Sate Ayam
Java and Madura, Indonesia (with distinct regional variations across the archipelago)
Sate ayam — Indonesian chicken satay — is one of Southeast Asia's most universally recognisable street foods: marinated chicken pieces threaded onto bamboo skewers and grilled over charcoal, served with peanut sauce, compressed rice cake (lontong), and fresh cucumber and shallot. The marinade is built on kecap manis, turmeric, shallots, and garlic, which simultaneously colours the meat golden-yellow and caramelises to a lacquered surface under grill heat. The peanut sauce — bumbu kacang — is made from fried peanuts ground with palm sugar, tamarind, garlic, chilli, and kecap manis, thinned with hot water to a consistency that clings to the skewer without being thick. Sate Madura (from the island of Madura) and Sate Padang (West Sumatra) represent distinct regional traditions with different sauces and marinades.