Saté Manis (Sweet Indo-Dutch Pork Skewers)

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •18 short bamboo skewers, soaked, or metal skewers
• •Grill or heavy grill pan
• •Pastry brush
• •Instant-read thermometer

Instructions

1. 1

   Mix the marinade

   Whisk the ketjap manis, palm sugar, oil, shallots, garlic, ginger, coriander, cumin, white pepper, and tamarind water together in a bowl. Spoon 2 tablespoons into a clean cup for glazing before the pork touches the rest. Taste the marinade now. It should be sweet first, salty underneath, with a small sour edge so the glaze does not turn cloying. If you want heat, add the sambal, chilli paste; saté manis should still keep its manners.

   If your ketjap pours like water, it is not ketjap manis. The sauce should be dark, glossy, and slow from the bottle; that thickness is what gives the pork its shine.
2. 2

   Marinate the pork

   Add the pork cubes to the bowl and turn them until every surface is coated. Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours and up to 8 hours. Tenderloin is tender already; this bath is for seasoning, not softening. After a whole night, the acid starts making the edges woolly, and history has not asked us to do that.

3. 3

   Thread the skewers

   If using bamboo skewers, soak them in water for 30 minutes. Thread 4 or 5 pieces of pork onto each skewer, close enough to sit neatly but not squeezed tight. Let the skewers stand at room temperature for 20 minutes while the grill heats; ice-cold pork tightens before it browns.

4. 4

   Grill patiently

   Heat a grill or heavy grill pan to medium-high and oil it lightly. Cook the skewers for 8 to 10 minutes, turning every 2 minutes, brushing only with the reserved clean marinade during the last few turns. You want glossy dark-brown patches and lightly caught edges, not blackened sugar. The pork is done when the thickest piece reaches 63C, then it needs 5 minutes of rest.

   Ketjap burns if you show off. Keep the fire patient and move any skewer that darkens too quickly to a cooler part of the grill.
5. 5

   Serve at the table

   Pile the skewers on a platter, scatter over the fried shallots, and serve with cucumber slices and pindasaus, peanut sauce, at the side. If you want to use marinade that touched raw pork as sauce, boil it hard for 2 minutes first; otherwise discard it. The Dutch party instinct is to drown every saté in sauce. Resist a little. Let the first bite be ketjap, pork, and fire.

Chef Tips

• •Buy ketjap manis, not thin soy sauce with sugar stirred in at the last minute. The real bottle brings salt, sweetness, thickness, and that almost molasses-dark shine in one gesture.
• •Pork tenderloin cooks quickly, so cut the pieces evenly and stop at 63C. If your barbecue is unruly, pork neck or shoulder is more forgiving, but tenderloin gives the clean, sweet skewer people expect from saté manis.
• •Palm sugar, gula jawa, gives a deeper caramel note than white sugar. Dark brown sugar is an honest substitute; white sugar only makes the sweetness louder.
• •Make the first skewer your test piece. If it darkens before the pork is cooked, lower the heat. If it cooks through without browning, raise the heat for the next round.
• •Serve with cold pilsner, off-dry Riesling, or jasmine tea. The drink should cut the sweet glaze, not compete with it.

Advance Preparation

• •The marinade can be mixed up to 3 days ahead and kept refrigerated; stir it well before using, as the palm sugar settles.
• •The pork can marinate for 2 to 8 hours. The skewers can be threaded up to 6 hours ahead, covered, and kept cold; bring them out 20 minutes before grilling.
• •Cooked skewers keep for 3 days refrigerated and can be rewarmed gently in a covered skillet with a spoonful of water and ketjap, though for a party they are best cooked just before serving.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 140g)