Indonesian Satay - Indoor Charcoal Grill in A Hong Kong Flat

This is our desperate attempt to enjoy Indonesian charcoal grill satay. No oven grill/no frying pan tricks. A real indoor charcoal grilling action, to be more specific, in my teeny tiny Hong Kong flat.

WARNING!
FIRE/CARBON MONOXIDE HAZARD!
DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME

To those who have a balcony/terrace/garden where you can do your charcoal grilling....damnnnn....I envy you.

To those who do not have an open space, but wish to try indoor charcoal grilling, please take the following precautionary steps:
- If your home/flat do not have good air flow....just forget about it
- Open all windows and if possible, maybe doors (despite the risk of burglary)
- Turn on exhaust fans
- I was also thinking of pre-calling 999 (Hong Kong's emergency number)
or
- Call a friend to give me a call back after an hour. If I didn't pick up, he/she has to call 999 for an ambulance (I was seriously THAT paranoid. Hey, we can never be too safe, right? I was worried there will be no more Mochachocolata-Rita after this charcoal burning action)

Now the challenge...
How do we get the charcoal grill going?

The above was sous chef's idea: roasting a piece of charcoal (one by one), with a BBQ tong over a gas stove. Ehm. It didn't work. It takes forever for the charcoal to burn, and once burnt, it crumbles into pieces. It was dangerous!

Then, we tried to get the fire going by strategically placing a few pieces of paper balls below the charcoal and lit them up. It worked better. Do NOT use too small pieces of paper, a piece of paper flew right onto sous chef's sweater and caused a burnt hole. Dangerrrrrr!!!!

Finally, we have some burning action going. Time to get the marinated satay out.

The meat
I used 3 x chicken thigh fillet, trimmed excess fat, leave some skin on, cut into small cubes. I didn't make the skewers until after I marinated them. I also used lean pork, simply cut into cubes.

I used two different kinds of marinate for the satay:

Lemongrass Marinate
- lemongrass powder (or you can use stalks of lemongrass, chopped), sprinkle generously
- ginger powder (or fresh ginger, crushed), sprinkle generously
- 1 clove of shallot, thinly sliced
- 1 tsp ground corriander seeds
- 1 tsp cumin
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp sugar
- white pepper
- a bit of grated lemon zest
- a bit of olive oil

Kecap Marinate
- 1 clove of shallot, thinly sliced
- light soy sauce
- dark soy sauce
- sweet soy sauce (this is the dominant flavor)
- white pepper
- chinese five spice powder (or just ground/freshly grated nutmeg)

Mix well, marinate for a few hours or overnight, I just stuck 'em with bamboo skewers about an hour before grilling.

Once we have the fire going, everything's easy. Place skewers on top of the grill, turn a bit to even things out. The surface of the meat will be beautifully charred, while the inner part will stay still juicy and tender.


I actually planned to dress up my satay and take beautiful pictures of them. However, they taste the best when they were just off the grill...so this first batch very quickly disappeared!

Satay Peanut Sauce
You can purchase a ready made satay sauce (if there's any Indonesian grocery shop near you, the Chinese ones are just NOT the same, but it's ok if you're desperate), and add freshly squeezed lemon, grated lemon zest, freshly chopped corriander, chopped chilli, thinly sliced shallot and drizzle a bit of kecap manis (sweet soy sauce).

or, you can make your own adaptation...
- 1 cup ground peanut (use a pressure cooker), or peanut butter
- 2 cloves finely chopped garlic
- 2 cloves shallot
- chopped chilli
- ground cumin
- ground corriander seeds
- palm sugar (or brown sugar)
- salt
- pepper
- a bit of olive oil
Mix everything well and saute quickly, remove from heat, add freshly squeezed lemon, grated lemon zest, freshly chopped corriander, chopped chilli, thinly sliced shallot and drizzle a bit of kecap manis (sweet soy sauce).

Add more charcoal pieces if necessary...

Boy, I was on fire!!! ^_^ Those are the pork satay marinated in sweet soy.

Once they are done, I squeezed lemon juice over them, drizzled them with a lot of kecap manis...

Dipped them into the sauce and dig in! They are perfect with rice or rice cakes (lontong). Finally I didn't get to take pictures of any dressed up satay at all. They were gone within minutes!!!

Thank you for the wonderful Japanese mini stone charcoal grill, Sir A. I love it!

It sounds like quite a lot of work, eh? But , trust me. Totally worth it :)