Satay sellers travel the streets of Indonesian towns with little metal grills on a cart or bicycle. You can hear them coming from streets away because they often clack two bamboo sticks together as they walk, calling out 'sate, sate!'. The smell of charcoal and grilled chicken is one of the most-loved smells of an Indonesian evening.
There are many kinds of satay. Satay ayam is chicken. Satay sapi is beef. Satay kambing is goat. Satay lilit, from Bali, is made of minced fish or chicken wrapped around lemongrass stalks instead of plain skewers. Each part of Indonesia has its own version.
The famous peanut sauce is made by grinding roasted peanuts with garlic, chilli, a little sugar and the special sweet soy sauce kecap manis. It is creamy and sweet and just a tiny bit spicy. Dipping a hot grilled skewer into cool peanut sauce is one of the great snack experiences of South-East Asia.
Satay travelled with Indonesian people to other countries. Today you can find satay restaurants from Amsterdam to New York to Tokyo. Wherever it goes, it brings a little smoke, a little sweetness and the clack-clack of those bamboo sticks.