Peanut Free Sweet Chicken Satay (Sate Ayam Manis)

Jajanan Solo (Solo 'snack' foods)

I blame my sweet tooth on the wonderful Solonese food that I grew up on. Solo is located in Central Java with a magnificent regal culture. It's so obsessed with royals that they decide to upkeep four kingdoms in the area the size of Adelaide, each with its own batik print and imperial outfits. (Kate Middleton eat your heart out). And of course, the amazing, sometimes verging on ridiculously unhealthy obsession with eating (sweets containing half a kilo of sugar AND condensed milk, tripe soup, fried intestine crackers, anyone?).

When I was growing up, even though mum’s side of the family have all moved to Jakarta, my granddad was always so persistent about carrying out almost all the regal ceremonies of Solo. That includes for example the Tarapan, a coming of age ceremony (let’s announce to everyone she’s just got her first period and shower her with rose water); Wiyosan, the celebration of my grandad’s birthday at the 14^th of every month (also awesome to hang out with my cousins!); Ruwatan, the you-were-born-on-a-day-that-brings-bad-luck-so-let’s-ceremoniously-cut-your-hair-and-offer-it-to-the-Queen-of-the-South-Seas ceremony.

Of course, I hated every single one of them (what kid likes to do family events?). I dreaded the combination of having to wear corseted kebaya and keeping up the Javanese manners (keep your head level below the elders, no touching of other people’s heads, point with your thumb not index finger, speak and walk slowly!). The funny thing is it was only after I moved away from Indonesia that I started appreciating them. These are traditions that are slowly dying away with my grandparents’ generation. I’m actually pretty grateful that I got to do a full-blown 3-day Javanese wedding with 200 family members and 1500 guests. Because not only was it an awesome experience, but my kids may never get to experience it.

Food coma in Pecel Solo

Solo, being located smack bang on the fertile volcanic soil of the island of Java, has an absolute abundance of food. I promise you even if you stay there for a month, I doubt you would have experienced all that Solo culinary world has to offer. The Solonese food that I grew up with features a lot of kecap manis (sweet soy sauce) and gula jawa (similar to palm sugar), creating that sweet tinge in most dishes. I’m sure this is how I got my sweet tooth, sometimes to the point where I obsessively have to find a sweet sauce in new countries when sweet soy sauce isn’t available (thank you, chutneys and Bavarian sweet mustard).

Here are a few of our favourite places:

1. Pecel Solo. A smorgasbord of Javanese food, eaten on a plate lined with banana leaves. The side dishes are available on your table. You pick and choose what you want. But remember what you order because the waiters will bill you on what you say you ate. They’re very trusting people! Come for breakfast or lunch. Jalan Dr. Soepomo No.55, Mangkubumen Solo. Tel. +62-271-737379.
2. Soto Gading. The legendary chicken soup with airy rice noodles, potatoes and fried shallots. The perfect comfort food! They claim throngs of celebrities and politicians always make the stop here when in Solo. They also serve a number of side dishes.Totally unmissable, especially for the very low price of Rp9.000 (that's less than a buck). Jalan Brigjen Sudiarta no. 75, Gading, Solo. Open for breakfast and lunch.
3. Serabi Notosuman. Fluffy and sweet Solonese pancake, with a sweet coconut milk filling and crispy edges. If you take it away they roll it up in a banana leave (kinda like sushi rolls) so they are easier to eat. Best eaten hot with a cup of tea for breakfast for your early morning sugar rush. At Rp2000 a pop (20cents) you can't miss these little gems. Jalan Mohammad Yamin 28, Solo. Come very early in the morning (like 7am), during holiday season expect very long queues.

Here is a recipe for a sweet chicken satay. I made this for a dinner party recently, where one of my friends has pretty severe peanut allergy… as in he might die if he eats peanut. As most people know, satay is almost always served with bucketloads of peanut sauce. There are some recipes out there which recommend substituting peanuts for sunflower seed paste. But since they weren’t available in shops around me, I decided to serve it with sweet soy sauce, shallot and chilli mix (I think in Indo they call this sambal kecap). I also added sesame oil, as it gives the marinade a bit of a nutty flavour, and contains no traces of peanuts. Well at least mine was ok.

I definitely sighed a breath of relief when the night ended without my friend’s epi-pen (the shot you have to give in case of a severe allergy) or industrial-strength-antihistamine making an appearance. Phew!

Peanut-free sweet chicken satay (Sate Ayam Manis)

Ingredients:

500g of chicken, breast or thigh, cubed

Marinade:

4-5 tablespoon of sweet soy sauce

2 tablespoon of regular soy sauce

1 tablespoon of sesame oil

4 shallots, sliced

3 cloves of garlic, crushed

1 handful of coriander leaves, chopped finely

1 cm ginger, grated

Bamboo or metal skewers

Dipping sauce:

5 tablespoon of kecap manis

2 shallots, sliced

1 birds eye chilli, sliced finely, discard the seeds if you don’t want it too spicy.

Method:

1. Combine the ingredients together.Obviously you can blitz the marinade ingredients into a paste (we use mortar and pestle back home). But I like to see colours the bits and pieces of the different ingredient colours so I just chop them up finely together.
2. Marinade the chicken in the sauce for a few hours, or better yet overnight.
3. When you take the meat out of the fridge, they should be very brown because of the kecap manis. Thread them into the skewers. If using bamboo skewers, make sure you soak them in hot water first for about half hour to avoid any splinters (or 10 minutes if you don’t have time).
4. Barbecue or grill the skewers until cooked. I didn’t have a barbecue so just used a grilling pan on a stove top cooking . Keep brushing the marinade on the skewers while you grill them.
5. Serve hot with the dipping sauce.

Cooking tip: while grilling on the stove top, we put a pan lid over the meat. Since the heat loss is minimised, the skewers cooked a lot faster and more even (leaves more time for you to hang out with your guests).