Thai Pork Satay with Peanut Sauce

I love to try new food. I truly believe that you can learn a lot about a culture by eating their traditional foods. That and it's just yummy.

I'm usually not into Thai food because I don't do spicy food, although Vince loves it. I usually stick with Pad Thai when we do go out.

As a part of our diet and living healthier, I have started making more food from scratch. I've also started making some new dishes, because well...the dinner rotation gets boring sometimes. Lucky for me, Vince will eat just about anything I make so he's good with me experimenting.

Usually I will look for a recipe for a particular dish that I loved in a restaurant, like the Thai Pineapple Rice that I'll be trying out next week. I will make the recipe as written once, then I will begin changing it to make it the way I and Vince like it and to make it healthier. This pork satay recipe however, will need very few changes. The only change I will make in the future will be to the peanut sauce, I like it to be a little thicker than what it came out as.

Ahhhh, the peanut sauce. It is a little sweet, peanuty, and creamy. You will want to pour it on everything. You will want to find new things to eat just so you can pour this peanut sauce on it. It is that good. I made a double batch of it so that I can keep a container in the fridge as a "dipping" sauce for celery. Mmmmm...I want some now. Then there is the marinade for the pork. A beautiful yellow color, very fragrant, and oh so yummy. I could eat the pork by itself without the sauce but, well...I love the sauce. If you've ever had Afghan kabobs you will know just how awesome this marinade is.

Ok, now that I've got my mouth watering and hopefully yours too, here's the recipe. Enjoy!

Pork Satay

Pork

Ingredients

1/2 Medium Yellow Onion, diced
2 Teaspoons Minced Garlic
1 Tablespoon Ground Ginger
2 Tablespoons Lemon Juice
1 Tablespoon Soy Sauce (or the substitute that I posted about)
1 Teaspoon Ground Coriander
1 Teaspoon Ground Cumin
1/2 Teaspoon Ground Turmeric
2 Tablespoons Olive Oil (or peanut oil)
1 Pound Pork (loin or shoulder)
Skewers

Directions

If you are using bamboo skewers, make sure you soak them in water for at least 20 minutes prior to using. Trust me on this, I learned the hard way.

1. Place all ingredients, except for the pork, into a blender and blend until you get a thick paste.
2. Remove the fat from the pork and cut into strips about 1 inch wide.
3. Place the pork and the marinade into a large zip top bag. Squish it around (yes, that's a technical term) to make sure all of the meat is thoroughly coated.
4. Make sure the top is sealed tight and place into the fridge for about 4 hours.
5. Take the meat out of the fridge and slide each strip onto a skewer. Discard the rest of the marinade when all of the meat is skewered.
6. Fire up the grill! Grill or broil the skewered meat for about 10 minutes. You want it cooked through and to have a seared appearance to it.

While the meat is cooking, you can make the peanut sauce. This sauce can also be made ahead of time and just reheated.

Peanut Sauce

Ingredients

3/4 Cup Coconut Milk
4 Tablespoons Peanut Butter (I use natural)
1 Tablespoon Lemon Juice
1 Tablespoon Soy Sauce (or substitute)
1 Teaspoon Brown Sugar
1/2 Teaspoon Ground Cumin
1/2 Teaspoon Ground Coriander
Optional: 1 or 2 dried chilis, diced

Directions

1. Place all ingredients into a small saucepan and heat.
2. Stir continuously until all of the peanut butter is completely melted.

Yields: 5 servings

I served the pork on top of a bed of brown rice and broccoli. I topped the whole thing with peanut sauce. Yummy and very filling.

1 serving was 3 oz of pork, 2/3 cup steamed brown rice, 1/3 cup steamed broccoli, and 2-3 tablespoons of peanut sauce.