Saté Udang (Indo-Dutch Prawn Skewers)

In Zeeland, the tide sets the menu, but it also teaches humility. Shellfish arrives alive, briny, and unimpressed by theory. So when I first met saté udang on an Indo-Dutch table, glossy prawns threaded onto small skewers and lacquered with ketjap, I recognized the rule at once: the sea gives you sweetness, and your job is not to bury it.

The name already tells you enough. Udang is Indonesian for shrimp or prawn, and saté is the skewer that became one of the great shared words of the Indo-Dutch kitchen. In old Dutch menus you will sometimes see saté oedang, with that colonial oe doing the work of the Indonesian u. A spelling can be a fossil. Be careful with it.

But let me tell you a secret: this dish is not improved by fuss. Ketjap manis gives dark sweetness, lime cuts it clean, sambal brings a little authority, and the grill must be hot enough that the prawns cook before they have time to toughen. Hou het altijd simpel. Brush, turn, stop. The best saté udang tastes of shellfish first, then fire, then the long history that put a Dutch bottle of ketjap on a garden table beside the coals.