Chicken Satay Sandwich

I finally got back to blogging after 8 months. The business at Thai Fresh is constantly evolving and I have been busy focusing on the business. Forth of July is approaching so I thought this is a perfect time for a sandwich. You can make everything ahead of time and throw them together between two pieces of bread. Spread each piece with peanut sauce, and you are ready to go. This sandwich is from my chicken satay recipe that I posted a while back. You can make peanut sauce a little thicker by adding a little more peanut or not use as much coconut milk and adjust other ingredients to your liking. Once refrigerated, this peanut sauce recipe gets pretty thick on its own. To make this sandwich even more fun, I added pickled cabbage to it.

You can also top it with pickled cucumber or cucumber relish from the same satay post. I found this pickled cabbage recipe in Thai Food by David Thompson. I adapted it a little using different vegetables. You can also find this recipe and other pickled vegetable recipes in Edible Austin in Handiwork section.

To use more seasonal vegetables from the farmers’ market, I tried using yellow squash and zucchini mix to make this recipe and it worked very well.

1 T. chopped long red chili (or jalapeño, serrano or finger pepper) Pinch of salt 1 T. chopped shallot 1 T. chopped garlic ½ c. vegetable oil 1 c. coconut water (fresh or canned) 1 c. white vinegar 1 c. water 1 c. cauliflower, cut into bite-sized pieces 1 c. diced cucumber 1 c. shredded cabbage 1 c. corn kernels Pinch of salt 1 T. white sugar 1 t. toasted sesame seeds

Make a smooth paste by pounding the chili, salt, shallot and garlic with a mortar and pestle. Or you can put paste ingredients in a small food chopper and chop until smooth. In a large pan, heat the oil until hot. Add the paste and fry until fragrant. Add the coconut water, vinegar and water and bring to a boil. You can buy bottled coconut water or cut open a coconut to get the fresh water. Sometimes, I skip the coconut water and add more vinegar and sugar to it. Coconut water does add a bit of a tang once cooked.

Add the vegetables in the order they appear and boil for 1 minute, until wilted—be careful not to overcook them. Add the sugar and, if needed, more salt. Sprinkle with sesame seeds. This is best used immediately, but will keep in a lidded container in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.