Satay

Satay or sate is a dish consisting of chunks or slices of dice-sized meat (chicken, goat, mutton, beef, pork, fish, etc.) on bamboo skewers (although the more authentic version uses skewers from the midrib of the coconut leaf). These are grilled or barbecued over a wood or charcoal fire, then served with various spicy seasonings (depends on satay recipe variants).

Satay may have originated in Java, Indonesia, but it is also popular in many other Southeast Asian countries, such as: Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand, as well as in The Netherlands which was influenced through its former colonies.

Satay is a very popular delicacy in Indonesia, with a rich variety among Indonesia’s diverse ethnic groups’ culinary art. In Indonesia, satay can be obtained from a traveling satay vendor, from a street-side tent-restaurant, in an upper-class restaurant, or during traditional celebration feasts


Satay variants and outlets of note

Known as sate in Indonesian (and pronounced similar to the English), Indonesia is the home of satay, and satay is a widely renowned dish in almost all regions of Indonesia. As a result, many variations have been developed throughout the Indonesian Archipelago.

Sate Madura

Originating on the island of Madura, near Java, is certainly the most famous variant among Indonesians. Most often made from mutton or chicken, the distinctive characteristic of the recipe is the black sauce made from indonesian sweet soy sauce/kecap manis mixed with palm sugar (called gula jawa or "javanese sugar" in Indonesia), garlic,deep fried shallots, peanut paste, fermented "terasi" (a kind of shrimp paste),candlenut/kemiri, and salt. Sate Madura uses thinner chunks of meat than other varians of Satay. It is mainly eaten with rice or rice cake wrapped in banana/coconut leaves (lontong/ketupat). Raw thinly sliced shallot and plain sambal also often served as condiments

Sate Padang
A dish from Padang city and the surrounding area in West Sumatra, is made from cow or goat offal boiled in spicy broth, which is then grilled. Its main characteristic is yellow sauce made from rice flour mixed with spicy offal broth, turmeric, ginger, garlic, coriander, galangal root, cumin, curry powder and salt. It is further separated into two sub-variants, the Pariaman and the Padang Panjang, which differ according to taste and the composition of their yellow sauces.

Sate Ponorogo
A variant of satay originating in Ponorogo, a town in East Java. It is made from whole sliced marinated chicken meat, and served with a sauce made of peanuts and chilli sauce. Garnished with shredded shallots, sambal (chili paste) and lime juice. The uniqueness of this varient is each skewer contains a whole chicken meat, not several slices. The meat also previously being marinated in spices and sweet soy sauce for quite some times (process called "bacem") to allow spice to soak into the meat. The grill is made from terracotta earthenware that have hole in one side to allow blowing the wind onto the burning coal. After use around 3 months, the earthenware grill would break apart, thus must be replaced to ensure the hygiene of the grill. The dish served with rice or lontong (rice cake).

Sate Makassar
From a region in Southern Sulawesi, is made from beef and cow offal marinated in sour carambola sauce. It has a unique sour and spicy taste. Unlike most satays, it is served without sauce.

Sate Banjar
A variant of satay popular in South Kalimantan, especially in the town of Banjarmasin

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Nasi Padang (Rendang)

Padang: The birthplace of rendang

Padang in West Sumatra is known more as the origin of the country’s most popular cuisine than as a provincial capital, thanks to the ubiquitous Padang restaurants.

Go to any town or city across the archipelago, and the chances are you will find a place to eat called Rumah Makan Padang or Padang Restaurant, either on the roadside, or in luxurious malls or even in more upmarket establishments. How did it happen?

To explain the success of the food of the people of West Sumatra, one has to know that the Padang men have an adventurous spirit and like to broaden their horizons. It is said they believe that their mother’s cooking is the very best and cannot not be found anywhere else.

Add to this their good sales skills and it is not surprising that when three people of West Sumatran origin meet, a restaurant will be set up.

Mama’s culinary skills and her ceaseless prayers (doa bundo) for her children to seek a better life and return home rich are always in their mind. And what does a loving mother give to her son when he has to go to a far away place with no home-cooked food? It has to be a traditional dish that can be kept for a long time and one that becomes better and better when reheated!

Well, that is certainly rendang or meat cooked in a thick coconut milk sauce, spicy hot just like their mothers make. Though in a cookery book about Indonesia’s regional foods published in 1967 by the then agriculture ministry titled Mustikarasa, rendang is a method of preparation in which the ingredients are cooked without any oil.

So when the young man gets homesick he would eat some rendang and offer it to his new friends, popularizing the dish among non-West Sumatran people.

Taking the name for from their place of origin, they call it Padang food as most West Sumatrans are also very proud of their capital. Of course there are now many West Sumatra people who say why not Bukittinggi food or Lubuk Linggau food? But one cannot deny that Padang is more saleable that any other name and it has gone global. In Singapore or Australia, Padang food is known and rendang will be on the menu.

The rendang outside Indonesia is sometimes not the classic West Sumatran rendang, it sometimes is only partly cooked rendang. Traditional rendang has no sauce and because of the preparation the meat is dark brown in color. When it still has thick coconut milk sauce it is called kalio. And that is what in many countries or even in Indonesia outside West Sumatra, is served as rendang.

Perhaps the procedure of making authentic rendang takes too long and requires a lot of patience because one has to stir it often until the sauce is totally absorbed by the meat which will then give it the rather dark color. The preparation is actually not too complicated, but what one has to pay attention to is the time of cooking and rendang is best made from sirloin. Rendang has gained popularity in many countries and when asking visitors to Sumatra what dish they like most the answer will be most likely rendang whether it is from Padang, Bukit Tinggi or anywhere else in West Sumatra where people are very adept in creating spicy, delicious food.

–Suryatini N. Ganie

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