I got the last third of my birthday present from my brother last week, which was a copy of Mark Bittman’s How to Cook Everything. I know I’ve raved about this book before, and that was a borrowed copy from the library. Now I have my very own library-bound hard copy and it’s an all-newly revised tenth edition. I couldn’t be more thrilled. (Thank you Songbae!)
So, the peanut sauce I made last week is a winner. Bella even asked me to transcribe the recipe into her book (the journal I keep for her). You could pour this sauce over anything; we had it over fried tofu, steamed green beans and broccoli, and rice.
I made a simpler version than Bittman’s and it was still tasty. The revelation was tossing some of the ingredients (dried chiles, garlic, shallots) into the food processor before sauting them.
Peanut Sauce
3 small dried red chiles or cayenne pepper or red hot pepper flakes (As a good Korean girl, I had all three, and used the first choice)
3 garlic cloves (I used a little more)
2 shallots (I used the gigantic scallions from my CSA basket)
1 stalk lemongrass (didn’t use)
2 tsp turmuric (didn’t use)
1 T peanut oil or neutral oil (I used olive because I was out of neutral oil and I get my olive oil at Costco, meaning I never run out.)
1 c coconut milk (Just use the whole can already – of course, Bittman makes his own.)
1 T brown sugar
2 T soy sauce to taste
2 T freshly squeezed lime juice
1/2 c chopped roasted peanuts or crunchy peanut butter (I think I used more than this – a combination of leftover organic; mine and now Christian’s, and Skippy: Bella and Chad’s)
1. Blend first five (or three) ingredients in food processor.
2. Saute briefly (1 min). Add remaining ingredients and whisk until smooth. Stir occasionally until the suace thickens (15 min).
3. Salt or soy sauce to taste.
4. Sit back and watch your family knock themselves out eating veggies dipped in this sauce.
