Bang bang!!

Satay would be one of my favourite flavours.  Love it with skewered kebabs, as a pizza base sauce, as a curry sauce, on a burger...  The list probably would go on indefinitely.  If it's savoury and can have sauce with it, it'll probably taste awesome with some satay.  However, one more or less key ingredient of the traditional satay are peanuts.  All well and good, unless you're allergic to peanuts.  My stepson is one such, no peanut butter for him.  Luckily for Harry tho, we live in a world today of seemingly endless flavours, products and semi-traditional fusions.  Enter cashew butter (or try almond butter, or hazlenut, walnut...).  We wanted to try a recipe for bang bang chicken (a popular street-food dish in China, apparantly so-named for the manner in which the meat is tenderised, using a stick or hammer to hit/bang it), so decided to give it a go with cashew butter.  It worked, the satay had a fantastic flavour.  This was such a good mid-week dish 'cause it didn't take long to make.  And in fact, I poached the chicken earlier in the day, so there was even one step less.  So, if you enjoy satay, this is for you!!  

Serves 3 

1 cup jasmine rice

1.5 cups water (boiling)

1 tsp sesame oil 

 

300 g chicken breasts

1.5 cups cold water

2 tbsp soy sauce

1 tsp sesame oil

1 tsp finely grated ginger (I used microplane)

2 tbsp soy sauce

3 tbsp nut butter (peanut, cashew, whatever)

2 tbsp sweet chili sauce

1 tbsp honey

1/4 cup water

2 tbsp sesame seeds, toasted (on low, slow but steady, in a dry pan)

iceberg lettuce/bok choi/spinach, shredded

1/2 carrot, cut into matchsticks

1/2 small cucumber, cut into sticks 

50 g mung bean sprouts

1. Put chicken into pot with cold water, soy and sesame oil (as grouped above).  Cover with a lid and bring to a gentle boil on medium heat.  Once boiling, turn off the heat and leave, still covered, for 15 minutes.  After that remove chicken from pot and set aside to cool (once cool, shred it!).  Save the liquid, as you'll almost certainly need more than 1/4 cup liquid for the satay sauce.  
2. Combine rice and oil in pot and place on high heat.  Add boiling water and stir well.  Once water level is more or less the same as the rice, reduce heat to low, cover pot with a paper towel and snug-fitting lid.  Leave for 20 minutes, then remove from heat.  Do not take the lid off until you are ready to serve (the rice will keep nice and warm for at least another 20 minutes after you remove from heat).  
3. Combine all satay ingredients in a pot.  Keep mixing them until you have a nice, smooth sauce.  I like my sauces to be fairly runny, so I added about another 1/2 cup of liquid from my chicken poaching.  
4. To serve - you can serve the chicken, the rice, and the veges up on separate platters and people can help themselves (remember the sesame seeds!!), or as we did, in individual bowls.  I did rice, veges, chicken, sauce, seeds and sprouts.  Delicious!!!!