Why satay belongs on your summer table

Satay is one of those dishes that feels like a restaurant treat but is genuinely straightforward at home. Across Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia, street vendors grill small skewers of marinated meat over charcoal, fanning the coals until the edges blacken and the smell pulls a crowd. The version most of us know from Thai restaurants — chicken, a creamy peanut sauce, cucumber relish on the side — is easy to recreate on a British barbecue, a griddle pan or under the oven grill.

The trick is not a long list of exotic ingredients. It is a marinade built on coconut milk, which tenderises as it flavours, plus a balance of salty, sweet and aromatic elements you probably already have in the cupboard.

Choose the right cut and build the marinade

Use boneless, skinless chicken thighs. Breast dries out over high heat, whereas thigh stays juicy and takes on the marinade far better. Cut each thigh into strips roughly 2cm wide and 6-8cm long — long enough to thread, short enough to cook through in minutes.

For roughly 800g of chicken, whisk together:

• 200ml full-fat coconut milk (the thick top layer from a chilled tin is ideal)
• 2 tbsp fish sauce
• 1 tbsp light soy sauce
• 1 tbsp palm sugar or soft light brown sugar
• 2 lemongrass stalks, outer leaves removed, inner core finely chopped
• 3 garlic cloves, grated
• 1 thumb-sized piece of galangal or ginger, grated
• 1 tsp ground turmeric
• 1 tsp ground coriander
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• ½ tsp white pepper

Whisk until the sugar dissolves, then turn the chicken through the marinade until every piece is coated. Cover and refrigerate for at least two hours, ideally four, and up to overnight. Less than two hours and you get surface flavour only; more than 24 and the texture turns a little chalky.

Skewering, soaking and the art of the char

Soak bamboo skewers in cold water for at least 30 minutes. This is not fussiness — dry bamboo burns through and leaves splinters in the chicken.

Thread three or four pieces onto each skewer, leaving a small gap between them so heat can circulate.

Cook over high, direct heat. On a barbecue, wait until the coals are grey and glowing with no flames. On a griddle pan, get it properly smoking. Under the oven grill, set the shelf about 10cm from the element. Grill for three to four minutes per side, turning once, until the edges are charred in places and the chicken is cooked through — 74°C in the thickest part if you have a thermometer.

Resist moving them constantly; satay needs contact with hot bars to build its crust. Keep finished skewers warm on a plate loosely covered with foil.

Peanut sauce in under ten minutes

Most people expect a long process here and find instead a five-minute stir. You are not making a curry paste from scratch; you are building a sauce around good peanut butter.

• 200g smooth peanut butter (no added sugar if you can find it)
• 200ml coconut milk
• 2 tbsp Thai red curry paste
• 1 tbsp fish sauce
• 1-2 tbsp tamarind paste
• 1-2 tbsp palm sugar or soft brown sugar
• Juice of ½ lime
• Hot water, to loosen

Warm the coconut milk and curry paste in a small pan over a low heat for a minute until fragrant, then stir in the peanut butter, fish sauce, tamarind and sugar until smooth. Add hot water a tablespoon at a time until the sauce pours like double cream — it thickens as it cools, so err on the looser side. Finish with lime juice and taste: salty, sour, sweet and nutty in roughly equal measure, with a gentle chilli warmth behind it. Serve warm, not fridge-cold.

The finishing touches

Thai satay is almost always served with ajad, a quick cucumber relish that cuts through the richness of the peanut sauce. Slice a cucumber and a shallot thinly, then pour over four tablespoons rice vinegar, two tablespoons caster sugar and a good pinch of salt. Add a sliced red chilli and leave for 15 minutes.

Serve with jasmine rice, warm roti or simply a heap of the relish, and a bowl of peanut sauce for dunking. A cold lager or a crisp white works better here than red.

Get ahead, and use up the leftovers

Everything can be prepared ahead. Marinate the chicken the night before, make the sauce up to three days in advance and reheat it gently with a splash of water, and mix the relish a few hours ahead. Raw skewers can be assembled and kept covered in the fridge for up to four hours before cooking.

Leftovers are worth having. Strip the chicken from the skewers and keep it with any spare sauce — both are excellent piled into a baguette with the relish, stirred through noodles, or scattered over a rice bowl with extra lime. The sauce also makes a fine dressing for a cold noodle salad, loosened with more lime juice and a splash of water.