During recipe testing, there was an unanimous “MMMMM!!!” along with what may have been a little happy-dance from yours truly. This is hands-down, the very best Beef Satay I’ve ever had. And it’s from a Belizean cookbook called, Flavors of Belize.
I actually had to look up exactly where Belize was located when I started reading this book. It’s “Central America’s Gateway to the Caribbean” hugged by Southern Mexico, Guatemala and Honduras, on the Caribbean side. When I first opened up the book and saw recipes from Southeast Asia, China and even Hawaiian flavors, I was intrigued. Of course, if I had read the subtitle of the book, “Ancient History, Diverse Culture, Exotic Cuisine” it would have made sense!
It also turned out that my friends Adam Pearson and Matt Armendariz styled and photographed the book. Needless to say, the book is gorgeous, though I would have loved to see more photos of Belize, its people and markets. I’ve got 2 videos to share with you – one is a book tour and the other is the how-to on the recipe.
As a side note, I remember when I was little, probably around 10 years old, my Uncle Billy told me he was going to be vacationing in Belize. That struck me as incredibly exotic and so glamorous. “When I grow up, one day I’m going to be glamorous and vacation in Belize too!” Well, I haven’t made it there yet, but perhaps one day. The closest I’ve gotten is Cancun, but somehow the 5 hours or so drive between them seems like a world of difference. In my mind, at least.
***
Beef Satay Skewers and Habanero Peanut Sauce Video
***
Flavors of Belize, The Cookbook – Book Tour Video
About the Book Tour: While I am a devoted customer of Amazon.com, the shopping experience just isn’t quite as fulfilling when browsing for books. I love thumbing through the pages of a cookbook, stopping at a random page to see what I’d find. If at least 75% of the time, my thumb stops at an interesting recipe, photo or snippet of text, then it’s a win. So I thought I’d start giving some informal Book Tours of cookbooks that I have, majority of them sent from publishers for review.
I’ll give you a few quick thumb stops of the book – I hope you enjoy!
***
Beef Satay Skewers with Habanero Peanut Sauce Recipe
Ingredients
FOR THE BEEF SATAY:
- 1/2 cup onion, finely diced
- 3 cloves garlic, through garlic press
- 1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 2 teaspoons Asian red chili sauce (like sambal oelek or sriracha)
- 1 tablespoon minced fresh cilantro
- 1/4 cup soy sauce
- 2 teaspoons sesame oil
- 1/2 1 /2 lime, juiced
- 1 1/2 pounds skirt steak, 1/2-inch thick slices
- bamboo skewers, soaked in water
FOR THE HABANERO PEANUT SAUCE:
- 1 cup smooth peanut butter
- 1/2 cup hot water
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tsp cumin
- 1/4 tsp habanero pepper, finely minced, to taste
- 1/2 tsp curry powder
- 1 lime, juiced
Instructions
FOR THE BEEF SATAY:
- For marinade, mash together the onion, garlic, ginger and sugar using mortar & pestle or food processor. Or - if you have chopped your ginger, garlic and onion fine enough, no need to do anything further. Add this mixture into a resealable bag. To the same bag, add in the red chili paste, cilantro, soy sauce, sesame oil and lime juice. Massage to mix well. Add in the beef strips. Marinate 1-2 hours or up to overnight. In the meantime, prepare the Habanero Peanut Sauce.
- When ready to cook, heat grill to high, direct heat. Thread beef onto bamboo skewers.
- Grill for 3-4 minutes on each side while continuously basting with marinade. Serve with habanero peanut sauce (below).
FOR THE HABANERO PEANUT SAUCE:
- Whisk together all ingredients until smooth. If the sauce is too thick, whisk in an additional tablespoon of hot water.
Did you try this recipe? Please leave a star rating in the recipe card below and leave a review in the comment section! I always appreciate your feedback and I know other readers do, too!
Stay in touch with me in our 
i like this recipe , you can really get your fingers stuck into this recipe , lots of ingredients and taste , i took time to position the meat as perfectly as i could on the skewer so to enhance presentation and it was all well worth it , next time when i don’ t make such a mess making it ,,lol , i’ll try a pic 🙂 . hope you get to Belize one day Jaden 🙂
I made these today, and I can add my two cents.
