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Pok Tzai Tzin’s blogpost:

What better way to celebrate Malaysia’s Independence Day in the month of August by having a feast of local cuisine! Satay – an all-time Malaysian favorite is chicken/beef/lamb meat on a bamboo skewer.

Heavily marinated with herbs and spices, it is flame-grilled on hot amber charcoal and later dipped with a thick creamy peanut sauce. Not forgetting the accompanying ‘Nasi Ketupat’, fresh cucumber and
onions to complete the dish.

The concept of the dish was to transform this humble and homely dish into an elevated sensational dish.

Although the chicken is not presented in skewers, it still retains the flavor of a typical satay. The thigh meat is used for its tenderness, with the expectations of it not being too dry and tough after grilling.

Crumbled roasted peanuts are then incorporated separately from the peanut sauce, giving it a ‘crunch’ factor considering the dish is lacking of it.

Traditionally raw onions are served as part of the condiments to satay. For this dish, the shallots are pickled with rice vinegar and some sugar. As the dish is quite savory sweet, some tartness from the pickled shallots will help balance the taste by giving it a ‘zing’.

Rolled cucumber is used to cool the taste buds from the intensifying flavours of all the other elements.

And lastly, ‘Nasi Ketupat’ (rice cubes) are added to complete the dish.

This is my pride of Malaysia expressed on a dish – full of culture, flavour and modernized with time.

Chicken Satay Marinade

1 tsp of coriander powder

1 tsp of cumin powder

30g of thinly sliced lemongrass

60g of sugar

1 tsp of salt

1 tsp of turmeric powder

2 tbsp of palm oil

3 tbsp of water

2 pcs of boneless chicken thigh, skin on.

Preparation for Satay

Chicken

1. Combine coriander powder, cumin powder and sliced lemon grass into a food processor. Grind the

ingredients together.

2. Empty the content of the food processor into a bowl.

3. Combine sugar, salt, turmeric powder, palm oil and water into the bowl.

4. Mix the ingredients until sugar is well dissolved.

5. Place the chicken into a ziplock bag and pour the marinade into the bag.

6. Chicken should marinade for at least 1 hour in the refrigerator.

7. Heat a pan with palm oil.

8. Once the pan is hot, place the chicken skin down first. This will allow the skin to brown and fat rendered.

9. Check the skin by gently lifting the chicken by the side. Note that the marinade is with sugar, thus the skin can be burnt if caution is not applied.

10. Once the skin is seared, turn the chicken over and grill it for 2 minutes. Constantly check on the chicken to ensure it is not burnt.

11. Once done, place the chicken on a plate to allow it to rest approximately 3-5 minutes.

Peanut Sauce

35g thinly sliced ginger

25g thinly sliced galangal

60g thinly sliced onions

2 stalks of thinly sliced lemongrass

100g chili paste (Cili Giling)

100g sugar

150g peanut butter

25g tamarind paste with 50ml water

50g palm oil

Preparation for Peanut Sauce

1. Combine thinly sliced ginger, galangal, onions and lemongrass into a food processor.

2. Blend the ingredients together into a wet paste. Some water may be added to work the blade.

3. Heat the palm oil in a pot. Pour the spice mix from the food processor into the pot.

4. Stir fry the spice mix until fragrant and translucent.

5. Add the chili paste and continue to stir-fry until fragrant.

6. Add sugar & peanut butter to the mix. At this point, the sauce will thicken up. Hence it is important to continuously stir to ensure the sauce at the bottom does not burn.

7. Add the tamarind paste.

8. Add some water, depending on the desired consistency of the sauce.

NOTE: For this dish, the sauce is further blended in the food processor to achieve a smooth consistency. Water may be added at this point (little by little). Caution not to add too much water as it will dilute the sauce.

Pickled Shallots

2 shallots

½ cup rice vinegar

1 tsp Sugar

Preparation of Pickled Shallots

1. Peel the skin of the shallots and remove the roots.

2. Cut the shallots into quarters and separate each layers of the shallots. Set aside.

3. Dissolve the sugar into the vinegar. Once sugar is entirely dissolved, add the segmented shallots into the brine.

4. Keep the brine and shallots in a tight container and refrigerated.

5. You may further cut the segments into thinner size if desired.

NOTE: Pickle can be prepared ahead of time and is more flavorful if kept long enough. Prepare in a week’s advance for optimal flavor.

Nasi Ketupat

1 pack of ‘Nasi Ketupat’ (rice cubes)

Preparation of Nasi Ketupat

1. Boil a pot of water. Make sure that the water is sufficient to submerge the pack of rice.

2. Once the water is boiling, place the pack of rice into the pot and cover the pot with a lid.

3. Cook the rice for 1 hour.

4. Before serving the rice, allow the rice to cool down for at least 2 hours.

5. Remove the plastic and cut the rice into cubes.

NOTE: Cooling of the rice is important. Cutting the rice into cubes while it is hot will be difficult as the rice is sticky and you may not get the desired result.

To assemble the dish

1. Spoon 4 dollops of peanut sauce using teaspoon onto around plate.

2. Place 5 cubed Nasi Ketupat next to the sauce.

3. Once the meat is rested, trim the side of the meat. Then, cut the meat in half and proceed to portion each half into strips.

4. Place 4 strips of chicken on to the sauce.

5. Gently sprinkle some crushed roasted peanuts along the formation of the plating.

6. Place segments of the pickled shallots and 6 pieces of rolled-shaved cucumber on the plate.

We’re giving RM10,000 and other amazing prizes to the winner of our first ever R.AGE Food Fight!

The five finalists will get to learn from the best, our Food Fight mentors:

– Chef Wan, Malaysia’s original food celebrity
– Chef Rodolphe Onno, Le Cordon Bleu master chef
– Chef Darren Chin, of Restaurant DC
– KY Speaks, top Malaysian food blogger
– Chef Liang, performing artiste and up-and-coming restaurateur

They’ll also get media and video production training from us at R.AGE, before they face off against each other at the Food Fight finale for the RM10,000 grand prize.

The competition’s closed, but you can always check out the other Food Fight submissions at https://rage.com.my/foodfight !

Tell us what you think!

BTW…

Ingredient of the week: Kepayang

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