Malaysian Chicken Satay

Fanning the glowing fire as he flipped skewers of golden-hued meat, increasing their alluring char, Lajis grudgingly revealed a secret to me: for special customers he adds ground-roasted peanuts to the marinade. At his hawker stalls in Kuala Lumpur, his cooks grill and serve mountains of this bamboo-borne snack, and pile them onto tables for guests to help themselves. At the end of the snack, customers simply count the number of skewers and pay accordingly: not too long ago they were ten ce