Minced Chicken Satay Relish
Most people hear satay and think skewers. This is not that. This is a nahm prik - a Thai relish, rich and deeply savoury, served in a small bowl for scooping. It's the kind of thing that lands on the table and disappears before anyone has quite worked out what they're eating.
We've put versions of this on as a special at Farang and it always goes down well. The concept takes a bit of explaining - it's not a dip exactly, not a curry exactly - but once people taste it the conversation stops and the scooping starts. Good vessels are rice crackers, roll cut cucumber, any decent cracker, or - and this is not a joke - pork scratchings. The fat and salt of a scratching with this relish is one of those combinations that shouldn't work on paper but absolutely does.
It also makes a brilliant marinade. Coat a piece of salmon in it, wrap it in banana leaves and roast or barbecue over wood or charcoal. The coconut in the paste does something extraordinary over that kind of heat - the flavour goes to a completely different place. Surf and turf of the highest degree.
The paste itself has toasted coconut and peanuts ground into it, which isn't unusual in Thai cooking but does mean you need to pay attention while it cooks. The protein in the peanuts means it wants to stick and burn more than a standard paste. Keep the heat controlled and stir it constantly. Don't walk away. Cook it over charcoal if you ever get the chance and you'll understand immediately why Thai food tastes the way it does when you eat it in Thailand.
Minced Chicken Satay Relish
Serves: 4-6 Prep: 45 minutes including soaking time Cook: 25 minutes Difficulty: Medium
Ingredients
For the curry paste
6-8 long dried red chillies, deseeded and soaked in warm water for 20 minutes
4 Thai shallots, roughly chopped
6 garlic cloves, peeled
2-inch piece fresh ginger, peeled and sliced
4 coriander roots, cleaned (or 2 tbsp chopped coriander stalks)
3 tbsp desiccated coconut, toasted until golden
3 tbsp peanuts, toasted until fragrant
For seasoning and cooking
2 tbsp coconut oil
2 tbsp palm sugar
3 tbsp fish sauce
2 tbsp tamarind paste
500g minced chicken, thigh meat if possible
To serve
Rice crackers, roll cut cucumber, pork scratchings or any good cracker
Fresh coriander, sliced red chilli, toasted peanuts
Sticky rice or jasmine rice
Method
Drain the soaked chillies and squeeze out the excess water. In a pestle and mortar or food processor, pound the chillies, shallots, garlic, ginger and coriander roots to a rough paste.
Add the toasted coconut and peanuts and continue to pound or blitz until you have a cohesive paste with a little texture remaining. It doesn't need to be completely smooth.
Heat the coconut oil in a wok or heavy pan over medium heat. Add the paste and cook, stirring constantly, for 8-10 minutes until deeply fragrant. Keep the heat controlled and don't walk away - the peanuts make this paste more prone to catching than a standard one. If it starts to stick, reduce the heat and keep moving it.
Add the palm sugar, fish sauce and tamarind. Cook for another 2-3 minutes until glossy and well combined. Taste and adjust - it should be rich, sour, salty and a little sweet.
Add the minced chicken, breaking it up as it goes in. Cook for 8-10 minutes, stirring regularly, until the chicken is cooked through and has taken on all the flavour from the paste.
Serve warm in a small bowl with your chosen scooping vessels alongside. Fresh coriander, sliced chilli and a few toasted peanuts on top.
Chef's notes
If you have access to a barbecue or wood fire, cook the paste over charcoal before adding the chicken. The coconut in the paste reacts to that kind of heat in a way that a gas hob simply can't replicate - smokier, deeper, more complex.
The cooked relish keeps in the fridge for up to a week and freezes well. It also works as a marinade - coat salmon or chicken, wrap in banana leaves and roast or barbecue. The results are worth the effort.
Visit us at faranglondon.co.uk. Sauces and pastes for cooking Thai at home at payst.co.uk.
For more recipes, signed copies of my cookbooks are available at Payst: Cook Thai and Thai in 7.
Head chef & founder of Farang London restaurant. Cookbook author of ‘Cook Thai’ & ‘Thai in 7’. Chief curry paste basher and co-founder of Payst London.