Sate Ayam Madura is one of the classic sates that I grew up with. Sate is a very popular delicacy in Indonesia; Indonesia’s diverse ethnic groups’ culinary art have produced a wide variety of sates.

Often readers asked me why some Indonesian sates/satays don’t use peanut sauce. Actually not all sates use peanut base sauce. In Indonesian term, sate means a dish of marinated, skewered and grilled meats, served with a sauce or no sauce. It may consist of diced or sliced chicken, goat, mutton, beef, pork, fish, tofu, or other meats; the more authentic version uses skewers from the midrib of the coconut leaf, although bamboo skewers are often used. A Bali version of sate uses lemongrass as skewers.

November 13, 2010 Update: This post was featured on October 21st FoodBuzz Top 9

Despite the name is sate ayam madura, in Madura island itself there is no sate ayam madura. They just call it sate ayam (chicken sate). The reason why people outside this island add a word “Madura” after sate ayam is because most of the sellers come from Madura.

The most memorable of having sate ayam madura was the peanut sauce with sprinkle of fresh shallot slices over before serving. Oh oh I usually asked for more sambal too.

The keys of making a good sate peanut sauce are terasi and petis udang. But, if you don’t have any petis udang just use terasi. Terasi is what many people know as belachan or dried shrimp paste while petis is the Indonesian term for dark/black shrimp paste. Petis has gooey and sticky texture.



Sate Ayam Madura
Madura Style Chicken Saté

Ingredients:
700 g boneless and skinless chicken (I prefer choose thigh), rinse off under cold water and pat dry
fat and skin pieces
homemade chicken oil (can be substituted for melted margarine)
kecap manis
bamboo skewers, soak in cold water

Saté Peanut Sauce:
200 g homamade roasted garlic peanuts*
4 red cayenne pepper, discard the seed
5 garlic, sliced
3 shallot (if you use smaller size, you will need 5 pieces), sliced
1/2 tbsp. petis udang (dark shrimp paste)
1/2 tbsp. terasi (dried shrimp paste)
2 tbsp. coconut sugar or as desired (if you use palm sugar, you may want to reduce the amount)
1 tsp. seasalt or as desired
200 mL hot water
2 tbsp. cooking oil (I used my homemade chicken oil)

Complement:
lontong (rice cake)
fresh shallot slices
acar (cucumber pickle)
sambal

Methods:
The Sauce
1. Stir fry cayenne pepper, sliced shallots, garlic and terasi with cooking oil until fragrant.

2. Process stir frying mixture, peanuts, petis udang, coconut sugar and seasalt in a food processor until smooth.

3. Transfer the peanut mixture to a pot and add hot water. Cook until a thick mixture forms. Remove from heat and set aside.

Basting 1:
Combine kecap manis and chicken oil in a bowl.

Basting 2:
A flat plate, combine 2 tbsp. cooked peanut sauce, 1 tbsp kecap manis and 2 tbps. freshly squeezed lime.

The Sate:
1. Cut chicken meat into 2 x 3 cm2

2. Thread 4-5 pieces of chicken pieces into each skewer, including 1 piece of fat or skin in the middle.

3. Bast them with basting 1. Set aside for 15 minutes. Grill until half done. Then, transfer them to a basting 2 plate and bast. Regrill them until done.

4. For the sauce, combine the rest of cooked peanut mixture with kecap manis and freshly squeezed lime.

5. Serving: on a plate, place sliced lontong, the sauce, and saté. Sprinkle shallot slices over. On the side, you can put acar and sambal.

Note:
* You can use organic crunchy peanut butter instead of homemade roasted garlic. I sometimes go to the natural product store by my house, buy organic peanuts and grind them there. The store has provided a peanut grinder to make our fresh own peanut butter.

* If you have a difficulty to find petis udang (dark shrimp paste) just omit it.

32 COMMENTS

  1. I miss the satay in Asia so much! Can't get any authentic satay over here. Where I am staying, I don't think they use charcoal to grill the satay .

  4. I love sate Madura!

    When I was pregnant, the obsgyn didn't recommend to eat sate, beef burger and steak for they're not considered to be fully cooked. So, after childbirth, I right away ordered them.

  6. Beautiful satay! I often find beef satay sold by street vendors are tough, but then again, if they are not tough, it means they are under-cooked and that would be nasty! Why are both petis and terasi used in this dish? U wonder how they taste like with both petis and terasi used in the sauce.

  10. @tigerfish: I'd love using a charcoal as well. But, I have to wait for next year since I have planned to get one.

    @tatabonita: you are very correct!

    @What to cook today: I have to make more, M.

    @Vero: I can understand how you felt.

    @Jun: for beef there is a trick to make a good sate. I'll show you next time. This next summer. Terasi is more common to be used to enhance the flavour. I found a friend of mine who used petis and tried to combine for creating unique flavour. Mine you, sate kambing sauce in East Java is using petis.

    @LCOM: sure sure we all love them

    @Xiaolu: if you can find any petis, just use terasi. Hope your bf will love it.

    @Spicie Foodie: let me know how you like.

  22. Hi Pepy, the sate ayam looks great! Do they not marinade the chicken with spices in addition to kicap manis in Madura? Also do you know what cut of beef makes the best sate daging (beef)? I don't know how those sellers make them so tender.

  23. @mykitchenfromscratch. Thank you for correcting. I realized I didn't put "set aside for 15 minutes after basting with basting 1. Basting 1 contains kecap manis and chicken oil. 🙂

  24. @mykitchenfromscratch. Thank you for correcting. I realized I didn't put "set aside for 15 minutes after basting with basting 1. Basting 1 contains kecap manis and chicken oil. 🙂

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