A lot of guests on our food tours always ask about the Singapore dish: Satay.
It is a similar dish to kebab that is made of cubes of skewered meat that is grilled and eaten with peanut sauce dip.
Back in the late 1970s, there would be a travelling satay man, a street hawker who would prepare his delicacy with portable charcoal grills. These roaming hawker stalls later set up permanently by the roadside.
Satay is commonly found in Singapore; today it is considered a National Dish. But do you know that Satay originates from the Arabs?
Arabs were known to skewer their meat on swords before roasting it and Middle Eastern nomads would barbecue their meat on metal skewers in a dish known as the kebab.
The spice trade brought Arab traders to Southeast Asia. This led to a spread of Arabic cuisine to Indonesia and eventually to Singapore. This dish has ventured all around the world, making it an international cuisine with a various twist.
Satay sauce in Singapore is made from ground peanuts and other spices. Coriander and cumin seeds are also used. Various seasonings marinate the meat and specially-made peanut sauces are usually served as a dip.
In Singapore, the meats commonly grilled by the hawker are beef, muttons, lamb and chicken. Normally it is skewered with sharp, wooden sticks.
The satay barbeques over a flaming charcoal fire and constantly brushed with oil for a tantalizing glazed, until well-browned. It is normally served with a bowl of peanut sauce and cuts of cucumber and onion.
To find out where our favourite satay hawker stalls are book your food tours with us today.
Fun Fact:
In 2007, Kopitiam at Lau Pa Sat hawker centre made the world’s longest satay. It made it into the Guinness Book of Records! It was 140.02m in length with 150kg of chicken!
Mindblown!
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