Satay Seitan with Peanut Sauce and Cucumber Salad

This vegan satay is marinated in a delicious vegan curry sauce and pan fried to perfection! Serve it with the ginger peanut satay sauce and Thai cucumber salad, which are easy to make while the seitan is marinating.

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Satay is my favorite appetizer to order at Thai restaurants. Not only because the protein is marinated and grilled in a curry sauce that's bursting with flavor, but also because it comes with peanut sauce and a tangy Thai cucumber salad. It's a little meal in an appetizer. My favorite satay is a soy chicken satay at a vegan Thai restaurant* here in Chicago, Urban Vegan. While we're quarantined at home for the next few weeks and can't eat out, I wanted to try making satay myself.

*Btw, when it is safe to dine out, I have some great tips on ordering vegan at Thai restaurants!

The satay

The protein

This recipe makes seitan satay, but you could replace the seitan with tempeh or tofu if you'd like. I like making it with seitan because it's durable, and nice and chewy. I used my Chicken-Style Seitan, which you can make and cook in 45 minutes. The recipe makes 4 packets of seitan, and you'll only need to use 2 of them for the satay. You can save the remaining 2 packets for another meal, halve the seitan recipe, or double the satay recipe and use all the seitan. So many options!

The satay sauce

The curry sauce/marinade for the seitan is a mix of curry paste, coconut milk, ginger, garlic, soy sauce, and a few other ingredients.

Vegan curry paste

Thai curry paste gets its flavor from a blend of herbs, spices, and chilis. Some of these spices include garlic, ginger, Thai chili, galangal root (a Thai spice that looks similar to ginger), lemongrass, and kaffir lime leaves (fragrant leaves from the kaffir lime tree commonly used in Thai cooking). Since these ingredients might be difficult to find depending where you live, I'd opt for prepared curry paste. If you would like to make it yourself, you can order ingredients like kaffir lime leaves and galangal online:

I usually buy my curry paste at a local Asian market for $1-2 per can, but you can often find vegan curry paste at mainstream grocery stores (I always see the Thai Kitchen brand, which is vegan). Just make sure to read the ingredients list before buying the product because many curry pastes contain fish. Yellow curry paste is generally vegan, so that's what I usually buy.

Cooking methods

The quickest, easiest way to cook the seitan satay is to pan fry it.

When summer grilling season rolls around, it would be great on the grill! If you'd like to grill the seitan, make sure to soak the wooden skewers in water before grilling so they don't burn. Heat the grill to 350°F and grill the seitan skewers for about 5 minutes on each side.

Thai Cucumber Salad

Satay is usually served with a sweet and tangy (and sometimes spicy) Thai cucumber salad. It's simple to make at home. You'll just need to heat brown sugar and vinegar together in a saucepan, add a few more ingredients, and let the cucumber salad chill until it's time to eat.

Peanut Satay Sauce

There are so many ways to make peanut sauce. It can be sweet, savory, thick, pourable, or somewhere in between.

When I want to make peanut sauce for dipping, I like it on the thicker side with a mild flavor and some sweetness. This peanut sauce has ginger, tamarind, soy sauce, and a bit of coconut milk to smooth it out. It's similar to the one I like from Urban Vegan.

Once you have the 3 parts of the satay prepared, you're ready to go! Serve it as an appetizer to homemade Pad Thai or Thai Curry.

📖 Recipe

Vegan Satay with Peanut Satay Sauce and Thai Cucumber Salad

Yield: 8 pieces

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Marinating Time: 30 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour 5 minutes

This seitan satay is marinated in a delicious vegan curry sauce and pan fried to perfection! Serve it with the ginger peanut satay sauce and Thai cucumber salad, which are easy to make while the seitan is marinating.

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Ingredients

Satay

• ½ cup coconut milk
• 2 tablespoons red or yellow curry paste
• 1 teaspoon soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon tamarind concentrate
• 1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 8 pieces seitan, (see note)
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil

Peanut satay sauce

• 1 tablespoon water
• 2 tablespoons coconut milk
• 3 tablespoons brown sugar
• ¼ cup peanut butter
• 1 tablespoon tamarind concentrate
• 1 teaspoon soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger

Cucumber salad

• ½ cup rice or white vinegar
• ½ cup brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon chili garlic sauce or chopped Thai chili
• 1 cucumber, peeled and chopped into bite-sized pieces
• 1 small carrot, sliced or spiralized
• Salt and pepper, to taste

Instructions

For the satay:

1. If using wooden skewers or sandwich picks, begin by soaking them in warm water as you prepare the satay. If using metal or other reusable skewers, skip this step.
2. Combine the coconut milk, curry paste, soy sauce, brown sugar, tamarind concentrate, ginger, and garlic in a small saucepan over low-medium heat.
3. Simmer until the brown sugar dissolves, about 5 minutes, then remove from heat.
4. Skewer each piece of seitan and place in a wide shallow dish.
5. Pour the sauce over the seitan skewers and let marinate for 30 minutes to an hour.

For the peanut satay sauce:

1. Combine all of the peanut sauce ingredients in a small saucepan over low heat.
2. Stir until the brown sugar dissolves and all of the ingredients are thoroughly combined.
3. Remove from heat, and chill before serving, if desired.

For the Thai cucumber salad:

1. In a small saucepan, combine the vinegar and brown sugar.
2. Cook over low heat until the brown sugar is dissolved, 5 minutes.
3. Remove from heat, then add the chili.
4. Let cool, then add the cucumber, carrot, salt, and pepper.

To serve:

1. Heat the 1 tablespoon vegetable oil in a large skillet for the satay.
2. Remove the seitan skewers from the sauce, and reserve the sauce.
3. Pan fry for 3-5 minutes on each side, until brown.
4. Heat up the remaining sauce.
5. Dip the seitan in the sauce to coat completely and then move to serving dish.
6. Serve with peanut sauce and cucumber salad.

Notes

• I used my Chicken Seitan recipe to make seitan for the the satay. I ended up using 2 packets of seitan (½ the Chicken Seitan recipe) to get 8 pieces of seitan for the skewers.
• You can grill the seitan skewers instead of pan frying.
• The recipe makes 8 pieces of satay, or 4 servings with 2 per person as an appetizer.
• The nutritional info refers to 1 serving, which is 2 pieces of satay, ¼ of the remaining sauce, ¼ of the peanut sauce, and ¼ of the Thai cucumber salad.
• Make sure you buy vegan curry paste. Some kinds contain fish. I usually buy mine at a local Asian market, but if you don't live near one, you can usually find curry paste at any well-stocked supermarket or online. This Thai Kitchen curry paste is vegan friendly.
• If you have leftover curry sauce, you can save it to use as a marinade or as a stir fry sauce.

Nutrition Information:

Yield: 4 Serving Size: 2 pieces
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 500Total Fat: 20gSaturated Fat: 9gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 9gCholesterol: 0mgSodium: 500mgCarbohydrates: 61gFiber: 2gSugar: 39gProtein: 48g

All nutritional information presented within this site are intended for informational purposes only. I am not a certified nutritionist and any nutritional information on seitanbeatsyourmeat.com should only be used as a general guideline. This information is provided as a courtesy and there is no guarantee that the information will be completely accurate. Even though I try to provide accurate nutritional information to the best of my ability, these figures should still be considered estimates.

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