Java, Indonesia
Satay
Bamboo-skewered meat grilled over charcoal, served with peanut sauce and compressed rice cake — the Southeast Asian skewer that grew up Javanese.
The peanut sauce sells the skewer.
A satay without its peanut sauce is just a kebab. The sauce — ground peanuts, kecap manis, garlic, chilies, lime, sometimes tamarind, sometimes coconut milk — is what bridges the grilled meat into the rice cake and turns the dish into a meal. The skewer is the delivery system; the sauce is the dish.
4 · Plate
Java, Indonesia
Satay
Bamboo-skewered meat grilled over charcoal, served with peanut sauce and compressed rice cake — the Southeast Asian skewer that grew up Javanese.
A dish of Javanese origin that travelled with Indonesian merchants and immigrants across all of Southeast Asia — Malaysia and Singapore call it satay, Thailand sate, the Netherlands saté (an Indonesian colonial legacy that became part of the Dutch national diet). Some accounts trace its ancestry to Indian and Middle Eastern kebabs brought by Tamil and Arab traders; the synthesis is Javanese.
Every region produced its own version. Sate ayam (chicken) from Madura is the export hit. Sate kambing (goat) from Tegal is the wedding dish. Sate Padang from West Sumatra trades peanut sauce for a yellow turmeric gravy. Sate lilit from Bali wraps a minced-fish-and-coconut paste around lemongrass instead of cubed meat on bamboo. The peanut-sauce skewer that everyone knows is one form among many.
With lontong or ketupat.
Compressed rice in banana leaf (*lontong*) or woven palm-leaf pouches (*ketupat*) is the carb half of the meal. Slice it into the bowl, top with the satay and a generous puddle of peanut sauce. A sambal on the side, a sliver of cucumber. Done.