Chicken Saté with Peanut Dipping Sauce

Oh, how I love Saté … Sate … Satay. WhatEV.

You can’t ruin this dish. Spell it however you like, burn the edges, forget to wipe the sauce off the rim of the dish before you take the picture … it doesn’t matter. This is a-may-ay-zing.

I played around with the recipe I found in Artisinal Gluten-Free Cooking, new favorite cookbook. If you’re GF and haven’t already seen this book, I think you should run over to Amazon and take a peek. I left the saté exactly as written (and it is delicious!), but I toyed a bit with the peanut dipping sauce because it just wasn’t quite there for me.

Are we GF, you ask? Yes, kind of. We are galloping in that direction. Stay tuned.

For now, here’s my version of AGFC’s recipe. And if you’re not GF yourself, just ignore all the GFs you see:

Chicken Saté

Marinade:

3/4 cup tamari wheat-free soy sauce (you can use regular soy if you’re not worried about gluten)
1/4 cup sake
juice of 1 lime
2 TBSP honey
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp turmeric
2 lbs chicken breasts, cut into thin strips
bamboo skewers

Combine ingredients and leave chicken strips in to marinade for one to twenty-four hours (but no more than twenty-four).

Soak the bamboo skewers in water for at least a half hour. This prevents them from burning on the grill. While those are soaking, make the sauce:

Peanut Dipping Sauce

1 vine-ripened tomato, quartered
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup GF chicken broth
juice of one lime
1/2 cup of cilantro leaves, washed, stems removed
3 TBSP tamari wheat-free soy
2 TBSP honey
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 jalapeno chili
1 TBSP fresh minced ginger
1 tsp red chili flakes
1 scallion (green onion), cut in quarters

Combine all ingredients in a blender and blend till well-mixed.

To prepare: thread marinated chicken pieces on bamboo skewers …

… and grill till cooked through. Serve with dipping sauce and rice. We loved this with roasted asparagus too.

I tell you, this sauce is downright drinkable. Or, if that thought makes you raise an eyebrow, you could always use it to dress some finely shredded cabbage and carrots. If you do that, I’d add a dash of sesame oil to the dressing. But that’s me.

And then, because we (and by “we” I mean “I” ) weren’t quite spoiled enough, we (and by “we” I mean “I,” because the “he” in “we” can’t abide the texture of the soon-to-be-typed fruit) finished off our lunch with the MOST delicious mango ever, which I picked up at Whole Foods the other day for $1.25.

It’s a Champagne Mango, don’t cha know.

Would you like a bite?

The caption for this one needs to be, “Please look away while I deal with this pit. It’s not gonna be pretty.” And it wasn’t. Think “She-Viking, home from a raid … starving … with no restraint, and no napkin.”