Peanut-free Satay

My recipes so often tend to veer towards the sweet; I do love baking more than any other kind of cooking. So I’m on a drive to be more inventive and friendly in a savoury way, especially after the sweet excess of Easter weekend!

I’ve had in mind to create a peanut-free satay for quite some time, but as you might have noticed I shy away from Asian food – I think the reliance on fish sauce has put me off somewhat, and often when I’ve eaten veggie versions in restaurants there’s definitely been an unmistakeable fishy undertone. Not what I’m looking for!

Anyway, I thought satay skewers or brochettes with rice and chilli pickled cucumber salad would make a nice friendly family meal. The marinade and sauce works equally well on chicken or veggie skewers, keeping all members of our household happy in one go – by no means an easy task! The use of Wowbutter as a peanut butter replacement works perfectly, or you could use a seed better instead if you preferred.

The satay is deeply savoury with a ‘nutty’ dimension that pushes all the buttons of a South East Asian dish. We’ll definitely be repeating this one!

Peanut-free Satay

(dairy-free, egg-free, nut-free, sesame-free, peanut-free, vegetarian and vegan. Warning: Wowbutter contains soya)

Serves 4

For the skewers: (per skewer -I served two or three per person)

3 mushroom halves

4 chunks of green pepper

4 chunks of spring onion

For the marinade:

1 clove of garlic, minced

1/2 thumb sized piece of ginger, peeled and grated

Zest and juice of one lime

1 tsp honey or syrup

2 tsp mild curry powder

1-2 tbsp Wowbutter

2 tsp soy sauce.

1. Mix all the marinade ingredients together.
2. Use one third to marinate the vegetables and/or chicken ( obviously in separate bowls if doing both!!)
3. After an hour or two, thread onto wooden skewers

For the sauce:

1/3 tin coconut milk

Left over 2/3rds of the marinade

1. Combine the left over marinade with the coconut milk. Bring to a simmer and thicken slightly.
2. When you are ready to cook, paint a little of the sauce on the marinated veg skewers and bake for 20 minutes at 180 degrees centigrade

For the cucumber salad:

1/2 cucumber

2 tsp wine vinegar

2tsp caster sugar

1 or 2 tsp sweet chilli sauce

Small handful coriander leaves

1. Shave the cucumber with a veg peeler into fine ribbons, combine with the other ingredients. 

To serve:

1. Place the brochettes on a bed of rice, drizzle over a little sauce.
2. Serve with an extra bowl of sauce and the cucumber salad on the side.