This dish was inspired by a recipe from RasaMalaysia and adapted for the Thermomix, with which I am obsessed. Of course, you can make it using a blender and saucepan too. It reminds me of the sate sticks my dad used to cook for us when I was little, on a teeny tiny charcoal barbecue in our backyard. I adored smothering huge bowls of rice with the peanut sauce. Heavenly!
Sate babi with cauliflower rice
1. Firstly, on 70C in a dry TM bowl, toast the following until fragrant (about 60 seconds):
- 3 tbsp coriander seeds
- 2 tbsp cumin seeds
- 1 whole nutmeg, grated
2. Then with the TM on Speed 9, add the following:
- 3 purple shallots, peeled
- 1 cup kecap manis
3. Mix half of this mixture with 500g pork (or tempeh for the vegetarians) and leave it to marinate for a few hours, or overnight if possible. Make sure there is still some fat on the pork or it’ll turn out tough and chewy. If you use something like pork neck it’s good sliced thinly and then threaded packed up a bit on the skewer. You can throw in a few pieces of red capsicum too.
4. To make the sauce, add to the remaining mixture in the Thermomix:
- handful of peanuts
- one stick of lemongrass, peeled, trimmed and cut into short lengths
Process at Speed 8 for 15 seconds.
5. Then add:
- 1 can of coconut milk
- 1 tbsp palm sugar
6. Cook at 70C for 25 minutes or until thickened.
7. At the end, add a decent squeeze of lemon or lime (to taste).
8. Thread pork onto skewers* and barbecue on high for 3-4 minutes per side or until caramelised and firm, but not tough. Brush liberally with any leftover marinade and/or kecap manis while cooking. Allow to rest before serving.
Sate babi and sate tempeh ready to barbecue
9. Serve with wedges of lemon or lime, the hot sauce, fresh coriander, deep-fried shallots, and steamed rice or lontong. For a low-carb version, serve with cauliflower rice as shown below.
Sate babi resting after the barbecue
Sate babi with deep-fried shallots and cauliflower rice
*NB: In my opinion, the best skewers you can buy are metal skewers which are sort of flattened/squashed rather than round – they hold onto the meat better when you turn them over on the barbecue. Hard to find but worth looking for!
Scoff & Quaff 