Sate Babi

Anita Jacobson’s sate babi is a Chinese Indonesian pork satay built around a sweet, spiced marinade. She recalls these skewers as a childhood favourite, bought from a woman who sold them door to door.

Shallots, garlic, fresh red cayenne chilies, candlenuts and galangal are ground into a smooth paste. Selected pork shoulder pieces mix with that paste, palm sugar, ground coriander, cumin, turmeric, soy sauce, sweet soy sauce and lime juice.

After marinating, the pork is threaded onto bamboo skewers. An oiled cast-iron grill pan browns the pieces until their surfaces are golden and lightly charred.

The remaining marinade becomes the accompanying sauce: it is boiled in a separate pot until thick. Thinly sliced shallots, fresh chilies and another portion of lime juice are stirred into it afterwards.

The satay is arranged on a plate with its own chili sauce alongside. Sweet soy sauce and palm sugar balance the chilies and citrus across both the pork’s coating and the sauce made from that same marinade.