People may be known this as satay, but we spelled this out “sate” and pronounce as “saté”. There are many varieties of sate in Indonesia; peanut, sweet soy sauce or curry base. Sate Padang is one that has curry base sauce. It consists similarity to Minangese rendang spices, turmeric leaves and other spices.
Based on Sefa’s blog, there are three different variant of Sate in West Sumatra; Sate Pariaman and Sate Padang Panjang. Those two are named after the cities in that province. However, it’s commonly called Sate Padang as Padang is the capital city of West Sumatra.
All is made from oxtongue and beef, but they have a different sauce. Sate Padang has a thick and very hot sauce or gravy due to peanuts and ample chilies. Also, Sate Padang has a combination taste of Sate Pariaman and Padang Panjang. While Sate Pariaman has red gravy, Sate Padang Panjang has yellow one.
Sate Padang
- Padangese Sate -
Recipe from different various sources on the Internet and modified by me
Ingredients:
908 g (2 lbs) oxtongue (or beef or combination of two)
8 kaffir lime leaves
2 stalks of lemongrass, take only the white part, bruised
1 turmeric leaves, knotted (optional)
2 asam kandis (I substituted for kokam or gorakha, it can be found at Indian/Caribbean markets)
water for boiling ox tongue
bamboo skewers
cooking oil
½ – ¾ cup rice flour, dissolved in a small amount of water
Spices to grind:
7 shallots
3 cloves garlic
red cayenne peppers (I substitute for ground chilies as many as you can handle the hot flavour)
3 cm long galangal
2 cm long ginger
2 cardamoms
1 tsp ground coriander
½ tsp cumin powder
2 tsp curry powder (I prefer the Srilankan curry powder)
ground white pepper and salt as needed
Condiments:
rice cake (ketupat)
fried shallots (bawang goreng)
Directions:
1. In a pot, add water and bring to a boil. Add oxtongue, cook for about next 15 minutes.
2. Remove ox tongue from the pot and save 750 mL of the liquid. Scrape the ox tongue with a knife. Rinse well under running water. Cut into cubes (1x2x1 cm3).
3. In the same pot, combine 750 mL liquid, ox tongue cubes, ground spices, turmeric leaves, kaffir lime leaves, lemongrass, asam kandis and salt. Bring into a boil then reduce the heat, simmer until the tongue completely cooked.
4. Thread 4-5 pieces of tongue into each skewer. Brush with a small amount of cooking oil and grill couple of minutes until both sides are brown (do not grill too long as ox tongue is already cooked).
Gravy:
1. Simmer the broth.
2. Gradually pour into rice flour mixture while stirring.
3. Keep stirring until the gravy thickens.
Serving Suggestion:
Place Sate Padang and rice cake on the plate. Pour the gravy over and garnish with fried shallots. Serve while it’s still hot.
Note: If you are using beef, you don’t need to boil with water first. Cut the the beef into cubes, combine with water and spices and boil.
An Indonesian born who lives on the Prairie land of Canada. Indonesia Eats is a memoir of her homeland. 
Indonesia Eats is written and photographed by Pepy Nasution; an Indonesian-born Winnipeg (Canada)-based food photographer.
I love satay! The combo of spiced meat with the peanuty sauce is perfect! I've never tried one with oxtongue though, interesting!
I don't use any peanut in this case. This is the curry base one.
Always order this when we go to Padangese Restaurant. Should eat it while still hot with 'lontong' yum … (^.^)
I enjoy satay too but don't know which is that version(out of the three versions you mentioned) that is common in S'pore.
What's your source for indonesian ingredients in Winnipeg?
Lia: lucky you! I have to work harder to make this yummy sate.
Tigerfish:I think Singaporean satay is based on peanut and sweet soy sauce. It's kind of Javanese sate.
Zollipop: I have my page draft of grocers for Indonesian food in Winnipeg. It will be posted by next week.
That sate looks and sounds so good!
omg love sate … this looks quite different from the ones we have here. Can I self invite to your home to eat it, haha
Kevin, if you love rendang, I bet you will love this as well.
Noobcook, the Singaporean sate may be the peanut base one.
I missed satay! The combination of the flavors and the spices are so delicious!
Is this sate with kuah kunning (yellow gravy)?Audrey
There are two kinds of sate Padang, one with yellow gravy another one with red colour. In this recipe, I made the red one.
Is this sate with kuah kunning (yellow gravy)?
Audrey
There are two kinds of sate Padang, one with yellow gravy another one with red colour. In this recipe, I made the red one.
pep, aku beli topside buat bikin sate padang. ngerebusnya berapa lama ya? aku rada2 memble nih kalau masak daging sapi. btw, facebookmu udah didelete ya? tadi mo tanya lewat sana, namamu gak ada di list.
tq ya…
Hi, if I don’t consume beef, do you have any idea how to make the sauce without using beef? Thank you.
You may subs with other red meat base sauce or mushroom.