Marinated Chicken Satay with Peanut Satay Sauce

Chicken satays are no trouble to make now that we can buy ready-boned and skinned chicken breasts, and the satay sauce can be whizzed up in seconds.

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This recipe is taken from The Delia Collection: Chicken and has also appeared in Sainsbury’s Magazine (Guide to Poultry and Game Cookery)

Method

First of all, prepare the marinade, which simply means putting all the ingredients in a bowl and whisking them thoroughly together. Then, to prepare the chicken, take each chicken breast and remove the little fillet and cut this in half lengthways. Now slice the main breast in half horizontally so that you then have two thinner slices. Then cut each of these into three or four strips lengthways: you should get about eight or nine strips from each chicken breast. Now gather up all the little strips and put them into the marinade, tossing and stirring them until they get a good coating.

Cover the bowl and leave it aside for at least 30 minutes – although 2 or 3 hours would be better. To prepare the sauce, first heat the groundnut oil in a frying pan and, over a medium heat, soften the shallots for about 3 minutes. Then add the chillies, ginger and garlic and fry these for a further 1½ minutes. Next, add the peanuts and toss them around for about 1½ minutes. After that, remove the pan from the heat and allow everything to cool. As soon as it's cool, tip everything into a food processor with the rest of the sauce ingredients and 3 tablespoons water, and whiz until roughly chopped, but do be careful not to overprocess, as the sauce needs to have some texture. After that, transfer it to a serving bowl.

All the above can be done well in advance, but before you cook the satays, don't forget to soak the bamboo skewers in warm water for about 30 minutes. Then, when you're ready to cook the chicken, pre-heat the grill to its highest setting for at least 6 minutes. Meanwhile thread the strips of chicken – about three or four pieces – on to each skewer, threading them in a loose S shape. Then pop them under the grill about 3 inches (7.5 cm) from the heat source, giving them about 3-4 minutes on each side. Serve on warm plates with the peanut sauce handed round separately.