nwasianweekly.com
July 29, 2006

Photo by Pat Tanumihardja

Indonesian saté is drenched in sweet soy-peanut sauce.

By Pat Tanumihardja
For the Northwest Asian Weekly

Barbecues are synonymous with summer. Hamburgers on the grill, hot dogs smothered in mustard and relish, and juicy steaks are all part of the usual spread.

But not at my house.

When I was growing up, our barbecue staple was saté (or satay) — chicken, pork or beef — reminiscent of Jakarta street food.

My mom was very successful at re-creating Indonesian saté. (Perhaps that’s why our barbecues were always so well attended.) Her saté always brought me back to the times when we were on vacation in Jakarta, the city where I was born. I always looked forward to the familiar call of the saté man: “Saaaté … saaaté.”

Several times a week, the saté man would pass my aunt’s house at around dinnertime, a bamboo pole balanced across his shoulders, the tools of his trade hanging from either end. Regardless of how much food had already been prepared, my aunt would hail him and order several dozen sticks of chicken saté for the cousins to share and a dozen saté kulit (chicken skin) for my dad — his favorite, much to the dismay of my mom and his arteries!

The saté man would lift the pole off his shoulders, setting his charcoal stove down on one side and the case containing the raw skewered meat on the other. Then he got to work. The aroma of the spiced chicken grilling over the charcoal fire is a memory I’ll never forget. The saté would be served doused in sweet soy-peanut sauce and sprinkled with fried onions. Even before my aunt could set the plate down on the dining table, hands would be grabbing at the sticks. If you were slow, there would be nothing left!

Saté is a universal dish (see sidebar). Recipes and ingredients vary from country to country, but saté generally comprises morsels of meat skewered onto thin bamboo sticks and grilled over a wood or charcoal fire. Southeast Asians, including Malaysians, Singaporeans and Thais, all have similar versions of saté, with slight variations on spicing and sauces.

The Japanese version, yakitori, literally meaning grilled bird, is also known as kushiyaki, or skewer grill. Traditional yakitori consists only of various chicken parts and vegetables, but today any assortment of ingredients, including beef, pork, fish, seafood or vegetables, counts as yakitori. Yakitori meats are brushed with tare, a marinade made with mirin, sweet sake, soy sauce and sugar, and grilled until delicately cooked. The tare sauce is also served as a dip. Other popular Japanese skewered delights include atsuage tofu (deep-fat-fried tofu), enoki maki (enoki mushrooms wrapped in slices of pork), tsukune (chicken meatballs) and butabara (pork belly).

Then there is the Vietnamese grilled shrimp on sugar-cane stalks. A shrimp, garlic and ginger paste is shaped into oblong balls and molded around strips of sugar cane. They are grilled until crusty on the outside but still fluffy in the center. Chewing on the sugar-cane stalk is a treat in itself!

Of course, skewered meat is not the only traditional Asian barbecued or grilled foods. The Koreans have bulgogi — beef or pork short ribs thinly sliced across the bone and marinated in soy sauce, garlic, ginger, sugar and sesame seeds. The meat is charcoal-grilled and often served wrapped in lettuce leaves.

Chinese barbecue pork, or char siew, is a favorite that can be easily re-created at home. The words char siew literally mean “fork roasted,” a nod to the traditional preparation method of holding the meat over a fire with long forks. A Cantonese dish, char siew is usually made with long strips of boneless pork, typically pork shoulder, seasoned with sugar or honey, five-spice powder and sherry or rice wine. Red food coloring is usually added to give char siew its signature deep-red sheen, but this can be omitted when making at home.

Authentic Indian tandoori chicken is grilled in a special clay oven — a tandoor — over a wood or charcoal fire. Garam masala, chili powder, yogurt and lemon juice are just some of the ingredients that go into this barbecue dish, which also tastes wonderful cooked over a regular grill.

Another traditional street food, poat dot, or Cambodian grilled corn, makes a great barbecue side dish. Grilled corn is brushed with a marinade of vegetable oil, fish sauce, sugar, salt and water and served immediately. Yummy!

With so many delicious Asian-style barbecue recipes out there, why stick to the staid? Try experimenting at the grill; you’ll be pleasantly surprised by the tasty outcomes … and by how many friends you have.

Pat Tanumihardja can be reached at info@nwasianweekly.com.

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