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Halal-conscious recipe

Balinese chicken satay with Halal chicken

The Good Food team's Balinese minced chicken satay: Halal chicken mixed with a pounded shallot, garlic, ginger and chilli paste, nutmeg, cloves, coconut and lime leaves, moulded onto lemongrass and grilled.

  • Cuisine Indonesian
  • Meal Main
  • Difficulty Moderate
  • Yield about 12 skewers
  • Time 50 min
  • Last updated

Each method follows published technique for the dish, and every Halal substitution is checked against the ingredient pages we cite. Photographs come from our ingredient library rather than the finished dish.

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Grilled meat satay skewers
Photograph from our ingredient library: grilled satay skewers, not the finished dish from this recipe.

Photo: Gunawan Kartapranata · CC BY-SA 3.0

Why Halal checks matter here

The satay is made from 500 g of minced chicken or lamb, which is Halal only from animals slaughtered the Halal way.

This is a Balinese-style satay made from mince rather than cubes of meat: chicken mixed with a pounded paste of shallot, garlic, ginger and red chilli, warm spices, coconut and lime leaves, then pressed around lemongrass stalks and grilled. Nothing in it needs swapping except the meat itself, which has to come from a Halal butcher or a Halal-certified pack; minced lamb works too, as the source says.

It follows the Good Food team's Balinese chicken satay for BBC Good Food, which makes about 12 skewers. The source has you rough up the surface before grilling so the meat isn't completely smooth.

There is no peanut sauce in this version, so the checks that the satay page raises for bought sauces don't arise here.

Halal-critical ingredients

  • Minced chicken or lamb Chicken and lamb are Halal only from animals slaughtered the Halal way, and mince without a Halal mark doesn't say how the animal was slaughtered. Buy the mince from a Halal butcher or in a Halal-certified pack. See Chicken and Lamb.

Safe substitutes

  • 500 g minced chicken or lamb of unknown slaughter → 500 g Halal minced chicken or lamb

Allergens

none

Ingredients

Spice paste

  • 3 shallots
  • 3–4 garlic cloves
  • 25 g root ginger, peeled
  • 2 small red chillies (or 1 large)
  • 1 tbsp vegetable or groundnut oil, plus extra for brushing
  • ½ tsp each ground turmeric, ground white pepper and ground coriander
  • ¼ tsp ground nutmeg
  • pinch ground cloves

Satay

  • 500 g Halal minced chicken (or Halal minced lamb)
  • 2 lime leaves, fresh or freeze-dried, cut into fine strips
  • 1 tbsp unsweetened desiccated coconut (or 25 g grated creamed coconut)
  • 12 lemongrass stalks or wooden skewers
  • optional banana leaves, to serve (optional)

Method

  1. Chop the aromatics. Thinly slice, then finely chop the shallots, garlic and ginger. Finely chop the chilli, seeds and all, or take the seeds out if you want less heat.
  2. Fry the spices. Heat the oil in a frying pan over a low heat and fry the shallots, garlic, ginger and chilli for 1 to 2 minutes to soften. Add a couple of tablespoons of water, then stir in the turmeric, white pepper, coriander, nutmeg and cloves (and freeze-dried lime leaves, if using) and fry for a minute.
  3. Pound to a paste. Take the pan off the heat and let the mixture cool, then pound it to a soft paste in a pestle and mortar, using an up-and-down motion. It takes several minutes.
  4. Mix. Mix the paste, the coconut and the shredded fresh lime leaves, if using, into the minced chicken, and season with salt.
  5. Shape on the stalks. Take walnut-sized pieces, flatten each into a round, lay a lemongrass stalk or skewer in the centre and mould the mixture around the bulbous end, about 8 cm up. Rough up the surface a little with your fingers, then brush each skewer with oil.
  6. Grill. Cook on a hot barbecue, griddle pan or grill for 8 to 10 minutes, turning several times. Serve on banana leaves, if you like.

How this recipe was researched

Method adapted from BBC Good Food's 'Balinese chicken satay' by the Good Food team (makes about 12 skewers: 3 shallots, 3 or 4 garlic cloves and 25 g peeled ginger thinly sliced then finely chopped, with 2 small or 1 large red chilli, seeds in or out; softened 1 to 2 minutes in 1 tbsp vegetable or groundnut oil over a low heat, a couple of tablespoons of water added, then ½ tsp each of ground turmeric, white pepper and coriander, ¼ tsp nutmeg and a pinch of cloves fried a minute; cooled and pounded to a soft paste in a pestle and mortar; mixed with a 500 g pack of minced chicken (or lamb), 2 lime leaves cut into fine strips and 1 tbsp unsweetened desiccated coconut or 25 g grated creamed coconut, seasoned; walnut-sized pieces flattened and moulded about 8 cm up 12 lemongrass stalks or wooden skewers, the surface roughed up, brushed with oil and cooked 8 to 10 minutes on a barbecue, griddle or grill, turning; served on banana leaves if you like). The source gives 50 minutes in all with no separate prep time. We specified Halal minced chicken or lamb; nothing else in the recipe needed changing. Timings follow the published technique rather than a kitchen test.

Technique and ingredient sources

  1. Balinese chicken satay — BBC Good Food Retrieved:

    By the Good Food team. Makes about 12 skewers, 50 minutes: shallot, garlic, ginger and chilli fried with turmeric, white pepper, coriander, nutmeg and cloves, pounded to a paste, mixed with minced chicken, lime leaves and coconut, moulded onto lemongrass stalks and grilled 8 to 10 minutes. We specified Halal mince.

  2. Satay analysis — isithalal.food Retrieved:

    What to check in satay: the meat and the sauce.

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