Chicken Satay with Peanut Sauce (Daring Cook Challenge)

The January 2010 DC challenge was hosted by Cuppy of Cuppylicious and she chose a delicious Thai-inspired recipe for Pork Satay from the book 1000 Recipes by Martha Day.

This is my very first Daring Cook challenge, and I was excited to see that this month’s recipe is something that I’ve been wanting to make for awhile anyway. Chicken Satay is one of our favorite appetizers at our local Thai restaurant. Therefore, I decided to make chicken instead of pork. I love peanut sauce,  so I did make that as directed. What is Daring Cook, you might be wondering? It’s a blogging club that announces a recipe each month that members will all make and reveal on the same day. It’s really fun, and I hope it will stretch my cooking repertoire.

I must confess that I was a bit shocked at the calorie count.  I’m not entirely sure it’s accurate, because the marinade obviously didn’t get entirely soaked up by the chicken.  Oh well, one only lives once. I made the marinade in the morning in the food processor, and at dinnertime, DH grilled it while I made the peanut sauce.

The verdict: DH said that he tasted some of the chicken while he was grilling, and it was very good even without the peanut sauce. I thought the peanut sauce was to die for, though! Will definitely make this again. Next time he’ll grill the chicken a little less time, though.

Pork Satay with Peanut Sauce (I substituted chicken)

1/2 small onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 Tbs ginger root, chopped (optional) (2 cm cubed)
2 Tbs lemon juice (1 oz or 30 mls)
1 Tbs soy sauce (0.5 oz or 15 mls)
1 tsp ground coriander (5 mls)
1 tsp ground cumin (5 mls)
1/2 tsp ground turmeric (2-2.5 mls)
2 Tbs vegetable oil (or peanut or olive oil) (30 mls)
1 lb chicken breasts

1. 1a. Cheater alert: If you have a food processor or blender, dump in everything except the pork and blend until smooth. Lacking a food processor, I prefer to chop my onions, garlic and ginger really fine then mix it all together in a medium to large bowl.
2a. Cut pork into 1 inch strips.
3a. Cover pork with marinade. You can place the pork into a bowl, cover/seal and chill, or place the whole lot of it into a ziplock bag, seal and chill.

Servings: 2

Nutrition Facts
Serving size: 1/2 of a recipe (13.8 ounces).
Percent daily values based on the Reference Daily Intake (RDI) for a 2000 calorie diet.
Nutrition information calculated from recipe ingredients.

Amount Per Serving
Calories 1435.08
Calories From Fat (85%) 1226.16
% Daily Value
Total Fat 137.9g 212%
Saturated Fat 27.52g 138%
Cholesterol 156.49mg 52%
Sodium 427.01mg 18%
Potassium 883.11mg 25%
Total Carbohydrates 7.78g 3%
Fiber 1.38g 6%
Sugar 1.94g
Protein 42.84g 86%

Peanut Sauce

3/4 cup coconut milk (6 oz or 180 mls)
4 Tbs peanut butter (2 oz or 60 mls)
1 Tbs lemon juice (0.5 oz or 15 mls)
1 Tbs soy sauce (0.5 oz or 15 mls)
1 tsp brown sugar (5 mls)
1/2 tsp ground cumin (2.5 mls)
1/2 tsp ground coriander (2.5 mls)
1-2 dried red chilies, chopped (keep the seeds for heat; I substituted a dash of red pepper chili flakes)

1. Mix dry ingredients in a small bowl. Add soy sauce and lemon, mix well.

2. Over low heat, combine coconut milk, peanut butter and your soy-lemon-seasoning mix. Mix well, stir often.

3. All you’re doing is melting the peanut butter, so make your peanut sauce after you’ve made everything else in your meal, or make ahead of time and reheat.

Servings: 2

Nutrition Facts
Serving size: 1/2 of a recipe (4.8 ounces).
Percent daily values based on the Reference Daily Intake (RDI) for a 2000 calorie diet.
Nutrition information calculated from recipe ingredients. One of the recipe’s ingredients was not linked. This ingredient is not included in the recipe nutrition data.

Amount Per Serving
Calories 375.22
Calories From Fat (77%) 288.91
% Daily Value
Total Fat 34.53g 53%
Saturated Fat 19.43g 97%
Cholesterol 0mg 0%
Sodium 460.72mg 19%
Potassium 439.48mg 13%
Total Carbohydrates 12.84g 4%
Fiber 2.28g 9%
Sugar 5.54g
Protein 10.45g 21%