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Epicurious

Peanut Sauce

A complex, multipurpose sauce that is good enough to eat with a spoon; adjust the proportions to your taste once you get used to it. Serve it warm, with Grilled Satay (page 101), Fried Satay (page 100), Spring Rolls (page 38), or simply rice crackers, sold at many Asian and health food markets, or other crackers. See page 500 for information on Asian fish sauces like nam pla.

Recipe information

  • Yield

    makes 2 cups

Ingredients

3 small dried red chiles, stemmed and seeded, or cayenne or hot red pepper flakes to taste
3 garlic cloves, peeled
2 shallots, peeled
1 lemongrass stalk, white part only (page 143), thinly sliced
2 teaspoons ground turmeric
1 tablespoon peanut or neutral oil, like corn or grapeseed
1 cup coconut milk, homemade (page 584) or canned
1 tablespoon palm sugar or brown sugar
2 tablespoons nam pla
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup chopped roasted peanuts or crunchy peanut butter

Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Combine the first 5 ingredients in a food processor and grind until fairly smooth; scrape down the sides of the machine once or twice if necessary.

    Step 2

    Heat the oil in a saucepan over medium heat and sauté the chile-garlic mixture until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add the remaining ingredients and whisk until smooth. Simmer until the sauce thickens, about 15 minutes. This may be stored, covered and refrigerated, for up to a week; gently rewarm over very low heat or in a microwave before using.

  2. Chinese Peanut Sauce

    Step 3

    Simpler and leaner, this is a good last-minute addition to stir-fries: omit the lemongrass, turmeric, coconut milk, and lime juice; substitute soy sauce for the nam pla.

The Best Recipes in the World by Mark Bittman. © 2005 by Mark Bittman. Published by Broadway Books. All Rights Reserved. MARK BITTMAN is the author of the blockbuster The Best Recipes in the World (Broadway, 2005) and the classic bestseller How to Cook Everything, which has sold more than one million copies. He is also the coauthor, with Jean-Georges Vongerichten, of Simple to Spectacular and Jean-Georges: Cooking at Home with a Four-Star Chef. Mr. Bittman is a prolific writer, makes frequent appearances on radio and television, and is the host of The Best Recipes in the World, a 13-part series on public television. He lives in New York and Connecticut.
TagsSauceSouth AsianAsianChineseEast AsianChileVegetableLemongrassHerbs & SpicesTurmericCoconut MilkLimeCitrusFruitPeanutNutPeanut ButterDairy FreeGluten FreeVeganVegetarianMake AheadSauteFood ProcessorCookbooks
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