south/east Asian chicken

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OK we are out of the chute.Brine is coconut juice,lime leaf,lime,galangal,ginger,garlic,lemongrass,curry powder,palm sugar,salt , water a splash of soy.,pepper , dried orange peel,a chilli but not a real hot one.
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OK I  had to do this out of order because I  got stuck at a wine tasting after work. Good work if you can get it. To late to smoke chicken ,I took it out of brine left it to sit in fridge.So  I made satay sauce tonight.

Ingredients Im going to set out the recipe I  had,then set out where I  wandered off. I just couldnt get it to taste ,in my mind,right.So I played around with it a bit. So should you if if you feel like it..Im happy with the result I  got but its going to be harder to set out so bear with me. I made this 30 years ago,with coarse peanut butter ,onions,garlic, orange juice,Jimmys sate sauce out of a jar. My friends thought I  was some sort of kitchen magician at the time.

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Anyway I bumped all the ingredients x2. So 6 cloves of garlic ginger,galangal,fresh tumeric,onions ,lemongrass as per photo.Grind, 1 tab cumin,coriander,fennel,fennugreek,black pepper. In the FP blitz garlic,ginger,galangal,onions,turmeric with about a wine glass of water.Galangal is tough bash the ### out of it with flat of cleaver first same for lemongrass.

Put this paste into pan with peanut oil fry gently adding chilli to taste.Its up to you I  dont want the chilli to dominate,I used 2 small fresh then bumped it with a bit of powder later. Cook for 10 mins then add 3 fat tabs coarse peanut butter,the shelled roasted nuts from photo 2 cups of water add 300 gms palm sugar or substitute brown. Simmer 25 min stirring to avoid burning add 1/2 cup tamarind juice concentrate or made up from paste & water .Stir until thick paste taste adjust seaonings. Thats as per recipe I  had.
 
This is finished product. BUT I  added the juice of a lime.The recipe I had said 5 teaspoons salt I put 7 not 10 but your going to have to make your own decision.When I  got to the end it still didnt have the taste I remembered.SORRY FORGOT 2 fat tabs ground spices went in at same time as 
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water salt ,peanuts.Sorry Im wandering but its how I  cooked it. I tested it at end still wasnt happy so I went with my gut & put in 2 fat tabs of Jimmys from earlier in post & 1 tab shrimp paste heated just a little more turned it off. Jimmys is a product thats as old as me the writing in English is so small I  cant tell you whats in it but if it aint broke dont fix it,its stood the test of time. NOW its righteous ,fragrant,spicy,peanut a little heat might bump that later. I will let it sit overnight then tweak it after its matured a bit. Some more dried spice is a maybe chilli same but once the Jimmys goes in dont fry it hard. How thick you want it is up to you.

Hope this all makes sense. Ive eaten 4 different satay's this week for research purposes ,this one is really something.The chances of getting a FULL  recipe out of a Malaysian are zero. Im pretty proud of this because I have cooked a version of it for  30 years.Some are just all peanut.others load up the chilli but its about the full range of flavours. The marinade if you were doing chicken thigh bits on skewers is earlier in thread.
 
Missed a photo ,ginger etc in FP. This goes into pan. Salt ,water  peanut butter ,peanuts all go in at once next..Recipe would be 10 teaspoons salt but I  cut it back.I shelled peanuts roasted them in oil crushed them in FP. I actually blitzed ginger,galangal,lemongrass,onion,garlic,chilli,turmeric with a wine glass of water here then touched it up later with some chilli powder.The other tip is to pour in a bit of the oil from the Jimmys in with it. If you cant find Jimmys just make it off recipe but bump dried spice mix& chilli ,lime juice then make a decision about  how you feel about shrimp paste. The stuff I talked about in my post about curry paste is the preferred option. Belechan in a block is a step that is a bit of a test,stick with the less confronting stuff in jars.
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OK  ready to go,rubbed him with the oil from Jimmys sate jar,mixed with a little sesame oil,peanut oil,Then sprinkled left over spice mix over it.Oil has a lovely brown/copper colour,helped spice stick. Then into MES with a spritz of tamarind,lime.palm sugar,dry sherry,ginger,lemongrass. 2hours at 110c then had a look at it.
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Probed it not done,colour is good,smells great. I was meant to have coconut juice in spritz but we went for a test run in double kayak I  bought on the bit of Sydney Harbour thats near us,so didnt go back out to shops. Also got a free Weber
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 thanks to wifes diligence on web. Fire engine red,great shape no rust,still had unused charcoal in it.Had the seperate roasting rack in it & a cover,got to love that.
 
OK out of smoker,going with traditional Malaysian sides,cucumber,crispy shallots,chilli sambal, cilantro,lime. Will loosen satay sauce up with a little of spritx mix.
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Totally Awesome Mick!...JJ
 
Finished plate with my wife on duty,way better than my "come & get get it" efforts.Satay sauce was just magic although I  had to back it of a bit ,too hot for the wife.Thinned it with the spritz mix. I know you can only look at this not taste but it was a really special plate. You got the nuance of the brine mix ,little bits of coconut,lime,ginger,lemon grass. Satay peanut sauce was as good as you  can be served at a Malaysian table even though I  dicked with it a bit.Smoking it with the oil rubbed over it was a good idea.It was crisp,spicy ,

& sweet. Little squeeze of lime was the biz.
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The peanut satay can be for anything,chicken,shrimp,beef,veg but its about balance between those signature Asian flavours.You can knock out a batch to go with whatever you are grilling.The Jimmys recipe is  a Hong Kong sate sauce normally would be used without peanuts, but it just gives it a lift that you cant quantify.I just close the gap between Hong Kong & Malaysia because I  can.Its  a distinctive label  really worth the effort to find.Hope you liked it I did.
 
Wow!!!!

Everything looks Great, but the color on that bird is Superb!!!

Thanks for another great thread !!!!

Bear
 
3 things I got out of this, 1 the coconut drink in the can is a good ingredient for cooking in this style, no additives,light fresh,no fat.Good in the brine ,good in spritz,2 The oil that sits on top of jar of Jimmys was a great thing to rub on chicken,lovely colour & flavour.3 I backed salt right off from peanut sauce recipe,I  used maybe 2tabs all up & it was a big mix.Didnt miss it.In post I said 7 teas but I  reckon its was more like 2 tabs maybe even less. 

Peanut sauce will keep ,just as well Ive got a lot left.No reason you couldnt bump heat if thats your taste.Glad you guys liked it.
 
Did some the more traditional way on the Weber I got for nothing because somebody was going to throw it out,complete with chicken rack,charcoal & cover
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Marinate chicken thighs cut into pieces in fresh turmeric,ginger ,garlic,sesame oil,canola oil,orange juice,chilli paste, ground cumin,coriander,fennel seed ,gbp. About an hour.Then put it on skewers. Grilled over redgum charcoal,served it with the peanut sauce. Top stuff. Its BBQ weather here now 35 
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celcius here on coast 2 or 3 degrees hotter inland. 40 ish in camel country.
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