Chicken satay (NOT to be confused with sauté, that is a completely different term!) is a Thai dish consisting of skewered grilled chicken and one or more dipping sauces. It's almost always served with peanut sauce, but many places add others, both sweet and savory. Several of my favorite thai restaurants serve a vegan version of satay, and it's always one of my go-to dishes. And after a while of testing different pieces of this recipe, I finally felt ready to take a crack at it.
For this satay, we will first make some vegan chicken and let it marinade in a coconut milk-based broth. Then we skewer it and grill it! Finally, we will serve with both ginger peanut sauce and Thai cucumber sauce (nam chim taeng kwa). The cucumber sauce is my favorite accessory for this dish, as it adds a cool, sweet counterpart to the nutty peanut sauce.
Sources
Marinade: Modified from here
Peanut ginger sauce: Isa Does It by Isa Chandra Moskowitz p. 199
Cucumber sauce: Modified from here
Time
If making homemade vegan chicken, it will take an evening, and then 45 min the next day. Otherwise, about 30 min, then a several hour break, then about 45 min.
Yield
About 9-10 skewers. 3-4 skewers is a full meal for 1 person, and 1 per person is appropriate for an appetizer.
Ingredients
Chicken
- 48 oz neutral vegan chicken
- I like to use The Best Vegan Chick'n, of which this uses exactly a double batch. I love this recipe because it rips and chars very beautifully!
- There are likely other storebought options, but make sure to use something unflavored! I love Tofurkey chicken strips but they are not appropriate here.
- 10 skewer sticks. You can buy these at many grocery stores, or you cam improvise with wood or metal chopsticks (like I did)
- A few tbsp neutral oil, for frying
Marinade
- 400ml (14oz / 2 small boxes) coconut cream
- 1 cup water
- 2 tbsp curry powder
- 2 tbsp white sugar
- 4 tsp red curry paste
- 2 tsp table salt
Cucumber Sauce
- 0.25 cup rice vinegar
- 0.25 cup white sugar
- 2 tbsp water
- 0.5 tsp salt
- 1/2 cucumber, not peeled, cut into small cubes
- 1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
Peanut Ginger Sauce
- 2 tsp olive oil
- 1 tbsp minced fresh ginger
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 cup water
- 1/3 cup (85 g) smooth unsweetened ("healthy") peanut butter
- We use unsweetened here so we can control the sweetness more carefully. You can use sugary peanut butter in a pinch but remove the agave nectar from the peanut sauce and add in at the end if you think it needs it
- 3/4 tsp curry powder
- 1/16 tsp star anise powder
- 4 tsp rice vinegar
- 4 tsp tamari (aka Japanese soy sauce)
- 4 tsp agave syrup
- 1 tbsp roasted peanuts, chopped (for topping), divided
Directions
- First, rip the vegan chicken into pieces. This takes some practice: you want organic-looking chunks, but you don't want them to be too big -- if they are more than about 0.5" thick, then the marinade won't soak through very well. But you also don't want thin strips or really small pieces, as they don't skewer very well.
- Next, find a large dish with a cover (you could also use a ziploc bag in a pinch) that can fit all of the chicken. Combine the marinade ingredients in this dish, then add the chicken.
- Let marinade for at least a few hours, or, preferably, overnight.
- Next, we will make the cucumber sauce (it's better to do this night before so that it can marinade as well). Combine the rice vinegar, sugar, water, and salt in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Stir to dissolve the sugar.
- Meanwhile, you can slice the cucumber. I did this quickly by using a mandoline to slice it into small strips, then chopping the strips one more time into cubes.
- Once boiling, remove from heat and let cool slightly. Then, add the sauce to a fridge container and add in the cucumber and cayenne.
- Finally, we will make the peanut sauce. This, again, can be done ahead of time or on the day of. Heat a saucepan (can be the same one!) on medium low and add the olive oil.
- Once the oil is warm, add the garlic and ginger and saute for 30 seconds, until fragrant. Then, add the water and increase to medium high.
- Add the remaining peanut ginger sauce ingredients, except for half the roasted peanuts.
- Bring to a simmer while stirring. The peanut butter should dissolve and the sauce should be smooth (well, except for the peanuts!).
- Once the marinade has finished, preheat a large frying pan over medium-high heat (you should also be able to use a grill if you have one), then begin threading each piece of vegan chicken onto the skewers.
- Pour in enough neutral oil (2-3 tbsp) to coat the bottom of the pan, then place two or three skewers in the pan to grill.
- Cook the skewers by rotating them every 2-3 minutes, then rotating them 120 degrees (1/3 of the way around) once the bottom side has gotten some charring on it. Note that you will get some smoking burned bits in your pan, so make sure to open some windows and turn on your range fan!
- Once all the skewers have been cooked, serve them with the sauces! Sprinkle the remaining chopped peanuts on top of the peanut sauce for the best appearance.
