Barbeque Satays

By Daniel Butler, author and foraging guide

As summer approaches, it’s time to think about firing up the barbie for al fresco meals. Here’s a fun way to use cheap meat cuts, fish, seafood and chunky vegetables - and it needn’t cost much if you buy the ingredients in ethnic supermarkets (particularly if you do this as a consortium with friends)

Chicken kebabs with wild garlic naan

As a carnivore, I think it works particularly well with chicken, pork and king prawns, but would think it would also be great with butternut squash, yam and courgette or aubergine.

Marinade

½ tspn                 Cumin (seeds or ground)

½ tspn                 Ground coriander

1 tspn                  Chilli powder

1 tspn                  Thai curry paste (red or green)

1cm                      Ginger (peeled and finely chopped)

4 cloves              Garlic                 

2 tbspns             Fish or soy sauce

1                            Lime (juiced and zested)

Sauce

50g                       Creamed coconut (or half tin of coconut milk)

100g                     Peanut butter

Chopped spring onions

Chillies (roughly chopped, with or without seeds depending on taste)

Coriander leaves and stalks (chopped)

Mix all your marinade ingredients in a bowl. Chop your meat/fish/vegetables into largish chunks suitable for threading on skewers. Stir these into the marinade sauce and leave it for at least an hour or two in the fridge (overnight is better). Then remove the meat/fish/vegetables from the liquid and thread onto skewers to bake in the oven on a medium heat for about 30 minutes (this is particularly important if using meat like chicken or pork). Some root vegetables are best treated in the same way, but courgettes etc don’t need this. Transfer to a hot BBQ grill while warming up the remains of the marinade sauce with the coconut, peanut butter, spring onions, chillies and coriander. If this is a little dry, moisten it with a dash of sherry, white wine or hot water.