Satay Supper

We often get largesse from my favorite sister-in-law, the Man's older sister. Around a year ago, he and the girls came home from a call at her house with a large chunk of pork,shrink wrapped.

Said pork languished in our fridge's freezer all this time, mainly because I didn't know what the heck it was and what I'd do with it. But Sunday I took the plunge and defrosted it.

Apparently it was a boneless pork roast. For some reason it was coated with cornmeal--unflavored as far as we could tell. Maybe someone out there can tell me why, since pork roasts are nearly as foreign to me as they would've been to my kosher keeping Grandma Esther. Not because I don't eat them--just because it's a more expensive cut of meat!

At any rate, I removed the cornmeal, cubed the pork, and made Sati Babi-- which just happens to be a recipe I got from the same sister-in-law.

Sati Babi is a satay, and if you want an explanation of satay Wikipedia has a good one here. But all you need to know about it is that it is grilled food on a skewer.

You don't have to grill satay outside. I cooked ours using the broiler in my oven. No charcoal, but then no mess and no weather worries.

I made the marinade at night and the next evening I  just soaked some bamboo skewers for 15 minutes in cold water, threaded the meat on the skewers and placed them on a broiler rack placed atop a large, foil lined sheet pan. It took about 10 minutes to do the meat--I could've done it faster but JR was pestering me.

We had some leftover boiler onions from last weekend's Sunday dinner, so I threaded those on the skewer as well.

This is NOT spicy, but it is so flavorful that even the Man didn't add any hot sauce. And the girls wolfed two portions each!

As for the leftovers--and there wasn't much--JR demanded them for dinner the following night. And what she didn't eat, SC got!

Try this--you could use chicken breast chunks if you aren't lucky enough to have a sister-in-law to give you some pork.

SATI BABI (Indonesian Grilled Pork)

 The Meat: 2-3 pounds BONELESS pork (or chicken), cut into 2 inch cubes
 

The Marinade: (If you want sauce for meat, make some extra marinade and set it aside)

1/2 c oil  (NOT olive)
1/4 c soy sauce (the less salty type if possible)
6 T lemon juice,or a combination of lemon and lime juice.
(If you're using fresh lemons/limes, you need 2)
1/2 c sliced onion
1 T brown sugar
2T ground coriander
1 1/2 t ground cumin
1/8 t ground ginger
1/8 t black pepper

Combine the marinade ingredients in a large container with a lid, or a gallon zipper lock bag. Add the cubed meat, making sure the meat is totally immersed in the marinade.

(I push out as much of the air as I can, fold over the bag, and then secure it with a rubber band)

Refridgerate the meat (if you're using a bag, put it in a second bag or container to prevent spills) and let it marinate for at least 2 and up to 24 hours.

Cooking:

Preheat your broiler--if it has a hi/lo setting put it on hi.
Place 5-10 bamboo skewers into water and soak for 15-20 minutes.
Line a sheet pan with foil and place a broiler rack or grill type rack on top

Get the meat and drain it of the marinade. Thread the cubes onto the skewers and place them on the rack.

Broil the meat about 4 inches away from the heat source.

Check the meat and turn it after 10 minutes. Total cooking time should be 30 minutes for 2 inch cubes.

Serve with rice. The girls liked extra lemon juice on their meat--and lemon/lime slices make a nice garnish!

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