Chicken Satay (Daring Cooks Challenge)
Hi all!
Well, I completed my first Daring Cooks’ challenge, and while I actually made the recipe last month, I’m a day late posting the results. There’s a cold going around our house again that makes me feel like a bomb went off in my forehead. I can’t promise anything too witty, but I can promise you an honest review of the recipe, and there’s a Daring Bakers’ challenge on the way later this month, so fret not!
The January Daring Cooks’ challenge was hosted by Cuppy of Cuppylicious. You can get the recipe HERE.
So, my thoughts? I’ll admit I was immediately suspicious when I noticed that the recipe included cumin. I’ve made satay in the past, and the marinade has always been made of soy sauce, sesame oil, fish sauce, ginger, garlic, coriander, and sometimes lime juice and green onions. NEVER cumin. Cumin is for Indian, Mexican, and chili. Not Thai.
So, was my suspicion well-founded?
(please excuse the crappy lighting)
Well, yes and no. Yes, in that this recipe didn’t in any way resemble any Thai food I’ve ever had, and no, in that it was still pretty tasty, once I got the word “Thai” out of my head. Cuppy mentioned that she’d designed this recipe for people who were unfamiliar with Thai, or who got turned off by fish sauce (btw, if you don’t know how fish sauce is made, I’d like to suggest you not look it up. I came *this close* to avoiding it altogether when I first found out!), and I think she succeeded in putting together a good dish. If this were your first encounter with “Thai,” though, you should expect to be very surprised when you go to a Thai restaurant.
The other upside? I used the Weight Watchers recipe builder to figure out the points on these, and they worked out to 2.5 points per skewer (including peanut sauce)! I might have to do some satay again soon!
For a recipe more to my tastes, I’d like to suggest something along these lines (CLICK HERE). Not sure if I’m breaking a rule by posting it, but there you go.
I’m looking forward to the next Daring Cooks’ challenge, and hoping that these challenges will prompt me to delve further into some cooking techniques I haven’t fully explored, taste some new flavors, and help me to think creatively about our family’s menu.
2 comments
Ooh.. I wish you’d used Emeril’s recipe instead of the challenge one; I’d have liked to see how that came out!
The key to the challenge this month was to marinade; you don’t always have to use the challenge recipe if something turns you off (trust me, I’m not a huge fan of cuttlefish or squidly things, and I made huge substitutions on that prior challenge).
It’s all good, so long as it’s in the spirit of the challenge.
That said, I’m glad you tried it, despite your reservations. And it looks really lovely next to that cauliflower!
Hope you recover from your cold soon… Kids+Moms+colds = not fun!
Hi Cuppy! Thanks for checking out the post, and for the advice on future challenges. Now I’ll know for next time, and believe me, I’ll try Emeril’s recipe soon!
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