It look easy.. thread little pieces of marinated meat through bamboo skewers, grill them over fire and serve with nasi impít, cucumber, onion and peanut sauce.
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| Pendek Satay's skewered meats are only cooked once an order has been placed while no meat is taken out from the kitchen to be left near the grill to avoid contamination. |
But if you were to talk to a satay seller, and l mean really engage him in conversation, he would tell you it’s not easy to make great satay.
First, there is the meat. Discerning cooks complain about the poor quality of meat sold in thel pasar. But if you have to sell a stick of satay for just a few sen, you can’t afford to use air-flown beef, right?
However, we found some satay establishments which bucked the trend in their quest to make great satay.
“We only use the best quality meat,” said Kassim Hamid of Pondok Satay in USJ8, Subang Jaya and asked: “Do you know any business that uses tenderloin to make satay?"
“We use tenderloin. It is more expensive than the other cuts,.but We are willing t0 bear the cost because tenderloin is tender and makes satay."
For his satay, Kassim uses chilled Indian beef and chilled Australian lamb and mutton - in other words, air-flown meat. (The chicken is local.) His beef satay sells for just 95 Sen, the lamb and mutton for RM 1.20 and the chicken for 80 Sen.
