The Balinese dish that started it all

Passport & Plate - Balinese Beef Satay Skewers and Street Corn

Indonesia | Friday, March 6, 2015 | 4 photos

Ingredients
Carrot & Cucumber Pickle (Acar)
• 2 cucumbers (cut into juliennes)
• 1 large carrot (cut into juliennes)
• ½ a whole pineapple (finely diced)
• 1/3 cup of white vinegar
• 2 tablespoons of coconut sugar
• 1 cup of water
• Pinch of sea salt
• 2 spring onions (finely sluced)

Balinese Beef Satay Skewers (Satay Manis)
• 10 bamboo skewer sticks (soaked for 30 minutes in water)
• 500g of lean beef (cut into cube sized pieces)
• 1 tablespoon of kecap manis
• 1 tablespoon of soy sauce
• 2 lime leaves (thinly sliced)
• 1 tablespoon of coconut oil
• Spice paste:
o 3 teaspoons of coriander seeds
o 2 teaspoons of cumin seeds
o 1 teaspoon of ground black pepper
o 4 garlic cloves
o ½ teaspoon of ground nutmeg
o 2-3 large red chillies (2 for mild, 3 for hot)
o Pinch of sea salt
o ½ the juice of a lemon
o 2 teaspoons of coconut sugar

Peanut Sauce (Bumbu Kacang)
• 150 grams of beer nuts (skin on)
• 4 cloves of garlic
• 2 chillies (1 for mild, 2 for hot)
• 1 teaspoon of kecap manis
• ½ - 2/3 cup of water
• 2 lime leaves (thinly sliced)
• 1 tablespoon of coconut sugar
• 1/2 tablespoon of shrimp paste
• ½ a tomato
• Juice of 1 lime
• Pinch of sea salt

Street Corn:
• Whole corn, silks removed and husk peeled back.

 

How to prepare this recipe
Carrot & Cucumber Pickle
• Place all vegetables into a bowl.
• Sprinkle the sugar and salt onto the vegetables and rub into the vegetables with your hands.
• Pour the vinegar and water on top of the vegetables and mix all together.
• Cover and place in the fridge while you make the beef skewers and peanut sauce.

Balinese Beef Satay Skewers
• Toast the coriander and cumin seeds in a dry pan over a medium heat until they colour and emit their fragrance.
• In a food processor mix all the spice paste ingredients together until a paste consistency forms.
• In a bowl place the spice paste and all remaining ingredients and mix until combined.
• Place the diced beef in the bowl with the marinade and mix until the beef is covered in the marinade.
• Cover the beef and place in the fridge to marinate for 30 minutes. In the mean time make the peanut sauce.

Peanut Sauce
• In a food processor place the peanuts and water and process until a paste forms. Set aside for later.
• Combine the garlic, chillies, coconut sugar, shrimp paste and tomato in a food processor until a paste consistency forms.
• Mix this paste in the bowl with the peanut paste, along with the kecap manis, lime juice and lime leaves.

Cooking the Beef Skewers and “Street Corn”
• Thread the marinated beef onto the bamboo skewers.
• When the BBQ is hot place the corn on a hot BBQ grill so that the husks aren’t on the grill. As the corn colours on the grill side slowly rotate the corn until all sides are coloured. (This should take around 10-15 minutes)
• When the corn is halfway through cooking, place the beef skewers on the BBQ flat plate to cook.
• Rotate the beef skewers as they colour. The beef will take around 8 minutes to fully cook to medium rare (cook for another few minutes if you want the beef to be cooked fully all the way through).
• Serve the beef skewers with the satay sauce, street corn and carrot and cucumber pickle. Feel free to serve with white rice also. Garnish with spring onion.

Enjoy!

 

The story behind this recipe
The first trip my husband (then boyfriend) and I took together was to Bali. While in Bali we booked ourselves into a traditional Balinese cooking class which included a morning visit to the local market to buy supplies for the meals we cooked later on. It was this experience of talking and shopping at the local market and cooking traditional dishes with local chefs that kicked off my husband’s and my love of food – not just the tasting of traditional and unusual dishes but also the exploration of other cultures through food. My husband has always loved satay, however he used to want it made with the “western way” with a processed creamy sauce out of a jar, partly due to that’s all he knew and partly due to convenience. However after tasting the traditional Balinese beef satay sticks with a thick peanut sauce that we made during our cooking class, it opened my husband’s eyes up to what “proper” peanut satay should be and taste like. With marinades and sauces made from scratch it can be time consuming, but that extra time, labour and love creates a delicious dish that makes all the extra effort more than worthwhile. It was this dish and experience that changed my cooking habits. After getting back from Bali I started preparing all sauces (not just peanut satay) from scratch. This dish not only represents a family favourite (often requested by my husband when the discussion of “What’s for dinner?” comes up) but a turning point in my love for good food – not just "food for convenience".