Beef Satay with Peanut Sauce

Can I just say that peanut sauce is one of theeeee best things. Ever. Of all time. YUM.

I had never made peanut sauce before, just thoroughly enjoyed it at restaurants or at friends’ houses. But I was intrigued and also desperately wanted to give it a try. When I came across this pin on pinterest, I knew it was meant to be, baby!

Beef.

Peanut Sauce.

HEAVEN.

Ugh, SO GOOD.

Ok, so Spoon Fork Bacon is a blog I’ve featured before and they have some of the best recipes I’ve tried. Truly. They have unique ingredients but simple steps and the resulting food is just AWESOME. Highly encourage you to go and check out their blog and give ANY of their recipes a go. You won’t be disappointed!

I didn’t tweak their ingredients at all, so trust in their ingredient list. I did!

Ingredients: Serves 3-4

(Don’t be intimidated…this seems like a long list, and it is, but the receipe is super, super, super simple. Take a deep breath. Read on.)

Meat:

• 1 lb boneless and trimmed New York strip steak, cut into ½ to 1 inch cubes

Satay Marinade:

• 1/3 cup dry roasted peanuts
• 1/3 cup light brown sugar
• 1/4 cup plus 1 1/2 tablespoons low sodium soy sauce
• 1/4 stalk lemongrass, chopped (You’ll find this by the other fresh herbs…took me a bit of wandering to find it)
• 3 garlic cloves, chopped
• 1/2 lime, juiced
• 1 tablespoon peeled and diced baby ginger
• 1 tablespoon turmeric
• 1/4 teaspoon curry powder
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil

Spicy Peanut Sauce:

• 1/3 cup reserved marinade
• 1/4 cup dry roasted peanuts
• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 1/2 tablespoons low sodium soy sauce
• 1 lime, zested and juiced
• 1-3 Thai chiles, seeded (If you can’t find Thai chiles, just find a different pepper that falls in your ‘spice’ tolerance. If you’re clueless, Google. That’s what I do!)
• 1 garlic clove, chopped
• 1 green onion, thinly sliced

Garnish:

• Chopped dry roasted peanuts
• Thinly sliced green onions

Items You Need:

• 7-8 bamboo skewers, soaked in water for 30 minutes (Don’t skip this step! This ensures your skewers don’t go up in flames.)

How to Make:

Ok, now if you haven’t run away in terror after reading the ingredient list, I’m going to show you how easy this is to make.

Once you’ve chopped up that New York strip, toss the meat into a large bowl. Season it up with some salt and pepper and set it to the side for the time being. I forgot to photograph this step. Whoops.

Now that looooonnnggg list for the marinade? Put ALL those things into a blender or food processor. Don’t freak out. It’s not the prettiest image. I fully understand.

And put your finger on blend. Hold that button until the whole thing looks smooth. *Warning –  ignore the color (blame the peanuts)  and just close your eyes, dip in a finger [with the blender/food processor UNPLUGGED] and give the marinade a try. SO GOOD, right? Now you just wait for the peanut sauce.

Take 1/3 of this mixture and save it for that peanut sauce.

The rest you can pour over your cubed beef. Toss the beef with the marinade so everything is evenly coated. Now, set those marinating beef cubes in the fridge for about 4 hours. You want nicely saturated meat, so be patient!

While you’re killing time and trying to not think about the delectable meat taunting you from the refrigerator, we’re going to make some peanut sauce.

You know that looooooonggg list for the peanut sauce? Put ALL of THOSE things into your blender or food processor.

Blend away until this looks smooth and a fairly similar to the marinade in color and consistency.

Give the sauce a try and I challenge you to not make a verbal comment after. I think mine was something like “HOLY CRAP”. Something like that. Maybe a bit more colorful. I don’t recall, I was in peanut sauce heaven.

Now don’t eat up all the peanut sauce before you’ve grilled your meat. You may be tempted to do so. Not worth it. Even with a spatula like that.

Patience, people.

Once your meat has fully marinated for the 4 hours (or close to that if you’re not willing to wait that long), skewer about 5-6 cubes of the beef onto each bamboo skewer.

Now, the Spoon Fork Bacon instructions – “Place a grill pan over medium-high heat. Pour oil into pan and grill skewers for 2 minutes, on each side. Repeat until all skewers have been grilled.”

I do not own a grill pan and have -5 on the grilling abilities scale. However, I came up with a process that worked. I just grilled them up on the stove top in a big pan with oil, turning them as instructed – every 2 minutes. But if you own a grill pan, I bet that route works even better.

Once your skewers are all done, place them on folks’ plates or on a big serving platter. Scatter some chopped dry roasted peanuts and chopped green onions over the top of the skewers and drizzle some peanut sauce all over as well. Admire how fantastic this looks while wiping that little bit of drool off your face. Yeah, we all know it’s there. No judgment.

Pour your peanut sauce into a serving dish (a ramekin works real well however mine was wedged in the dishwasher) and top it with some additional chopped dry roasted peanuts.

Serve this up and be prepared for people to be amazed with your skills. Only you’ll know it didn’t take much skill…just that index finger pushing the ‘blend’ button. But shhhhh, they don’t need to know that. 😉

Tags: Beef, Green Onions, Marinade, Peanuts, Satay, Thai