings in a blender and process until pasty. If you don’t have a blender, finely chop the solid ingredients, transfer to a mortar, pound and grind with a pestle until mushy then mix with the liquid ingredients. Stir in the freshly ground pepper.

Pour the marinade over the chicken, mix — with your hand preferably — working the marinade into the meat. Cover the bowl, place in the fridge and let the chicken marinate for several hours or overnight.

Thread four to five pieces of chicken per skewer. Grill for about five minutes per side. Serve with nuoc cham.

Click the link to page 2 below for the nuoc cham recipe.

Go to page 1 2 »»
February 22, 2008  Print This Post   
Tagged: ,

Comments

5 Responses to “Vietnamese chicken satay with nuoc cham”
  1. noemi says:
    February 22, 2008 at 9:56 pm

    this looks good, this is exactly the same as the indonesian satay.

    Reply
  2. Ebba Myra says:
    February 23, 2008 at 8:38 pm

    Oh. great,,,,, I just bought chicken yesterday and was going to make some caramel chicken..ngayon naman you posted this.. ay nag-dalawang isip ako.. ano kaya dalawang dish na lang lutuin ko.. meron akong whole chicken, i-debone ko na lang kaya to cook both recipe.. hehehe

    Reply
  3. indonesian food says:
    February 25, 2008 at 5:02 pm

    hmmm..i like it

    Reply
  4. Jon Limjap says:
    February 27, 2008 at 8:35 pm

    Why do the skewers need to be soaked? So they won’t burn?

    Reply
  5. Connie says:
    February 28, 2008 at 9:09 am

    Yep, especially when using live coals.

    Reply
You may post a relevant comment.
If you want your own pic to show with your comment, go get a gravatar!

PLEASE READ BEFORE SUBMITTING A COMMENT

Except for personal use, or as legitimate RSS feeds with link back to this page, NO PART OF THIS ENTRY MAY BE REPRODUCED IN ANY MANNER, whether individually or as part of a collection, without the owner's PRIOR written permission. This blog is a FREE service. Help maintain it by respecting the author's copyright.

Some entries have multiple pages. Most recipes are on page 2; others, on page 3 or 4. Click on the pagination links to view them.

Some entries DO NOT contain recipes.

Sorry, I don't e-mail recipes. However, you may opt to receive a weekly summary of recent Pinoy Cook food articles and recipes by using the link on the left sidebar.

Stay updated!

Feed for RSS readers Weekly Newsletter Get recipe updates via Facebook Get recipe updates via Twitter Get recipe updates via Plurk Get recipe updates via Yahoo! Meme

View the archive

November 2009
S M T W T F S
« Oct    
1234567
891011121314
15161718192021
22232425262728
2930  
A different kind of chicken casseroleA different kind of chicken casserole
Kiddie Spaghetti 2Kiddie Spaghetti 2
My secret pasta sauceMy secret pasta sauce
Buko (coconut) pandan dessertBuko (coconut) pandan dessert
Chicken salad sandwich and cheese sticksChicken salad sandwich and cheese sticks

Conversations