“Satay” Salad

This can be serves as a meal in itself. I just love the cucumber, onion and ketupat (pressed rice cake cooked in coconut leaf) dipping in the satay peanut sauce, that I can eat a whole big bowl of it without the satay. In this recipe, I used cylinder pressed rice instead of ketupat which is easily available in the supermarket.

Preparation: 10 mins, Cooking time: 5 mins

Ingredients (Serves 2)
° 2 fresh red chilli, seeded and chopped
° 2 red chilli padi (optional), seeded and chopped
° 2 slices ginger, chopped
° 1 stalk lemon grass, peel off outer layers leaving tender whitish centre, cut out 7.5cm, chopped
° 2 candlenuts, chopped
° ½ teaspoons vegetarian belacan powder
° 1 tablespoon carotino oil or vegetable oil
° ½ teaspoon tamarind/assam paste, knead with 150ml water and strained
° ½ teaspoon salt, or to taste
° 2 tablespoons black sugar or palm sugar, or to taste
° 125g grounded peanut powder or finely crushed roasted peanut

Salad
° 1-2 cucumbers, cut into bite-sizes
° 1onion, cut into wedges
° 200-300g pressed rice cake, steamed and cut into wedges

Method
1. Grind chilli, ginger, lemongrass and candlenut into fine spice paste. Stir in vegetarian belacan powder and set aside.
2. Heat oil in a pot or wok, fry the spice paste for 1 minute or until fragrant. Stir in tamarind liquid and bring to a boil.
3. Stir in the black sugar, salt, peanut powder and bring to a boil. If the sauce is too thick, add some water. To thicken the sauce, add a little bit more peanut powder. Set aside.
4. Serve salad with peanut sauce or drizzle sauce over the salad.