Temple Ceremony Staple · Minced Seafood Satay
Sate Lilit
Photo: Kresnanta / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0
Instead of threading meat onto a stick, this satay is minced fish or meat molded around a stalk of lemongrass or flattened bamboo — the 'skewer' is also the flavoring — and hand-mincing it for ceremonies was traditionally a job reserved only for men.
Minced fish, chicken, or pork is blended with a fragrant spice paste of galangal, turmeric, and kaffir lime leaf, then pressed and wrapped around a lemongrass stalk before grilling over charcoal. Street stalls and temple-adjacent warungs sell it hot off the grill, the lemongrass still fragrant.
Why it's made this way: Sate lilit is a fixture of temple anniversaries and weddings, and the communal, hand-mincing preparation by groups of men in the temple kitchen (bale pawaregan) reflects Bali's ceremony-centered food culture.
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Part of World of Street Food — 3248 dishes from 118 countries.
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