chicken skewers, satay sauce and noodle salad

chicken skewers with satay sauce and noodle salad

This recipe is adapted from one of Jamie’s 30-Minute Meals. If you’ve browsed around this blog in the last couple of months, you’ll have noticed that I’ve gone through quite a lot of them, and they’ve all been pretty fantastic. This is the first one that felt like a lot of fuss for okay results. I’m sure it could be simplified to a more straight-forward stir fry style recipe. I’ll be back with this one.

Chicken skewers, satay sauce and noodle salad (serves 2):

For the satay sauce:

½ a bunch of fresh coriander

A few slices of red chilli

1 clove garlic

3 tablespoons crunchy peanut butter

1 tablespoon tahini

Soy sauce

2cm ginger

Zest and juice of 1 lime

For the chicken:

2 chicken breasts, diced

Runny honey

For the noodles:

1 nest per person

50g unsalted cashews

½ red onion

½ bunch fresh coriander

Soy sauce

1 lime

1 teaspoon sesame oil

1 teaspoon fish suace

1 teaspoon honey

1 teaspoon sesame seeds

To serve:

More fresh coriander

2 little gem lettuces, shredded

  1. Get a grill on screaming hot. Whizz together all the satay sauce ingredients in a food processor. Taste and check – more lime? More soy?
  2. Skewer the chicken breasts and baste with half the satay sauce. Drizzle with olive oil and pop under the grill for 10 minutes on each side, or until golden and cooked through. When you stop to turn them over, drizzle over the honey.
  3. Put the noodles in a bowl, pour boiling water over and cover for 5 minutes. Bash the cashew nuts to pieces and add to a frying pan and heat gently – make sure they don’t burn.
  4. Peel the red onion and pulse with coriander. Mix with the soy, lime juice, sesame oil and fish sauce. Taste and check for seasoning. By this time the noodles are probably ready drain, wash them under cold water and toss with the red onion salad.
  5. Back to the cashews, adding honey and sesame seeds to coat. Once golden, tip into the bowl with noodles and combine well.
  6. Serve the skewers on top of the noodle salad with lettuce, more coriander and the remaining satay to dip.

8 comments

  • Hey Gary
    That’s one hell of an ingredients list. Do you reckon it’s worth the effort? I found some great pre-made satay sauces that make me wonder if it’s worth making my own!
    I just read the mustard chicken recipe too – sounds delish!!!! I reckon I’ve got all the stuff at home I need to make it too!
    Cheers,
    Lisa
    http://www.uforicfood.wordpress.com

    • I don’t think the list is excessive for a typical satay, but you can probably tell that I thought it was *okay*. The flavour was nice but not stunning, I wonder whether a good brand stay sauce would be similar cost for far less effort?

      That said I think it could probably all be done in one wok.

      The mustard chicken is much better, the dauphinoise not so much. Substitute your own potato recipe. Let us know how you get on!

    • If you cook this kind of food you should already have most of the ingredients ever (e.g. soy sauce, fish sauce, sesame oil etc). I would say it is definitely worth it! The noodles are delicious.

      I also agree that the mustard and leek chicken is very tasty too.

      • You are right, a lot of these things are store-cupboard. As I said I’m not entirely sure it’s completely worth the effort beyond a good ready-made satay sauce. A rarity for a Jamie recipe!

  • This was one of my favourite recipes and most definitely is worth the effort (not too difficult really). I’ve made it 3 times for different groups and all have LOVED the chicken. The ingredients are generally standard in my cupboard apart from the peanut butter which I purchased specially for this recipe.
    I didn’t bother with the food processor as that results in extra washing, I once made the satay sauce ahead of time and marinaded the chicken in half of it for 30 mins prior to scewering and cooking. This gave me time to clean up and prep the noodle dressing so all I had going at once was cooking the chicken and browning the cashews.

    Good quality crunchy peanut butter is essential!

    • I like the flavours but feel the prep is unnecessarily complicated. I like your idea to make the sauce ahead of time, good call!

  • the reason why this satay is better, even if a good store bought one might be comparable/easier/cheaper and tastier – is that you know what it is you are putting into your body. It is all fresh, natural ingrediants that you have put together yourself and this is THE point. if you go ahead and by a store bought product the chances are you will have no real concept of how much salt, and how many preservatives are used in that sauce. This is key and WHY jamie oliver does what he does – he wants people to stop taking the easy way out and start understanding and knowing what it is you are putting into your body. Simple, fresh, healthy food with minimal or moderate effort – but it is attainable. You get out of life exactly what you put into it.

    • Hi Alos, thanks for stopping by. Yes you’re right, it is important to know what’s in the jars and bottles you buy. However there are bad brands packed with chemicals and other odd ingredients, and good brands using only natural ingredients.

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