satay sauce

What you’ll get

This is a thick, sweet, aromatic satay sauce, with a bit of spice. It goes great with a barbecue or as a dipping sauce.

What you’ll need

Ingredients

  • lemongrass
  • garlic
  • chillies - pick your favourite
  • oil - something other than olive oil (that’s the wrong flavour for this)
  • cinnamon stick
  • coconut milk
  • peanut butter - crunchy is best
  • orange juice - you can use a different citrus, but you’ll want a lot of it and if you use something sharper, you’ll want to balance it with some extra sweetness
  • molasses (black treacle)
  • vegan fish sauce - if you have it
  • salt - I use flaked sea salt
  • fresh coriander

Tools

  • sharp knife
  • saucepan
  • cooking spoon

Appliances

  • 1 hob ring

Time

~30 minutes

What to do

  1. [Act] Chop up the lemongrass, garlic, and chillies.

    Important: The garlic and chillies can be as chunky as you like, but the lemongrass needs to be really finely sliced or it won’t soften enough and will end up a bit woody.

    Tip: I use a knife for everything, but if you want, you could use a food processor for this.

  2. [Act] Add a splash of oil and a cinnamon stick to the saucepan, put over a medium-high heat, and fry the chopped lemongrass, chopped garlic, and chopped chillies for a one or two minutes.

  3. [Act] Add coconut milk and lots of peanut butter and stir until it’s all mixed together and a consistent consistency. You want this to be thick: not much thinner than typical peanut butter starts out.

  4. [Act] Add about as much orange juice as coconut milk, a few big spoons of molasses, some splashes of vegan fish sauce (if you have it), and a generous pinch of salt, and mix together.

  5. [Wait] Cook until everything is reduced back down to that thinned peanut butter consistency from before.

  6. [Act] Add some more orange juice.

  7. [Wait / Act] Repeat the last two steps a couple of times, tasting as you go until it tastes fruity and sweet, with some sharpness from the citrus.

  8. [Wait] Reduce everything down a bit more, so it’s nice and thick. You’re looking for the consistency of something you can dollop on a plate and have hold its shape.

  9. [Act ] Roughly chop the fresh coriander, take the sauce off the heat, and add the coriander.

  10. [Act ] Eat!