The marinade was perfect, and made the meat amazingly tender and decently spicy, just how I like it.
As for the sauce, I don’t know if it’s because I used an organic peanut butter (more oils, fewer preservatives), but the sauce wasn’t spicy to me, I used a whole habanero (minus seeds). Also, it seemed like it made a somewhat excessive amount of sauce per strip. I suggest halving the sauce ingredients while still using an entire pepper.
Great recipe! I made it for a dinner party I catered and just made it again tonight… so tasty! Thanks for sharing the recipe!
Looks mouth watering. I hope you don’t mind if post a link to your recipe here: http://myrecipepost.com/cgi-bin/auction/auction.pl?category=beef&item=4507906640
Well this is definitely one tasty dish. I’m somewhat of a beef fanatic, so when I get my greedy hands on a decent recipe, I don’t let go! I’d like to post something similar on my recipe blog, Red Meat Recipes (www.redmeatrecipes.com). I’ll have to start experimentation!
If you can’t find skirt steak, what would you recommend to substitute? Looks great!
What a delightfully easy beef dish. My family will love this habanero peanut sauce, something different this time. Thanks for sharing, Jaden!
Hi, I would not want to make that 5 drive from Cancun to Belize. This recipe was such a blessing as I’ve always wanted to make Satay and just put that idea on the back burner (no pun intended). The instructional video makes it look so easy which I now realize it is. I will be making this in the next two weeks. Thank you ! 🙂
Jaden- can I just say that I LOVE your videos? Great job! I want to see you on Food Network in the near future! This recipe looks amazing, and I am so making this for dinner this week!
Ha! I was thinking the same thing, Chris!
I am going to make that sauce. I love Habanero’s, and using it in a peanut sauce sounds awesome.
I’ve never made habanero sauce before, but it seems to me that it goes perfectly with beef. Everything look so flavorful and just too yummy. Lovely recipe. Of course, thanks for the video, it was really helpful. All the best. 🙂
Satay is very popular in my country Malaysia Singapore & Indonesia as well. Our peanut sauce uses ground peanuts added to a sweet yet spicy gravy. We also have chicken/mutton/liver satay and even cockles.
The close-up photos make the beef look so soft and yummy I had to scroll down fast to the recipe just to take down what I need to buy so I can finally taste it. Awesome!
Sounds absolutely fantastic and you know I’ll be trying this recipe very soon.
I hear John McAfee doesn’t care a whole lot for Belize this week 🙂
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/11/16/net-us-belize-mcafee-idUSBRE8AC00Y20121116
Actually, stir-fried some red cabbage and peppers/vinegar, and it was great. The satay was incredible – marinated for about 4 hours, and it actually began to fall off the skewers as we finished grilling. Keeper recipe!
Glad you loved it!
YUM. I’ve only ever had chicken satay before, it sounds like it would be amazing with beef, especially with that spicy sauce.
Stir fry baby book choy (recipe on site) or Chinese broccoli would be great.
Hi, sounds GREAT – we’ll be trying it out this evening! What do you suggest putting with it? Rice is an obvious option, but what else would you suggest to complete the meal? Maybe something with cabbage(?)?
Nice Image
Love the recipe. I had to pin it ;D
Thank you so much for pinning it Joy!
This looks so juicy and flavorful – yum!
This looks so delicious, especially when it’s served with habanero peanut sauce. I love spicy and this is so spicylicious!
I’m dying right now over that juicy beef.
This sounds incredible!
I’m a complete wimp, do you have a suggestion for a substitution for the habanero? I was wondering about chipotle, I know it would be a bit different, but maybe? Or just plain jalapeno?
Sounds delicious.
Jalapeño is perfect!
My husband would love everything about these! The sauce sounds delicious although you can guarantee Tony would be sticking a whole habanero in – he’s crazy when it comes to those things! We’d have to have our own separate sauce but that’d be okay. Yum! =)