Have you ever had satay? It is super fun, and from what I remember, super delicious. There was a little Asian restaurant that my dad used to take us to when I was a kid. They had chicken satay with peanut sauce, and they would bring you a little burner with a tiny grill to cook it yourself. I loved it! I thought it was so much fun. I saw a beef satay on a menu the other day, and thought what a great idea it would be to use black beans to mimic beef would be. My husband and I were discussing how to make this happen, and we figured on there was only like a 20% chance it would work. Well, I worked out completely and amazingly! It is so friggin’ delicious.
The peanut sauce actually works really, really well with the flavor of the black beans. We gave the black bean mixture a nice Asian flavor by adding ginger paste, garlic and soy sauce. Then the peanut sauce got a nice shot of heat with some red curry paste. The black bean satay and spiced peanut sauce are a match made in heaven. I was not completely sure how they would taste together, but I had a hunch it would work. My husband tried the satay dipped in the sauce first, and screamed my name, and told me to come try it immediately.
I was so pumped when I tasted it. It was amazing, and I felt like we created something pretty unique. I am also so excited about how easy this is to make. We did it really quickly. Now, we used our outdoor grill, but if you don’t have one, a grill pan would work just fine, and they are so useful anyways. I absolutely love mine.
The black bean mixture comes together quickly, all you need to do is mash the black beans, and then stir in the other ingredients, then I just kneaded it a little to form the dough. It only took about five minutes. You just roll out the black bean dough to about 1/3rd of an inch thick, cut into strips and thread onto a skewer. Don’t forget to soak your wooden skewers for a while before grilling them, they will catch on fire really easily. That would super suck.
The sauce is just whisked together, only 6 ingredients, and can be made ahead of time, or while the satay is cooking. It is seriously delicious, protein filled, and super fun! I hope you enjoy!
Tools I used:
Fox Run Bamboo Skewers, Set of 100
OXO Good Grips Nylon Potato Masher for Non-Stick Cookware
Lodge LPGI3 Cast Iron Reversible Grill/Griddle, 20-inch x 10.44-inch, Black
Vegan Black Bean Satay with Peanut Sauce
Ingredients
Black Bean Satay
- 1 Can Black beans, drained
- 2/3 C. Vital wheat gluten
- 2 tsp. Garlic powder
- 1 tsp. Soy sauce
- 1 tsp. ginger, grated or paste
- 3 Tbsp. Vegetable broth
- Oil for brushing the satay and grill
Peanut sauce
- 3 Tbsp. Peanut butter
- 3 tsp. Soy Sauce
- 1 Tbsp. Agave nectar
- 1/2 C. Coconut milk
- 1 tsp. Rice wine vinegar
Instructions
- Make the sauce, whisk all the ingredients together in a small mixing bowl. Taste and adjust seasoning. You can always add more salt with soy, acid with the rice wine vinegar or sweetness with agave. Set aside.
- In a medium sized mixing bowl, mash the drained black beans with a fork or potato masher, leaving a little texture, but mostly all mashed.
- Add the spices, vital wheat gluten and veggie broth, and continue to mash together until it forms a dough ball. You can use your hands now, and knead together a bit until it is a nice smooth ball.
- Turn out onto a floured surface, and knead a bit more, making sure it is not sticky, you can always add a little more vital wheat gluten if it is too sticky. Roll out into a rectangle about 1/3-1/2 an inch thick. Cut the rectangle into strips about 1-1 1/2 inch wide, then cut those in half so they are only about 6 inches long.
- Taking your skewers, weave the black bean dough onto the skewer. Brush each side with oil. Grill on each side for about 2-3 minutes, until they have nice grill marks and are nice and brown.
- You can brush with a little sauce if you want, and then use the rest for dipping, or just serve with with the dipping sauce! Pull pieces from the skewer, dip and devour!
Notes
Terri
Was quick and easy to make. Omni’s liked it the sauce is very good
Anonymous
This recipe looks amazing, right up my alley. I was, however, wondering whether the skewers/dough don’t need to be cooked or steamed before grilled, as I read on other websites that wheat gluten always first need to be steamed or cooked for a long time. What do you think about that? Why is that in this recipe not needed?
Lauren Hartmann
Thanks for the comment. I pride myself on finding different ways to cook things! Also, because the strips are so thin, cooking it twice would result in it becoming way too hard.
Alicia
Would I be able to make this without a grill? If so, how?
Julie Grace
We believe so! You can bake it although we aren’t sure how hot or how much time as we haven’t baked it ourselves.