Recipe
Sate lilit
Minced seafood or chicken worked with base genep and grated coconut, then pressed onto lemongrass stalks and grilled. A hands-on dish from the Petulu class.
All recipes·Serves 12 lemongrass skewers·Prep 30 minutes·Cook 12 minutes
Sate lilit is not a cube of meat on a stick. The mince is seasoned until it holds, then pressed in a ribbon around a lemongrass stalk so the stalk flavors the meat as it grills.
Fish is the usual mince in a coastal recipe. In Petulu the class uses what the market sold that morning, often a firm white fish or chicken. The paste and the coconut matter more than the protein.
Ingredients
- 400g finely minced firm fish or chicken thigh
- 3 tablespoons fried base genep
- 50g freshly grated coconut
- 2 lime leaves, very finely sliced
- 1 teaspoon palm sugar
- Salt
- 12 lemongrass stalks, trimmed but left long enough to hold
- Coconut oil, for the grill
Method
- Mix the mince, fried base genep, coconut, lime leaf, palm sugar, and salt until the paste feels tacky and holds a ball. If it slumps, add a little more coconut, not breadcrumbs.
- Wet your hands. Press a heaped spoonful around the thicker end of each lemongrass stalk, leaving a handle.
- Brush with coconut oil and grill over moderate charcoal or a hot ridged pan, turning, until the outside is speckled and the center is just cooked. Chicken needs a little longer than fish.
- Rest two minutes. Eat with sambal matah and rice. The lemongrass is a handle, not a bite, unless it has gone soft.
Wrapping the stalks is the part guests remember. The group works down one table, blue aprons on, with the spice bowls still in front of them.