The real thing — charred, smoky, and nothing like the food court

Proper satay is street food with standards: thin ribbons of well-flavoured beef, a marinade that's sweet and earthy at once, ferocious heat, and a peanut sauce built from actual peanuts rather than a jar of something beige. It's a weekend cook, but an honest one — the marinade and sauce are both fifteen-minute jobs, and the grilling itself is over in minutes. Rump is exactly the steak the satay stalls would choose: full of flavour, firm enough to thread, quick to char. One 320g steak becomes a dozen skewers, and the sauce alone is worth learning by heart.

1 hr 5 mins 4 servings Prep 50 minsCook 15 minsMain CourseIndonesian

Ingredients

  • 320g Your Farmer grass-fed rump steak, sliced into thin strips across the grain
  • 3 tbsp kecap manis, divided
  • 3 cloves garlic, crushed, divided
  • 1 tsp ground coriander
  • 1/2 tsp ground cumin
  • 1/2 tsp ground turmeric
  • 1 tbsp brown sugar, divided
  • 1 tbsp neutral oil
  • 150g roasted unsalted peanuts
  • 1 long red chilli, roughly chopped
  • 165ml can coconut milk
  • Juice of 1 lime
  • Steamed jasmine rice and cucumber slices, to serve

Instructions

For the satay

Stir together 2 tablespoons of the kecap manis, two of the garlic cloves, the ground coriander, cumin and turmeric, 2 teaspoons of the brown sugar and the oil.

2 tbsp kecap manis2 cloves garlic2 tsp brown sugar1 tbsp neutral oil

Toss the beef strips through the marinade and leave for 30 minutes at room temperature, or overnight in the fridge (optional). Soak 12 bamboo skewers in water while you wait.

320g rump steak strips

For the peanut sauce

Blitz the peanuts in a food processor to a coarse rubble — some powder, some pieces. A bag and a rolling pin does the same job with more feeling.

150g roasted peanuts

Simmer the coconut milk with the remaining garlic and the chilli in a small saucepan for 2 minutes, then add the peanuts, the remaining kecap manis and remaining sugar. Cook gently, stirring, for 5-6 minutes until thick and spoonable. Finish off the heat with the lime juice, and loosen with a splash of water if it tightens up.

165ml coconut milk1 long red chilli1 tbsp kecap manisjuice of 1 lime

To cook and serve

Thread the beef strips onto the soaked skewers ribbon-style, weaving the skewer through each strip so the meat sits flat and grips.

Heat the barbecue grill as hot as it will go. Cook the skewers 2-3 minutes per side, until charred at the edges and just cooked through — thin strips cook in minutes, so stay with them.

Rest the skewers 2-3 minutes, then serve with the warm peanut sauce for dunking, steamed rice and cool cucumber slices alongside.

steamed jasmine ricecucumber slices

Appears in

Your Farmer CSA grass-fed beef share — vacuum-sealed steaks, roasts, mince and sausages, paddock-to-plate NSW & ACT delivery
CSA Grass Fed Beef Share
From $176.67

Real Satay Starts with the Right Beef

Watch a satay stall work and you'll notice the meat isn't fillet — it's a working cut with actual flavour, sliced thin so the marinade reaches everything and the fire does its job in minutes. Rump is the home-kitchen match. It comes from the hindquarter, a muscle built by walking pasture, and that open grain takes the sweet-earthy marinade right to its middle. Slicing is the only technique that matters: thin, and always across the grain, so every ribbon eats tender. Twenty minutes in the freezer firms the steak up so your knife can work properly. Your Farmer® rump is 100% grass-fed, and one ~320g steak from the CSA beef share stretches to a dozen skewers — which is dinner for four once the rice lands.

Swaps and Variations

Satay in Indonesia is cooked with almost everything, and lamb is a classic — the meat from a couple of lamb chump or forequarter chops, sliced off the bone, works in this same marinade if there's a pasture-raised lamb share in the freezer. Sirloin and topside swap in for the rump directly. The shortcut sauce is honest too: 3 tablespoons of crunchy natural peanut butter in place of the blitzed peanuts, same method, five minutes. No barbecue? A grill pan just short of smoking does the job — open a window and let it smoke. And if there's no kecap manis in the pantry yet, see the FAQ below; the fix is two ingredients you already own.

Storage and Leftovers

Make double the peanut sauce while the pot's out — it keeps 4 days in the fridge and freezes for three months, and a jar of it beside tomorrow's grilled steak or steamed greens is never a mistake. Loosen it with warm water when reheating, gently, so it doesn't split. Marinated raw skewers hold a day in the fridge, ready to grill tomorrow. Cooked satay keeps 3 days in an airtight container; the best leftover is a satay noodle bowl — cold beef sliced off the skewers, fresh noodles, cucumber, warmed sauce thinned to a dressing.

Frequently asked questions

What is kecap manis and what can I substitute?

It's Indonesian sweet soy sauce — thick, dark and molasses-sweet, sold in the Asian aisle of most supermarkets. To substitute, simmer 2 parts soy sauce with 1 part brown sugar for a couple of minutes until syrupy.

Why weave the strips onto the skewer instead of just poking through?

Weaving the skewer in and out of each strip holds the meat flat against the grill, so it chars evenly and doesn't spin when you turn it. It also stops thin strips flapping and drying out.

Can I make the peanut sauce ahead?

Yes — it's arguably better the next day. Make it up to 4 days ahead, keep it in the fridge, and reheat gently with a splash of water to bring it back to a dipping consistency.

How do I keep thin strips from overcooking?

Ferocious heat and a short clock. Two to three minutes a side is the whole cook — the edges should catch and char while the centre just cooks through. If your grill is only moderately hot, the strips steam and toughen before they colour.

Can I use salted peanuts?

Yes — just hold back any added salt and taste the sauce at the end. Unsalted gives you more control, but salted peanuts won't ruin anything.

0 commentson Beef Satay Skewers with Homemade Peanut Sauce

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