Homemade Satay Sauce

Thai Saté sauce, or “Nam Djim Sate” (น้ำจิ้มสะเต๊ะ) as it is called in Thai, is often served with the meat skewers of the same name. This creamy peanut sauce and skewers originated in Indonesia, but are now very popular throughout Southeast Asia. I have written down my favorite recipe for homemade “Nam Djim Sate” for you.

At this point i would likt to add a note on tamarind paste. The pastes from different manufacturers have different levels of acidity. So please be careful if you use a certain tamarind paste for the first time. It’s better to use a little less paste first, it would be a shame if your satay sauce would become too sour.

Preparation

First, toast the sesame seeds in a small pan without oil until they smell fragrant and begin to crack. Then put those roasted sesame seeds in large mortat ans crush them. Afterwards add the peanuts in portions and process them together with the sesame seets to form a paste.

Now heat the thick or solid part of the coconut milk in a saucepan. The solid part of the coconut milk usually collects in the top half of the can or the Tetrapak. If you have some on hand, you can also use coconut cream.

Once the coconut milk has thickened, stir in the red curry paste and fry together with the coconut milk until the oil separates from the paste. Now add the remaining thin coconut milk. In the next step add the tamarind paste, fish sauce and palm sugar and mix everything well until the sugar has completely dissolved.

Let the sauce simmer for another five minutes and then stir in the peanut-sesame paste. Then leave the satay sauce on low heat for about 15 minutes and allow to simmer until it has a creamy consistency. Finally stir in some sesame oil.

The finished Nam Jim Sate can be used immediately, but you can also keep it in the refrigerator for one or two days.