I think this satay would make my Malaysia-born mom proud. I love ordering it in restaurants, dipping the perfectly grilled strips of meat into a peanut sauce. The recipe calls for chicken, but my red meat-lover self used beef; both are common. The sauce takes some time to put together but is great and complex, not like those flat, sugary peanut sauces you find in chain restaurants.
Some of the ingredients, like
tamarind, were unusual for me, but don't let that put you off. Despite my heritage I don't cook a lot of Malaysian, Singaporean, or Chinese food, since I learned to cook on my own rather than from my mom. But I've been picking up a dish here and there, and getting less intimidated with each one.
One other minor note: some of the recipe instructions tell you to process ingredients to a smooth paste, but don't knock yourself out. Ginger and lemongrass are very fibrous, so my spice paste was a bit chunky and stringy. In the end, though, it all smells great on the grill.
