Sate Lilit Balinese

Sate Lilit is a delicious Balinese dish where meat is cooked on lemongrass skewers. Here we use chicken or fish fillets that are blended with a range of spices to create a deliciously juicy lemongrass skewers. And this can be done in the Thermomix or food processor! This is a pushy recipe Dear Reader.

Sate Lilit can be made from various types of meat including fish, chicken, pork and beef. The term Lilit means “to wrap” in Indonesian and Balinese. The two favourite versions that I’ve tried are the chicken and the fish/prawn sate lilit. I know, you’ll probably have a look at this list of ingredients and give me a hard no. But what if I told you that this entire mixture could be done in a food processor or Thermomix? I sat on this recipe for a good week until a friend pointed out that I could make the entire thing in the Thermomix and that includes the processing and kneading of the mixture!

Lemongrass is expensive and that is why I’ve wanted to make sate lilit for years but never quite had the supply of it that this dish requires. However we now grow lemongrass in our garden so we have a lot of it and it grows very easily. When I showed Mr NQN the price of lemongrass at the supermarket he suggested turning our small backyard into a lemongrass farm!

Tips For Making Sate Lilit

1 – Make use of your food processor or Thermomix. Otherwise this can be a bit of a production if you’re using a mortar and pestle and is more of a weekend project than a weeknight dinner.

2 – If you want to make a version using chicken I recommend using chicken thighs as they are the juiciest part of the chicken. Chicken tenderloin or breast tends to dry out on a grill.

3 – If you want to make a seafood version I use a mixture of white fish fillet (flathead or snapper is great) and raw prawn meat. I use 250g/8.8ozs raw or green prawn meat and 300g/10.6ozs skinless, white fish fillet.

4 – The spice mix is called Bumbu and while it seems like a very long list, once you have everything out the food processor does all of the work.

5 – To shape the meat onto the lemongrass I use gloves as the mixture has chilli in it and turmeric that can stain your hands. Use a tiny amount of water to dampen the gloves and this will make the mixture less sticky.

6 – You can pan fry Sate Lilit or you can grill them. Grilling them does make the lemongrass dry out a bit but I find the mixture sticks together better and you can cook more at once.

7 – If you don’t have lemongrass growing in your backyard or an expense account that covers lemongrass you can wrap these around thick wooden skewers (go for the wide, flat skewers, not the skinny ones as they won’t stick to it) or make them into patties and pan fry them! I had lots of mix so I ended up putting them inside pita breads for Mr NQN’s lunch and he loved them. They’re great to serve on top of salads/noodle salads.

8 – I love this served with turmeric rice and some sweet chilli sauce.

These are delicious because the flavour of the lemongrass permeates through the meat mixture. I made batches of both the chicken and the seafood sate lilit and they were both delicious. The fish version reminds me of Thai fish cakes just with slightly different spices and herbs. I also add a lot of makrut leaves to the mixture. If makrut leaves are new to you you may have heard of them through their old name kaffir lime leaves. The word kaffir is both an exonym (a term used by foreigners to describe people) and an appalling racial slur in South Africa so now the original term Makrut is now used. It’s good that it has been changed although there are still some people that refuse to change their habits, no matter who they offend.

A few weeks ago I met a man on a cruise who would have taken issue with changing the word to Makrut. One night we were asked to have dinner with some strangers. We were all asked to sit with people we didn’t know so that we could get to know each other. I was paired up with a woman who was about as warm and welcoming as a block of ice and a man who was friendlier and around 70 years old if I were to guess. At first I didn’t mind it, the dinner was pleasant but as drinks were poured, they came out of their shell and I got to see the real people behind the mask. It probably doesn’t help that I don’t drink much at all.

Over the night I watched him signal to the staff several times to refill his glass with wine. And then he started telling us about his career and how he has started as a geologist. He really seemed like he had had a charmed life where opportunities had just fallen in his lap. But then he leaned in to us and said, “And his climate change stuff….it’s just the natural patterns over time, sometimes it goes up and sometimes it goes down! I should know, I was a geologist,” he said moving his finger up and down in the air. The other woman nodded at him and agreed, “You really need to know where to find your information from,” she said.

