Beefy Beef Satays with Bry

Cooking with bry. Very hot day. Asian spice appealed to me. Vaguely remembering an amazing satay sauce we made a few years ago. Cannot find the recipe. Instead combine a couple of other recipes - one from Maggie Beer and another from Gourmet Traveller. The result - exceptionally good! Please make this. There was enough sauce and food for four of us. It is so delicious I would recommend increasing the ingredients proportionally if you are expecting more people. Believe me - you wont want to share your sauce with someone else. We served it with a simple carrot salad and a cucumber/pineapple salad. It would be nice with rice, but in this weather it is unnecessary.

Serves 4

800g rump steak

Marinade

2 sticks lemongrass, chopped into 3cm lengths and bashed with a knife

1 shallot, finely chopped

3 cloves garlic, crushed

2 tbsp brown sugar

2 tbsp tamarind pulp (made by mixing tamarind paste with boiling water and straining through a plastic sieve)

1 tbsp grated ginger

2 tbsp soy suace

Juice 1 large lime

Combine all ingredients in a flat dish large enough to fit the beef. Cut the beef into cubes ~1-2cm square. Mix well with the marinade (use your hands). Leave in the fridge for 2-3 hours.

Thread the beef onto bamboo skewers that have been soaked in water.

Grill for 2-5 mins on each side. The rump steak is so delicious it can be left slightly rare.

Serve with satay sauce, rice, cucumber salad and carrot salad.

Satay Sauce

1 tbsp peanut/sunflower oil

4 garlic cloves, finely chopped

2 shallots, finely chopped

1 long red chilli, chopped

1 tbsp ginger, grated

250g roasted, then ground unsalted peanuts (we roasted them in a dry frying pan and then ground in the food processor until quite fine)

1/3 cup brown sugar

1 tbsp soy sauce

3 kaffir lime leaves, shredded

270mL cocnut milk

2 tbsp tamarind pulp

Fry the garlic until golden. Reduce the heat and add the shallots, chilli and ginger. Fry gently for 2-5 minutes or until softened. Add the peanuts and fry for 1 minute before adding remaining ingredients. Bring to a boil and simmer gently until warmed through. Season to taste with salt. At this stage it can be cooled down and refrigerated until needed. Reheat in a saucepan, it may need extra coconut milk to thin it if it gets too thick on cooling.

Cucumber Salad

1 continental Cucumber, peeled, deseeded and chopped

Red Onion, finely chopped

1 can pineapple slices in juice, chopped

Lime juice

Slice the onion finely and then soak in iced water with a dash of vinegar to take out the biteyness. Mix with chopped pineapple and cucumber. Dress with salt, pepper and lime juice.

Carrot Salad

2 Carrots, juliened (I used the mandolin to save time - and almost lost my fingers in the process)

Handful chopped mint

Olive oil

Lime juice

Salt & pepper to taste

Mix all ingredients well.

Tamarind pulp - if you cannot find this, replace with lime juice and fish sauce, to taste