For those not familiar with Thai food, chicken satay consists of marinated strips of chicken breast, skewered, grilled and served with a delicious, somewhat spicy, peanut sauce. They are ubiquitous not only in Thai restaurants in the US, but in Thailand itself - where they are sold by street vendors for ridiculously low prices.

When we visited Thailand, we were amazed at how much the food served there tasted like the food served at Thai restaurants in America. This is not always the case - Cambodian food in the US, for example, rarely resembles what's available there. I don't know if this is because Thai recipes have become standarized, or because the basic ingredients produce dishes of similar taste regardless of proportions or other ingredients. In any case, we found that this recipe for chicken satay produced a dish that tasted pretty much exactly like the chicken satay served at Thai restaurants here and in Thailand. Needless to say, it was very good.

You should be able to buy the necessary ingredients at specialized Asian markets. Thai red curry was not available at my local Safeway, but I could find it easily at a local Asian market. Note that fish sauce usually comes in huge bottles, you only need a little bit, so try to buy the smallest size you can. The stuff is very smelly, but wonderful when mixed with the other ingredients.

For my party, I tripled the recipe I'm incluing here. This was fine for the chicken itself, but it produced way too much peanut sauce. One recipe of peanut sauce would have been enough.

Note I've made this recipe again several times, and I've noticed the peanut sauce is way too spicy with 3 TBSPs of red curry sauce - so I'm changing the proportion to 1 TBSP. If you REALLY like it hot, use 2 or 3 TBSP instead.

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Chicken Satay

Ingredients

1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts

1/2 cup coconut milk

1 tablespoon fish sauce

2 teaspoons red curry paste

1 teaspoon palm sugar or brown sugar

1 tablespoon chopped cilantro

1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Bamboo skewers, soaked in cold water

Instructions

In a bowl, combine all the marinade ingredients except the chicken. Slice the chicken into long, thin strips and pound it to flatten it. Add the chicken to marinade. Turn chicken to coat, cover and refrigerate at least one hour.

Thread each chicken strip onto a skewer. Grill for 7 minutes or until done, turning once. Serve with the peanut sauce.

Peanut Sauce

Ingredients

1 cup coconut milk

3 tbsp. red curry paste

1/2 cup chunky peanut butter

1/2 cup chicken stock

1/4 cup palm sugar or brown sugar

2 tbsp. fresh lime juice

1 tsp. salt

Instructions

Put coconut milk in a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Whisk in curry pate until dissolved. Whisk in the peanut butter, chicken stock and sugar. Reduce heat and simmer until smooth, stirring constantly, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and add lime juice and salt. Set aside to cool to room temperature.

Adapted from Food TV