Malaysian Satay Sauce is an incredibly flavorful spicy peanut sauce that pairs with Malaysian style satay.
Check out my Malaysian Satay recipes here:
Satay has been one of my favorite foods ever since I can remember. I had shared my Malaysian Chicken Satay and Chicken Satay Burger recipes here on Wok & Skillet before and as promised, here is my recipe for Malaysian Satay Sauce.
Confession: When I've finished eating my Satay, I would eat just the sauce with a spoon then lick the bowl clean.
Today's technology makes this sauce a snap to put together. What had to be ground, crushed or pounded using a Mortar and Pestle can now be done using a Magic Bullet Blender or a food processor in a fraction of the time.
This recipe yields about 1 cup of sauce. I like my sauce to be fairly thick but some may prefer it a bit more runny. If that's the case, simply add a little more water till you get the consistency you want. If you're making Chicken Satay Burger, I recommend keeping the sauce really thick so that it does not get your burger buns all soggy.
First, soak 1 or 2 dried red chilies in a small bowl of warm water. Use only 1 chili if you prefer a milder sauce; two if you don't mind the spice. I LOVE the spice. The first time I attempted this recipe, I went with 6 chilies, plus one fresh red chili. Yeah...please don't do that. I would NOT recommend that at all. 2 is perfect.
Next, soak 1 tablespoon of tamarind pulp in about 4 tablespoons of water. After it has soaked a few minutes, use your fingers to gently press the pulp to extract the juice from the tamarind.
Grind ½ a cup of unsalted dry roasted peanuts for just a few seconds using a food processor. You don't want the peanut powder to be too fine; chunky is okay. Set the ground peanuts aside.
Next, cut off about 1 cm from the root, then finely slice only the white-ish pale portion of 3 lemongrass stalks.
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Put the lemongrass slices in a food processor
or Magic Bullet blender. Add the red chili (or chilies), 3 garlic cloves, 4 small shallots, 2 teaspoons of ground cumin and 1 tablespoon of ground coriander.
Pour the tamarind juice into the blender, using your fingers as a sieve to catch the pulp. Add ¼ cup of water in to the blender, then blend until all of the ingredients are pureed.
Heat up ¼ cup of cooking oil in a wok over medium-high heat. Pour the puree into the wok and stir-fry until the oil starts to separate from all of the other ingredients and rise to the top. Stir constantly so the sauce does not burn. This should take about 2 - 3 minutes.
Toss in the ground peanuts, 1 cup of water, 1 teaspoon of salt and 3 tablespoons of brown sugar.
Stir till well combined. Let the sauce simmer for a minute in the wok before transferring it into a bowl.
Serve with your favorite satay or with my Chicken Satay Burger.
Malaysian Satay Sauce
Ingredients
- 1 - 2 pieces dried red chili
- 1 tablespoons tamarind pulp
- ½ cup unsalted dry roasted peanuts
- 3 stalks lemongrass
- 3 cloves garlic
- 4 shallots
- 2 teaspoons ground cumin
- 1 tablespoon ground coriander
- 1 + ¼ cup water
- ¼ cup cooking oil
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 3 tablespoons brown sugar
Instructions
- Soak the dried red chili (or chilies) in a small bowl of warm water.
- Soak the tamarind in about 4 tablespoons of water. After a few, gently press the tamarind pulp with your fingers to release the tamarind juice.
- Grind the peanuts in a food processor or Magic Blender for a few seconds. Set aside.
- Cut off about 1cm from the lemongrass roots, then slice only the pale portion of the lemongrass.
- Put the sliced lemongrass, garlic, shallots, cumin and coriander into the blender.
- Add the tamarind juice, using your fingers as a sieve to catch the pulp.
- Add ¼ cup of water into the blender or food processor, then blend until all of the ingredients are pureed.
- Heat cooking oil over medium high heat."Stir-fry" the sauce puree until the oil starts to rise to the top.
- Add the ground peanuts, 1 cup of water, salt and brown sugar.
- Stir till well combined. Allow the sauce to simmer for a minute before serving.
- Serve with your favorite satay.
- Enjoy!
Nutrition
missfoodfairy says
WOW! This is a traditional Malaysian satay sauce? I'm pinning for when I make chicken skewers 🙂 Sounds absolutely amazing
Char says
Thanks, @missfoodfairy. Yes, this is authentic traditional Malaysian Satay Sauce 🙂 Let me know what you think when you try it!
Edwin says
Arf, forgot to get lemon grass cumin and tumeric so I can hit Chinatown again on Monday. Shopping cart was already overflowing.
Char says
Happy shopping, Edwin! haha . 🙂