Last updated: . This update adds current food-safety guidance alongside the original recipe; ingredient amounts and family class memories remain as published. Date information added October 28, 2026.
First published May 6, 2020, as part of my lockdown-era Travel From Your Kitchen series. The class memories and recipe below come from our earlier visit to Singapore; the opening’s lockdown references belong to 2020. Check the cooking school’s current class arrangements separately.
Welcome to my Travel Series during the Covid-19 lockdown! There are lots of options to travel digitally at the moment, but for me, traveling through food is my favorite. I’ll be sharing a few of the recipes I’ve gathered in authentic cooking classes around the world!
A good grilled chicken satay is something to be admired. This recipe layers aromatics, spices, peanuts, tamarind, and kecap manis for a rich depth of flavor.
A little background: we delighted in this cooking class from Food Playground in Singapore. The instructors we learned from were stay-at-home moms sharing family recipes. We had so much fun with the other couples in the class!
Check out our video here:
Our cooking-class video: Food Playground: Hands on cooking In Singapore!.
During the class, I was struck by how much preparation went into the dishes. Seriously! I joked that the hours of cooking and preparation felt like our Thanksgiving dinner in the U.S. Compared with my own “heat and serve” habits, all those steps felt like a lot, but the flavors were incredible and worth the effort to me.
Chicken-safety note: Keep raw chicken and its marinade refrigerated; USDA guidance allows chicken to marinate in the refrigerator for up to two days. Use separate clean utensils and plates for cooked food, and do not use marinade that touched raw chicken as a sauce unless it is boiled first. See USDA’s chicken-handling guidance. For doneness, use a food thermometer to check that the chicken reaches 165°F (74°C), as listed in the FoodSafety.gov temperature chart; the class recipe’s minutes per side and surface char are not a substitute for that check. The original ingredient quantities and seven method steps follow unchanged.
Serves 2
Spice Paste:
11⁄2 Lemongrass stalks (did you know you can get this on Amazon??)
3 slices galangal (you can substitute fresh ginger here, but only use 2 slices as they are not quite the same)
5 shallots
5 cloves garlic
4-5 dried chilies (soaked and deseeded)
11⁄2 candlenut (again, not something easy to find in the US, so use macadamia)
Other ingredients for the sauce:
3-4 tbsp roasted peanuts, pounded roughly
Tamarind juice (3/4 tbsp tamarind mixed with 3/4 cup water, strained)
A few drops of kecap manis. (This is thick, sweet soy sauce. You can use soy sauce and brown sugar, but it may be a bit thinner as the original ingredient does add consistency)
21⁄4 tbsp sugar or more to taste, pinch of salt to taste
For the Satay:
250g Boneless skinless chicken thighs, cut into bite sizes
Bamboo skewers, soaked in water (about 10)
Marinade for chicken (let sit overnight in fridge):
1/3 tsp tumeric powder
1/3 tsp coriander seed (this is the seed of cilantro!) powder
1/3 tsp fennel powder
1/3 tsp ground cumin
1/3 tsp kecap manis
1/3 tsp salt
21⁄4 tsp sugar
Other Ingredients Needed:
Oil for brushing satay and for frying spice paste
Cut Cucumber and shallots (optional)
Method:
1. Prepare spice paste by grinding all of the ingredients together to for a paste. You’ll need a mortar and pestle, ideally, of you’ll have to get a bit creative! You want to grind it all together until it is consistent and like a thick sauce or paste.
2. When paste is ready, add 1 heaped tsp of mixture to marinated chicken. Mix well and set aside.
3. Add sauce paste to a small saucepan with 2-3 tbsp of oil on medium. Heat and stir until aromatic and spice paste is 2-3 shades darker.
4. Stir in ground peanuts, tamarind juice, kecap manis, sugar, and salt. Let the sauce simmer for a few minutes before turning off the heat.
5. Take about 3 – 5 pieces of chicken and skewer them onto a bamboo stick. Continue until all the chicken pieces are skewered.
6. Set grill on medium high heat, place satay on grill and lightly brush with oil. Grill the skewered chicken about 6-8 minutes on each side until they are cooked and slightly charred.
7. Serve satay with sauce alongside cut cucumber and shallots.
This makes me hungry just remembering the smells of this kitchen!
Enjoy,
Leslie
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