BBQ Satay Feast

It’s been so warm and sunny recently, the BBQ has been well utilised, along with some regular BBQ recipes. On Friday night we had guests for dinner, so we decided to change up our BBQ repertoire and go for South East Asian flavours. An absolute meat feast, with beef, chicken, pork and prawn skewers with a spicy, crunchy satay sauce. Easy peasy, and so yummy.

Delicious Fresh Flavours

Ingredients (serves 4 hungry people)

Marinade

2 tblsp oil (I used avocado)

3 tblsp fish sauce

4 tblsp soy sauce

2 tblsp agave syrup

2 stalks lemongrass chopped into chunks

2 tsp finely chopped red chilli

5 spring onions

5 fat cloves of garlic

Small handful of coriander stalks

juice of half a lime

2 steaks

4 chicken breasts

250g raw king prawns

300 g pork loin

Satay Sauce

150g peanut butter

Heaped tspn finely chopped chilli

1 tblspn agave (I used unsweetened peanut butter, leave this out if yours has sugar)

150ml coconut milk (use the creamier more solid stuff at the top of the can)

1 tblspn fish sauce

To serve

Whole cucumber

Fresh coriander

You will also need skewers for the meat, you can griddle or use a BBQ. If you are using wooden skewers, remember to soak these in water fir 30 minutes before you use them, this stops them catching fire and burning.

Begin by blending all the marinade ingredients in a food processor until its a fine liquidy paste. If you don’t have a blender, chop everything as finely as possible, and then add to the liquid ingredients.

Slice the large meat items into thin strips, and butterfly the prawns (slice the fat part of the tail in half, but only halfway along the prawn- this means they cook more evenly) but you still thread them onto a skewer). Place the meat items and prawns into their own dishes, and divide the marinade between them. Ideally marinade in the fridge for 5-6 hours, but at a push, 2 hours will also work.

Before you cook, make the satay sauce by heating the coconut milk and peanut butter in a pan over a low heat, stirring until the two are well combined. Then add the agave, fish sauce and chilli. Stir well and leave to cool until you are ready to eat.

After you have marinated the meats and prawns, thread the slices onto the skewers, making folds in the meat to keep it juicy and hold onto more marinade. The time to cook these on the BBQ will depend upon the thickness of the meat and the heat of the BBQ, but starting with the chicken and pork, which take the longest- probably 15 to 20 minutes on a moderate heat- then cooking the steak- 10-15 minutes until its medium with time to rest while you cook the prawns until they are pink and juicy- probably less than 10 minutes.

Serve the meat on a big platter, scattered with cucumber, and a liberal sprinkling of torn coriander leaves. Sauce on the side, with plenty of napkins!