Satay Chicken Legs with Peanut Sauce
Recipe video above. I do love Chicken Satay Skewers, but sometimes the thought of skewering is all too hard for a Monday night. So let's skip it and use drumsticks instead! The shape is ideal for dunking into the tasty peanut sauce.Big flavour, low cost, and guaranteed crowd pleaser. Serve with hot steamed jasmine rice - there's plenty of extra sauce for dousing!Note: This recipe uses a whole 270ml/9oz small can of coconut milk. If you've only got a standard 400ml/14oz one, measure out what you need. Add leftovers into this Quick and Easy Coconut Chicken Curry!
Servings: 4 - 5 people
Calories: 501cal
Ingredients
- 1.5 kg / 3lb chicken legs / drumsticks (10 pieces)
SATAY MARINADE:
- 1/3 cup coconut milk , full fat (I use a 270ml/9oz small can, the rest goes in the sauce)
- 1 1/2 tbsp curry powder (eg Clives, Keens, Note 1)
- 1 tbsp Thai red curry paste (I recommend Maesri brand but any will do, Note 2)
- 1 tbsp liquid coconut oil or any plain oil (vegetable, canola, peanut)
- 1 tsp white sugar
- 1 1/2 tsp cooking salt / kosher salt
PEANUT SAUCE:
- 3/4 cup coconut milk , full fat (the rest of the 270ml/9oz can)
- 3/4 cup milk , full fat
- 1/4 cup natural peanut butter , it's runny, not the spread kind like Bega, Skippy etc (Note 3)
- 2 tbsp white sugar
- 1 tbsp Thai red curry paste (Note 2)
- 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar , or regular white vinegar
- 1 tsp dark soy sauce (Note 4)
- 1/2 tsp cooking salt / kosher salt
For serving
- Jasmine rice
- Coriander / cilantro leaves, red chilli finely chopped, finely chopped peanuts (all optional)
Instructions
ABBREVIATED RECIPE:
- Slash legs, coat with marinade. Marinate 3 hrs - overnight. Bake 35 min at 200°C/390°F (180° fan) on rack, then grill/broil 3 - 5 min to char. Simmer Peanut Sauce ingredients 5 min, serve with legs!
FULL RECIPE:
- Slash - Make 3 slashes into the flesh of the meatier side of the drumsticks taking care not to slash all the way through to the bone,
- Satay Marinade - Mix the Satay Marinade ingredients in a large bowl using a rubber spatula. Add drumsticks, toss to coat, then use your hands to rub the marinade into the slashes.
- Marinate (if you can) for 3 hours to overnight. It's ok if you don't - see Note 5.
- Preheat oven to 200°C/390°F (180° fan-forced).
- Arrange legs - Line a tray with foil and place a rack on the tray. Arrange legs on the rack. Scrape up any residual marinade in the bowl and dab onto the legs.
- Bake for 35 minutes. Flick the oven grill / broiler on high and grill for 3 to 5 minutes with the chicken 20cm/8" from the heat source, to get some nice charry bits. Remove from the oven.
- Peanut sauce - While the chicken is baking, put all the sauce ingredients in a medium saucepan and whisk to combine. Simmer for 5 minutes on medium-low, whisking every now and then to stop the base from catching, It should be fairly runny but thick enough to coat the chicken generously (Note 6). Keep warm until required.
- Serve - Pile chicken on a large plate. Sprinkle with peanuts, chilli and coriander if using. Place sauce in a deep sauce bowl on the side, deep enough to dunk the entire head of the leg in! Serve with jasmine rice on the side (plenty of sauce for dousing) and plain chunks of tomato and cucumber (classic Thai side).
Notes
1. Curry powder - Any curry powder carried at regular grocery stores is fine, no need to hunt down a special one.
2. Thai Red Curry Paste - Maesri is my preferred brand (photo here), widely available in Australia (Coles, Woolies, Harris Farms). Most authentic flavour and cheapest. However, for this recipe, I'm pretty relaxed about the curry paste, use what you've got!
3. Natural peanut butter is 100% peanuts with no oil, stabilisers or sugar added. It's runnier and has a stronger peanut flavour. If you use a spread like Bega, Skippy, the peanut sauce won't have as strong a peanut flavour and will be thicker.
4. Dark soy sauce - Main purpose is to darken the sauce to make it the proper satay sauce colour we all know and love! Without, it's paler. If you don't have any, that's ok, just use any soy sauce you have but expect a paler sauce.
5. Skipping the marinade - It's ok, the marinade has a lot of flavour and you rubbed it well into the slashes (right? :) ), the legs will still be very flavourful. Plus, peanut sauce!
6. Sauce adjustments - Simmer longer if loose, add more milk if too thick. Don't let it get too thick otherwise it will coat the chicken too thickly when you dunk it in!
Leftovers will keep 3 - 4 days in the fridge (sauce and chicken). Not the best for freezing, though the peanut sauce can be frozen for 3 months.
Nutrition per serving assuming 5 servings and all the sauce is consumed which is unlikely.
Nutrition
Calories: 501cal | Carbohydrates: 13g | Protein: 24g | Fat: 40g | Saturated Fat: 17g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 6g | Monounsaturated Fat: 14g | Trans Fat: 0.1g | Cholesterol: 109mg | Sodium: 1173mg | Potassium: 500mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 9g | Vitamin A: 1104IU | Vitamin C: 2mg | Calcium: 86mg | Iron: 3mg