Saté Udang (Indo-Dutch Prawn Skewers)

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •8 to 10 short bamboo or metal skewers
• •Charcoal grill, gas grill, or ridged grill pan
• •Pastry brush

Instructions

1. 1

   Soak the skewers

   If you are using bamboo skewers, cover them with water and soak them for at least thirty minutes. It is a small step, and small steps often save dinner; dry bamboo scorches before the prawns have had their six minutes of glory.

2. 2

   Mix the marinade

   Stir the ketjap manis, oil, lime juice, garlic, sambal, ginger, ground coriander, and salt in a bowl large enough to hold the prawns. Taste the edge of it. It should be sweet first, sharp second, and warm at the end, because the prawn itself will bring the clean sea-sweetness.

3. 3

   Marinate the prawns

   Pat the prawns dry, then fold them through the marinade until every surface is glossy and dark. Leave them for twenty to thirty minutes, no longer. Lime is useful, but it is not gentle; give it too much time and it starts cooking the prawns before the fire does.

   If your prawns were frozen, thaw them slowly in the refrigerator and dry them very well. Wet prawns steam in their own puddle on the grill, and we are not here for boiled skewers.
4. 4

   Thread the skewers

   Thread three or four prawns onto each skewer, piercing each prawn twice so it sits in a loose C shape and will not spin when you turn it. Keep them close but not crushed together; a little space lets the heat reach the inside curve.

5. 5

   Grill fast

   Heat a charcoal grill, gas grill, or ridged grill pan until properly hot. Grill the skewers for two to three minutes on the first side, brush with a little remaining marinade, then turn and cook another two minutes until the prawns are pink, lightly charred at the edges, and just firm. Stop there. A prawn goes from tender to rubber with indecent speed.

6. 6

   Serve at once

   Lay the skewers on a warm platter, squeeze over a little lime, and scatter coriander leaf if you use it. Serve with sambal for sharpness, or a small bowl of peanut sauce if your table expects it. I prefer to keep the sauce on the side, in the Dutch way of letting guests negotiate their own heat.

Chef Tips

• •Buy raw prawns, not cooked ones. Cooked prawns only reheat on the grill, and by the time the ketjap has lacquered, the texture has already lost the argument.
• •Ketjap manis is not ordinary soy sauce. It is thick, sweet, and dark, with palm sugar at its heart; if you substitute thin soy sauce, the marinade becomes salty and mean.
• •Summer is the honest season for this dish in the Netherlands, not because prawns obey our calendar neatly, but because saté belongs over coals, outdoors, with a plate passed from hand to hand.
• •For a dinner party, grill these last. Everything else can wait. Prawns cannot, and no guest has ever complained that the cook stood by the fire for six minutes.

Advance Preparation

• •The marinade can be mixed up to one day ahead and kept covered in the refrigerator.
• •The prawns can be peeled and deveined earlier the same day, then kept cold and dry until marinating.
• •Do not marinate the prawns for more than thirty minutes; the lime and salt will begin changing their texture.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 145g)