Dessert couldn’t have come quickly enough. And that’s when he, thoroughly soused, started to raise his voice. “And why is there an international women’s day? When is there going to be a MEN’S DAY?” he bellowed. I looked at him, his wax-like face pink and bellicose with simmering rage and then I looked at her. She had her nose in the air, eyes half closed looking down at me leaning on her elbow on the table, evidently also pickled. I wasn’t sure whether I should argue back because I have strong opinions. Then I took a good look at them, two people that I would never see again and never change their mind and I decided that it wasn’t worth my time. Getting up, I grabbed my bag and camera. “I don’t agree with you both but I hope you have a great night and life!!” and walked away. Whenever we saw each other for the rest of the cruise, we just ignored each other and I’m glad that I didn’t waste any breath or energy on them.

So tell me Dear Reader, have you ever had sate lilit? And do you bother trying to argue your point with people?

Sate Lilit

An Original Recipe by Lorraine Elliott

Preparation time: 10 minutes

Cooking time: 10 minutes per batch on the grill

Makes 1 dozen skewers

• 12 stalks lemongrass 16cm/6inch long, soaked in water
• 35g/1.2ozs fresh coconut OR 25g/0.9ozs desiccated coconut mixed with 50ml/1.7flozs water
• 550g/1.2lbs chicken thigh fillets, minced OR 250g/8.8ozs raw prawn meat and 300g/10.6ozs white fish fillet
• 100g/3.5ozs golden shallots, peeled weight (can sub with red onion)
• 3 garlic cloves, peeled
• 3 red chillies (small or large depending on how hot you want it)
• 30g/1oz lemongrass stalk, white inner part only
• 30g/1ozs fresh ginger, peeled and chopped
• 2 teaspoons palm sugar (can also sub with brown or white sugar)
• 2 teaspoons tamarind puree
• 1 teaspoon ground coriander
• 1 teaspoon ground turmeric
• 3 candlenuts or macadamia nuts
• 3/4 teaspoon fine salt
• 2 teaspoons oil
• 4 makrut leaves, centre spines removed

*This recipe can be done entirely in the Thermomix including mincing the chicken thighs.

Thermomix Directions

Step 1 – First mix the coconut and water together and heat in microwave for 40 seconds and cool. Place the chicken thigh or fish fillets and prawns in the Thermomix and set to turbo 2 seconds 3 times. Remove and set aside in a bowl in the fridge.

Step 2 – Place the shallots, garlic, chilli, lemongrass, ginger, palm sugar, tamarind, coriander, turmeric, nuts, salt and makrut leaves as well as the coconut mixture in the Thermomix and set to speed #10 for 30 seconds or food processor and blitz until you get a smooth paste. Add the meat into the bowl and set to dough knead for 1.5 minutes.

Step 3 – Heat grill on high. Place gloves on and take 50g/1.7ozs of the mixture and shape around one end of the lemongrass. Lightly brush with oil and grill for 6-8 minutes turning so that all of the chicken is cooked through. Place on a platter and serve with turmeric coconut rice.

Food Processor Directions

Step 1 – First mix the coconut and water together and heat in microwave for 40 seconds and cool. Place the chicken thigh or fish fillets and prawns in a food processor and pulse until you get a mince style texture with no big chunks. Remove and set aside in a bowl.

Step 2 – Place the shallots, garlic, chilli, lemongrass, ginger, palm sugar, tamarind, coriander, turmeric, nuts, salt and makrut leaves as well as the coconut mixture in the food processor and blitz until you get a smooth paste. Knead together with the meat and the spice paste until well combined.

Step 3 – Heat grill on high. Place gloves on and take 50g/1.7ozs of the mixture and shape around one end of the lemongrass. Lightly brush with oil and grill for 8 minutes turning so that all of the chicken is cooked through. Place on a platter and serve with turmeric coconut rice.