Restaurant: Layang Layang
City: Milpitas, CA

Everytime we eat at a Malaysian restaurant, we get satay. This time, we got both beef and chicken satay (top and bottom photo, respectively).

5 sticks of marinated chicken or beef grilled on stick, and served with home made peanut sauce. The peanut sauce also goes well with plain rice; we try to hold onto the sauce after we’ve finished the satays!

Malaysian satay is a very popular dish in Malaysia and universally loved across Southeast Asia. Malaysian satay is made with ingredients and spices commonly found in Malaysian cooking; shallots, lemongrass, turmeric powder (kunyit), and coriander powder. The basic recipe calls for the cook’s meat of choice—be it chicken, beef, lamb, or pork—to marinate for many hours or even overnight so as to lock in the flavor. In addition to the peanut dipping sauce, Malaysian satay is served with ketupat, onions, and cucumber. (Rasa Malaysia)

Satay, or sate, is a dish of seasoned, skewered and grilled meat, served with a sauce. Satay may consist of diced or sliced chicken, goat, mutton, beef, pork, fish, other meats, or tofu; the more authentic version uses skewers from the midrib of the coconut palm frond, although bamboo skewers are often used. These are typically grilled or barbecued over a wood or charcoal fire, then served with various spicy seasonings. A dish with widespread popularity, the origins of satay are unclear. The word “satay” itself is thought to have been derived from Indonesian: sate and Malay: saté or satai, both perhaps of Tamil origin. Satay was supposedly invented by Javanese street vendors as an adaptation of Indian kebabs. This theory is based on the fact that satay has become popular in Java after the influx of Muslim Tamil Indian and Arab immigrants to Dutch East Indies in the early 19th century. The satay meats used by Indonesians and Malaysians — mutton and beef — are also favoured by Arabs and are not as popular in China as are pork and chicken. (Wikipedia)