Satay sauce and bitternut chips

• serves

  6

• prep

  15 minutes

• cook

  15 minutes

• difficulty

  Easy

Ingredients

• 1 tbsp vegetable oil, plus extra, to deep-fry
• 4 large Asian red eschalots, thinly sliced
• 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 1½ tsp ground chilli
• 200 g unsalted peanuts, roasted, chopped
• 1 tsp white sugar
• 60 ml (¼ cup) kecap manis (see Note)
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 130 g (2 cups) bitternut chips (see Note)

Makes 2 cups

Instructions

Heat oil in a frying pan over medium heat. Add eschalots and garlic, and cook for 4 minutes or until golden. Add chilli, peanuts, sugar, kecap manis, lemon juice and 375 ml water. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes or until thickened. Cool slightly. Transfer to a food processor and process sauce to a rough paste.

Fill a deep-fryer or large saucepan one-third full with oil and heat over medium heat to 180˚C (or until a cube of bread turns golden in 10 seconds). Working in 3 batches, fry the bitternut chips, ensuring they are immersed, for 30 seconds or until crisp and puffed. Remove with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towel. Serve bitternut chips with the satay sauce.

Serve with open dumplings and the Bahasa bowl.

Note

• Kecap manis (Indonesian sweet soy) is from Asian food shops.

• Bitternut chips, known as emping melinjo in Indonesian, are made from the melinjo nut. They look like semi-transparent discs and are from Asian food shops.

As seen in Feast Magazine, Issue 16, pg60.

Photography by Brett Stevens

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.