Oven Baked Chicken and Tofu Satay with Fruity Peanut Sauce

Personally i like satay but due to the traditional way of preparing it (grilled or barbequed over charcoal fire) i frequently stay away from it. i often find it rather oily for my liking for they often baste the satay with oil using a lemon grass or brush , also i'm pretty picky on how they serve it, where most of the satay sellers included a piece of "fat" together with the lean meat on the skewer.

So due to all that , i've decided to make my own version of satay with just lean meat and also oven bake it to reduce the amount of oil used. Since i'm sharing this new adventure of mine with a friend and her family, i prepared both the chicken and tofu satay for my friend's a vegan.

Ingredients

CHICKEN SATAY

* 3 pcs breast meat

* 6 tsp cumin powder

* 6 tsp coriander powder

* 3 tsp turmeric powder

* 3 stalks lemon grass (pound)

* 3 tbsp+ olive oil

* 6 tbsp brown sugar

Method:

1) Remove the skin from the chicken breast meat if any and cut it into strips or cube.

2) Mix all the ingredients together in a large bowl thoroughly and then add the chicken strips to marinate. Its best to marinate it overnight.

3) Skewer the strips when you're ready to bake it at a preheated oven of 210 degree C for bout 15-20mins on each side.

4) Serve with some fresh onions and cucumber.

Note:

Using fresh turmeric to marinate the chicken strips will give it a more fragrant aroma as compared to the powder form.

The longer you bake , the less juicy is your chicken strips, therefore dont overbake it for you'll end up with a dry chicken strips.

FRUITY PEANUT SAUCE

* 300gm roasted peanuts

* 200ml coconut milk

* 1 cup tamarind juice

* sugar and salt to taste

* water

Spice Paste

* 3 tbsp chilli paste

* 10 shallots

* 8 cloves garlic

* 2 stalks lemongrass

* 5cm fresh turmeric (optional)

* 6cms ginger

* 4cm galangal

* 3 tsp cumin

* 2 tsp shrimp paste powder (optional)

* 6 candelnuts

* 1/2 Small pineapple (roughly blend)

Method:

1) Blend or pound the spice paste ingredients.

2) Heat some oil in the non-stick and add in the spice paste and stir fry until its aromatic.

3) Add the tamarind juice and stir it for a little while before adding ground nuts.

4) Keep stirring until its thoroughly mixed and add in the coconut milk.

5) Let it simmer and add in the roughly blended pineapple.

6) Add in more water if you like the sauce to be more watery.
7) Season with salt and sugar to taste.

Note:

I bought the readily available coarsely chopped roasted peanuts to save time. For those who can't find that , you'll need to dry fry the ground nuts until its aromatic, cool, remove the skin and pound it.

I also added blended pineapple juice, a few pieces of pineapple with some water. I used pineapple for the peanut sauce to give it a different touch as compared to the normal peanut sauce the satay sellers served. This is a remake of the peanut sauce i've tasted when i was down south.

I waited until the gravy has cooled down and poured 3/4 of the thick peanut sauce into the blender and blend it until its of a smooth and creamy consistency. I poured it back to the non-stick and stir under low heat and add more pineapple juice or tamarind juice until i achieve the consistency i like.

TOFU SATAY

* 3 pcs beancurd

Spice Paste

* 1 tsp cumin powder

* 1/2 tsp cinnamon powder

* 8 shallots

* 1 tsp coriander powder

* 1 inch fresh turmeric

* 1 tsp sugar

* 1 stalk lemongrass

* 2 tbsp roasted peanuts

* 1 tbsp olive oil

* Salt to taste

Method:

1) Cubed the tofu to bite size or any size you fancy. Blend or pound all the spice paste ingredients.

2) Baste/coat the cubed beancurd with the spice paste and let it marinate overnight.

3) Skewer the beancurd when you're ready to bake.

4) Bake in a preheated oven of 210 degree C for bout 10mins on each side.

5) Serve with the fruity peanut sauce and some onions and cucumber.

Note:

If you like it to be spicy, add some chilli paste to the spice paste.

Handle the beancurd as gentle as possible when you coat it with the spice paste for you dont want to destroy it before you're able to eat it :). The spice paste will be of a rather thick consistency.

Granny Smith's Apple Pie

I was suppose to bake some kinda fruit pie like weeks back but i kept remitting due to tight schedule until today when i couldn't absorb anymore of the stuff i was reading and decided that it was a perfect time to take a break and bake that apple pie !

Ingredients

PIE CRUST
* 2 cups flour
* 1 tsp salt
* 1 tbsp sugar
* 6 tbsps butter
* 6 tbsps shortening
* 6-8 tbsps ice water

Method:
1) Mix the flour , salt and sugar in a bowl.
2) Add the butter, shortening and ice water into the dry ingredients.
3) Then cut in the butter and shortening until it sticks together and thats the sign its ready.
4) Divide the dough into 2 equal portions and wrap each with a cling wrap and keep it in the fridge for at least 30mins or until its needed.
Note:
According to some pastry chefs, its best not to over mix it, cut the butter into the flour until its no longer bigger than a pea size and then gather it all and form it into a ball shape and avoid as much contacts with the dough as possible and let it sit in the fridge.

APPLE PIE FILLING
* 5 tart peeled apples (I used Granny Smith)
* 1 cup sugar
* 2 tbsp flour
* 1/2 tsp cinnamon powder
* 1/4 tsp salt
* 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
* 1 tbsp lemon juice

Method:
1) Slice the apple and soak it in water with a tbsp of lemon juice.
2) In another bowl, mix the sugar, flour, cinnamon, salt and apple cider vinegar and stir to mix.
3) Drain the sliced apple and toss it into the mixture and mix well.

Note:
Lemon juice will prevent the apples from turning brown. If you dont have any lemon juice, jst add a lil salt to the bowl of water.

I didnt have any apple cider at home , so i jst added white vinegar instead.

PUTTING THE PIE TOGETHER

Method:
1) Take the dough out from the fridge and roll both of it.
2) When rolling, start from the center out.
3) Once you're done rolling, wrap the dough around the rolling pin and bring it over to your pie pan and unroll it.
4) Shape it to fit the inside pan and once you're done doin that , use a fork and poke holes on the fitted dough.
5) Place all the sliced apples into the pie and add some small cubed butter if you fancy.
6) Roll out the remaining dough and repeat step 3 and place it on top. If the sides of the dough's overflowing, just slightly fold n tuck it in.
7) You can use the tip of a fork and create a pattern around the edge of the pie.
8) Use a knife and cut lines on the top so that there's an outlet for the steam to escape during baking or you can latticed it.
9) Bake at 205 degree C for bout 50-60mins

Note:
My pie came out just nice but the bottom crust was a lil wet, mayb i should try bakin the bottom pie first , for about 15mins or so then only add in the apples n the top crust