A Life, Lived: Thai-style Pork Saté with Peanut Sauce

It's time for me to get together with the lovely ladies who join together once a month for the Cooking Light Virtual Supper Club! It's an odd month for the Virtual Supper Club as our fearless leader is across the pond in Italy. 1000 kilometres away and she is still keeping us on track:

It is around 6:30 on Saturday morning here in Paestum Italy at Seliano Agritourismo. The point is that even at 6:30 in the morning in Italy there is nothing more to be done that sit here on the computer when it is still dark, download photos and answer e-mails. Perhaps I should be sleeping but I am ready for the day to begin.

Just as a reminder this is this months menu for this coming Wednesday (thanks for the reminder Sandi). We have also started planning menus for the upcoming months as well.

You have to love dedication like that - even when having the adventure of a lifetime in Italy Val is still keeping us on track!

This month's theme was "Peanut Butter". Before you giggle too much - be kind, I selected the theme because it was National Peanut Butter Month.

Here are some facts about peanut butter:

The average American consumes more than six pounds of peanuts and peanut butter products each year.
The average child will eat 1,500 peanut butter and jelly sandwiches before he/she graduates high school.
Americans consume on average over 1.5 billion pounds of peanut butter and peanut products each year.
Peanut butter is consumed in 90 percent of USA households.
Americans eat enough peanut butter in a year to make more than 10 billion peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.
The amount of peanut butter eaten in a year could wrap the earth in a ribbon of 18-ounce peanut butter jars one and one-third times.
Women and children prefer creamy, while most men opt for chunky.
People living on the East Coast prefer creamy peanut butter, while those on the West Coast prefer the crunchy style.
Sixty percent of consumers prefer creamy peanut butter over crunchy.
Four of the top 10 candy bars manufactured in the USA contain peanuts or peanut butter.
Peanuts account for two-thirds of all snack nuts consumed in the USA.
Peanut butter is the leading use of peanuts in the USA.
Peanuts contribute more than $4 billion to the USA economy each year.
Americans spend almost $800 million a year on peanut butter.

Look at this, a learning experience and a great recipe to follow. It is your lucky day folks!

For my recipe I went with a Thai-style Saté that was served with peanut sauce. Indonesian spice merchants brought the recipe for saté, or skewered meat, to Thailand several centuries ago. Pork saté, taboo in Indonesia and other Southeast Asian countries with large Muslim populations, is very popular in Thailand. if this recipe is any indication of what saté tastes like in Thailand I can see why it would be so popular!

Don't be overwhelmed by the long list of ingredients - it is worth it!

We served this with garlic ginger coconut rice and stir fried veggies. Of course a fruity gewurztraminer was a brilliant wine to go with it.

Thai-style Pork Saté with Peanut Sauce

Sauce:
5 dried japones or arbol chiles
1/2 teaspoon coriander seeds
1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds
1/2 teaspoon kosher or sea salt
1 garlic clove, minced
1 tablespoon minced peeled lemongrass
1 tablespoon minced peeled fresh ginger
1 tablespoon minced shallots
3/4 cup light coconut milk
2 tablespoons creamy peanut butter
2 tablespoons palm sugar or light brown sugar
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
1 tablespoon Thai fish sauce

Marinade:
1 cup light coconut milk
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
3 tablespoons minced shallots
2 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce
1 tablespoon minced peeled fresh ginger
1 teaspoon ground turmeric
1 1/2 pounds pork tenderloin, trimmed and cut diagonally into thin slices
Cooking spray

To prepare the sauce, place chiles in a small bowl, and cover with hot water. Let stand 30 minutes. Drain and finely chop chiles.

Place the coriander and cumin seeds in a small skillet over medium-high heat; cook for 1 minute or until toasted. Combine salt and garlic in a mortar and pestle; crush to form a paste. Add the chiles, toasted seeds, lemongrass, 1 tablespoon ginger, and 1 tablespoon shallots, one at a time, until each ingredient is incorporated into paste. Heat 3/4 cup coconut milk in a small saucepan over medium heat. Add paste mixture, and cook for 1 minute. Stir in the peanut butter until smooth. Add sugar, juice, and fish sauce; cook 1 minute. Remove from heat; cool.

To prepare the marinade, combine 1 cup coconut milk and the next 5 ingredients (coconut milk through turmeric) in a large plastic zip-top bag. Add pork to bag. Seal and marinate in refrigerator 45 minutes. Remove pork from bag; discard marinade. Thread pork slices evenly onto 12 (6-inch) skewers.

Prepare grill.

Place skewers on grill rack coated with cooking spray, and grill for 5 minutes on each side or until done. Serve with sauce.

Comments

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Hi Jerry! Susan, here... newest member of Virtual Supper Club! Must say, this pork saté looks absolutely perfect! And I agree on the Gewurtztraminer being and excellent choice for your spicy skewers and gentle gingery rice! What a meal!

Posted by: Susan | November 07, 2012 at 11:11 AM