Colm O'Gorman's chicken satay skewers with an Asian slaw are perfect for lunch or dinner

Pic: Colm O'Gorman

The unexpected heat wave had me thinking about cooking outdoors again, so this week I have another recipe that can be cooked on a barbecue. 

But as we know in Ireland, you should always have a plan B. With the weather not playing ball, these can be cooked indoors on your hob. 

This delicious chicken satay with a fresh Asian slaw is a fabulous lunch or dinner dish. My beautiful, colourful Asian slaw is bright and crisp and fresh, and is the perfect side dish with this delicious sweet and savoury, nutty satay chicken.

I used peanut butter when I made this most recently, but you can also use almond butter. Just make sure to use a smooth nut butter for the right consistency and texture. 

If you cannot get hold of any tamarind paste, you can swap that out and use an extra two teaspoons of coconut sugar and the juice of an additional half lime. 

The coconut oil and coconut sugar really do enhance the flavour of this sauce, but if you do not have either of these to hand, you can use olive oil and light brown sugar instead.

Chicken Satay Skewers with Asian Slaw

recipe by:Colm O'Gorman

This delicious chicken satay with a fresh Asian slaw is a fabulous lunch or dinner dish. My beautiful, colourful Asian slaw is bright and crisp and fresh, and is the perfect side dish with this delicious sweet and savoury, nutty satay chicken.

Servings

4

Preparation Time

 30 mins

Cooking Time

 15 mins

Total Time

 45 mins

Course

 Main

Ingredients

• Chicken Satay Skewers:

• 2 tbs coconut oil

• 1 stalk of lemongrass

• 2 cloves garlic

• 1tbsp grated fresh ginger

• ½ red onion

• ½ tsp dried chilli flakes

• 2 tsp coconut sugar

• 2 tsp tamarind paste

• 2 tbs soy sauce

• 1tsp fish sauce

• 125g smooth peanut butter

• Juice of a lime

• 400g chicken mini fillets

• To Serve:

• Lime wedges

• Chopped Spring Onion

• Diced cucumber

• Chopped fresh coriander

• Asian Slaw:

• ½ head of red cabbage

• 3 carrots

• 1 red pepper

• 3 spring onions

• 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

• 2 tsp toasted sesame oil

• 1 tbsp soy sauce

• 1 clove garlic

• 1 tbsp honey or maple syrup

• Juice of 2 limes

• ½ tsp chilli flakes (optional)

• To serve:

• Some toasted sesame seeds

Method

1. Finely chop the onion and lemongrass and grate the garlic and ginger. Melt the coconut oil in a pan over a medium heat. Add the onion, garlic, ginger, lemongrass, and the chilli flakes. Sauté until soft, about three to four minutes. Add the tamarind paste, peanut butter, soy sauce, fish sauce, coconut sugar and lime juice.

2. Next, add 250ml of water and stir that in. Bring the sauce to a soft boil and cook for five minutes over a low heat, stirring regularly until it is well combined and thickens slightly. Taste, and add more lime juice if needed. Remove from the heat and set aside for now.

3. Put the chicken mini fillets in a bowl and add a few tablespoons of the satay sauce. Stir to coat the chicken, cover the bowl, and set aside while you make the slaw.

4. Finely shred the red cabbage. I use my Japanese mandolin to do this, and it makes very light work of shredding the cabbage. I highly recommend that you get one if you are a regular cook. It is an inexpensive but very handy tool; I use mine all the time. Just mind your fingers when using it as the blade is very sharp. If you do not have a mandolin, you can just use a knife instead. Simply remove the outer leaves of the cabbage and cut it into four wedges. Pop two of wedges into the fridge for later use. Cut away the core from the two remaining wedges. Lay the wedges on the cut flat side on a chopping board and cut the cabbage into thin strips using a very sharp knife. Try to cut as finely as possible to give your slaw the perfect texture.

5. Wash and grate the carrots. A food processor will make light work of this, but it will also take just a few minutes using the coarse side of a box grater. Wash, deseed and very thinly slice the red pepper into strips lengthways. Wash and chop the spring and the coriander. Pop all the above into a big bowl along with all the other ingredients for your slaw. Toss to combine and taste. Add more lime juice or a little seasoning if needed. Scatter some toasted sesame seeds on top and then set aside while you cook the chicken.

6. Run a wooden skewer lengthways through the centre of each fillet of chicken. Heat a griddle pan or a heavy based non-stick frying pan over a high heat. When it is good and hot, add a splash of olive oil. Reduce the heat to medium. Add the skewers to the pan, cooking them for three to four minutes on each side until they are cooked through and golden. They will take roughly the same time over hot coals. If you have a meat thermometer, use that to ensure they are cooked to perfection. Once they hit 74 Celsius, they are done.

7. While the chicken is cooking, finely chop the cucumber into 1cm chunks, finely slice the spring onion, and cut the lime into wedges. Warm the satay sauce through, adding a splash more water to thin it out a little if required.

8. Serve the chicken satay skewers on warm platter with the cucumber, spring onion and coriander scattered on top. Add a little very thinly sliced red chilli for a splash of colour and some heat if you fancy it. Serve immediately with a bowl of warm satay sauce and the slaw on the side.