Saté Ajam (Chicken Satay with Peanut Sauce)
Saté ajam
Skewered marinated chicken grilled over fire and drenched in a warm peanut sauce — the Indonesian satay that became the star of the Dutch rijsttafel and snackbar alike.
VBorrel & Fried Snacks- Prep
- 40 min
- Cook
- 15 min
- Serves
- 4
- Level
- Intermediate
Few dishes crossed from the Indies into Dutch life as completely as saté. Skewers of marinated meat grilled over fire and served with a peanut sauce, it is Indonesian to its core — a street food and celebration dish found the length of the archipelago long before the first Dutch ship arrived. In the Netherlands it became something eaten at every register: the formal rijsttafel, the family table, and — smothered in sauce beside a mound of fries — the humble snackbar.
Indonesian roots, Dutch devotion
It matters to name the origin. Saté ajam, chicken satay, belongs to Indonesia; the word itself and the technique of grilling spiced skewers travelled with cooks and traders across Southeast Asia. The Dutch fell hard for it during the colonial era and never let go. Today "satésaus" — peanut sauce — is poured over fries, patat, and kroketten in a way that would puzzle a cook in Java, but the reverence for the grilled skewer itself is faithful.
Where the flavour lives
Two things make or break saté. The first is the marinade: ketjap manis loosened with lime and warmed with coriander and cumin, worked into the meat and left long enough to penetrate. The second is the char — a fierce fire that blisters the edges while the thigh stays juicy within. Do not let the skewers sit over gentle heat; they want flame and a quick turn.
The scent of saté on the grill is, for many Dutch families, the smell of a celebration about to begin.
The peanut sauce is the crown: shallot and garlic fried down, ground peanuts, coconut milk and a whisper of sambal, simmered until it coats the back of a spoon. Serve the skewers hot, sauce spooned over or alongside, with fried shallots and kroepoek for the crackle.
“Thigh over breast, every time — it stays moist over fierce heat and takes the char that gives real saté its smoky edge.”
Ingredients
Serves 4
The chicken and marinade
- 600 gchicken thigh — boneless, in 2 cm cubes
- 3 tbspketjap manis — sweet soy
- 2garlic cloves — grated
- 1 tspground coriander
- 1 tspground cumin
- 1 tbsplime juice
The peanut sauce (saté saus)
- 200 groasted peanuts — unsalted, or 150 g peanut butter
- 2shallots — finely chopped
- 2garlic cloves
- 1 tspsambal oelek — or to taste
- 200 mlcoconut milk
- 2 tbspketjap manis
- 1 tbsplime juice
To serve
- 12bamboo skewers — soaked 30 min
- to servefried shallots
- to servekroepoek (prawn crackers)
Method
- 1
Marinate the chicken
Toss the chicken with the ketjap manis, garlic, coriander, cumin and lime juice. Leave to marinate at least 30 minutes, or overnight in the fridge — the sweet soy both seasons and tenderises the meat.
- 2
Make the peanut sauce
If starting from whole peanuts, grind them to a coarse paste. Fry the shallots and garlic in a little oil until soft, stir in the sambal, then add the peanuts, coconut milk and ketjap. Simmer gently, stirring, until it thickens to a pourable sauce; loosen with water if needed and finish with lime.
- 3
Thread the skewers
Push the marinated chicken onto the soaked skewers, four or five pieces each, leaving a little space between so the heat reaches every side. Soaking the bamboo stops it charring through on the grill.
- 4
Grill over high heat
Cook over hot coals or a ridged grill pan, turning every couple of minutes and brushing with leftover marinade, until the edges char and the chicken is just cooked — about 8–10 minutes. Don't overcook; thigh stays juicy.
- 5
Sauce and serve
Pile the skewers on a platter, spoon over the warm peanut sauce or serve it alongside, and scatter with fried shallots. Serve with kroepoek and rice, or as a borrel snack straight off the grill.
In the kitchen
The tools that make this recipe easier.
- WorthwhileStone mortar (cobek) ↗
To pound bumbu spice pastes for the rijsttafel.
- SpecialistVlaai / tart tin ↗
Wide shallow tin for Limburg vlaai and open fruit tarts.
Setting the borrel
Drinks-hour needs mustard, cheese, and something cold in a small glass.
- Mosterd — coarse mustard for dipping bitterballen
- Oude kaas & worst — aged cheese cubes and sausage
- Jenever — a tulip glass of gin, filled to the brim
Questions from the kitchen
Is satay Indonesian or Dutch?+
Saté is Indonesian, with roots across the archipelago and beyond. It reached the Netherlands through the colonial rijsttafel and became so beloved that "saté" now appears on Dutch snackbar menus and at nearly every Indo meal.
Can I use peanut butter for the sauce?+
Yes. Unsweetened natural peanut butter makes an excellent quick sauce — just thin it with coconut milk and water and balance with ketjap, sambal and lime. Freshly ground peanuts give a rougher, richer texture.
What else can I skewer this way?+
The same marinade and sauce suit pork (saté babi) and beef. Keep the cubes small and the heat high so they cook through before drying out.
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