Chicken Saté with Paleo ‘Peanut’ Sauce
I say yes to chicken saté with ‘peanut’ sauce any day, even without a BBQ grill or a grill pan. Where there is a will there is a way, so I instead I roasted it in the oven and except for the char marks it tastes exactly the same, so yay. But if you have a BBQ at hand definitely give it a go.
You might’ve noticed that basically all my chicken recipes ask for chicken thighs, only because it’s the best part of the chicken evah. It’s flavorful and juicy and I don’t need any more reasons and I’m leaving it at that.
For the saté I actually used metal skewers. I invested in some metal skewers a few years back and never looked back. It’s good for the environment because wooden skewers can only be used once, the metal skewer is slightly bigger, so portion wise one skewer per person is a great amount. When using wooden skewers remember to soak them in water before placing them on any type of heat. If you’re working with wooden skewers just remember that you will have a lot more skewers to handle and you’ll probably be looking at 3-4 skewers per portion.
I marinated the chicken sate in the home-made adobo mix that previously got featured in the rustic sweet potato hash. The dish pairs nicely with some sweet potato fries and the sweet and sour pickled cucumbers that I published yesterday. As a little extra, you will definitely have a little bit of ‘peanut’ sauce leftover for the next day to put on anything that you want. I think leftovers are the best, so enjoy!
Chicken Saté with Paleo 'Peanut' Sauce
Ingredients
Chicken Saté
- 800 gram boneless chicken thighs cut into bitesize squares
- 1 tbsp home-made adobo mix
- 2 tbsp olive oil
Paleo ‘Peanut’ Sauce
- 1 cup cashew butter
- 1 cup coconut milk
- 2 tbsp coconut aminos
- 1 tbsp maple syrup
- ½ tbsp fish sauce
- 2 garlic cloves minced
- 1 tbsp ghee
- ¼ tsp chili powder
Home-Made Adobo Mix
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- 1 tsp caraway seeds
- 1 tsp black mustard seeds
- 1 tsp black peppercorns
- 1½ tsp salt
- 2 tsp oregano
- ½ tsp paprika powder
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- ½ tsp curcuma
Instructions
Home Made Adobo Mix
- In a pan roast the cumin seeds, mustard seeds, caraway seeds and black peppercorns for 2 minutes until you release all the fragrances, pay attention to not burn them.
- Grind the seeds in a spice grinder or mortar and pestle.
- Add the salt, oregano, paprika powder, garlic powder and curcuma to the mix and save in jar. I like to re-use spice jars so I tend to save them for when I make my own spice mix.
Chicken Saté
- In a bowl mix the adobo mix with olive oil.
- Add the chicken and make sure to coat each piece in the marinade.
- Allow to marinate for at least 30 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 180C.
- I use metal skewers instead of wooden ones, so there is no need to soak there. If you are using wooden skewers make sure to soak them in water for 10-15 minutes before using.
- Divide chicken pieces over skewers and place on a roasting tray.
- You could easily place them on a BBQ grill instead of the oven. Since I don’t have a BBQ an oven will do.
- Place them in the oven for 25-30 minutes until cooked and turn every 10 minutes.
Paleo ‘Peanut’ Sauce
- While the chicken is in the oven you can get started on the ‘peanut’ sauce.
- In a pan, melt the ghee on medium heat.
- Add the minced garlic to the pan and cook for 30 seconds.
- Add all remaining ingredients and mix well to incorporate the cashew butter with the rest of the ingredients into a smooth sauce.
- My coconut aminos was salty enough that I didn’t need to add any salt to it, but always taste and check whether you need to add more to your taste.
- Let simmer on low for 5-10 minutes until nice and thick.
This was delicious! I had satay sauce for days and ate it with steamed broccoli! It’s quite subtle in taste, so next time I’d maybe add a bit more coconut aminos or fish sauce, but this is just my preference as I like a strong sauce flavour 💪 in any case, it’s an amazing alternative to traditional peanut satay which is something I never considered possible!
Yeah I completely understand, because I remember that I used a different brand of coconut aminos which was way saltier than I’m used to so I needed to add less spices than I usually do. It all depends on the ingredients you use, that’s why tasting is so important! Now that you know you can definitely play around, happy you liked it.