Daring Cooks January 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.

First things first, I've never had satay before and so I wasn't sure what to expect. Contrary to what I normally do I followed the recipe exactly only using tofu instead of pork. Wait, that means it wasn't exact, right?! I think it turned out very well. Sad to say however that it may be better with meat. I didn't actually try the coconut milk peanut butter sauce. It didn't sound good and didn't smell good either. To be fair though, my husband tried it and claims it made the dish better and that it was really good on the rice.

I also wish I had been able to try other vegetables with it. I sadly did not have the time. I'll probably make this again using potatoes with the tofu. I maybe (big maybe) will try the sauce as well! I'm a very picky eater if you haven't guessed. Scarily enough I think I've gotten a little better with trying different foods.

Pork Satay Ingredients

• 1/2 small onion, chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• 1 T ginger root, chopped
• 2 T lemon juice
• 1 T soy sauce
• 1 tsp ground coriander
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1/2 tsp ground turmeric
• 2 T vegetable oil
• 1 pound of pork (loin or shoulder cuts)

Pork Satay Method

Chop onions, garlic and ginger finely then mix it all together in a medium to large bowl. Cut pork into 1 inch strips. 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 for about 4 hours or overnight.

If using wooden or bamboo skewers, soak your skewers in warm water for at least 20 minutes before preparing skewers. Gently and slowly slide meat strips onto skewers. Discard leftover marinade. Broil or grill at 290°C/550° F (or pan fry on medium-high) for 8-10 minutes or until the edges just start to char. Flip and cook another 8-10 minutes. You also don't have to use skewers if you don't have any on hand.

Peanut Sauce Ingredients

• 3/4 cup coconut milk
• 4 Tbsp peanut butter
• 1 Tbsp lemon juice
• 1 Tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tsp brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp ground cumin
• 1/2 tsp ground coriander
• 1-2 dried red chilies, chopped

Peanut Sauce Method

Mix dry ingredients in a small bowl. Add soy sauce and lemon, mix well. Over low heat, combine coconut milk, peanut butter and your soy-lemon-seasoning mix. Mix well, stir often. 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.

On another note, I lied. I did change the recipe slightly. Damn me!! On reading the Daring Kitchen Forums a lot of people said they did not like the cumin in the satay. They said the recipe was catered more to a Westerners taste. Since my taste is different then most, I ommited the cumin.

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