This creamy peanut sauce is a snap to make (no cooking
required), and makes a great dip for raw veggies, lettuce wraps, Thai satays
and other Asian snacks. But look out–it’s good enough to eat with a spoon! Most
of the ingredients are available in the Asian aisle of a well-stocked grocery
store, but it’s easy to leave one or two of them out and experiment with what
Ingredients:
1 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup roasted peanuts, shelled and skinned
1/2 cup coconut milk
2 tbsp tamarind paste
1 tbsp fish sauce
2 tsp Hoisin sauce
2 tbsp Tamari soy sauce
1 to 2 tbsp hot chili sauce (such as Sriracha) or hot
chili flakes
Juice of one small lime
2 to 4 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped
3 tsp fresh ginger, coarsely chopped
1 fistful fresh cilantro
Instructions:
Process all ingredients in a food processor. This sauce can be served hot or cold. To serve hot, simply warm it in a pan over low heat.
Cook’s Notes
- If you prefer a thinner consistency sauce, which makes a superb salad dressing, simmer the peanut sauce with a few tablespoons of chicken or veggie stock before serving
warm or refrigerating. - If you can’t find Hoisin sauce, fish sauce or tamarind paste, don’t worry. Your peanut sauce will still be pretty great without them. But because these not only add wonderful layers of flavor, but also help create a dippable consistency, you might have to add a little bit of coconut milk, peanut butter and/or chicken stock in order to achieve a thin-enough sauce. Just have fun: Peanut sauce is almost infinitely adaptable!
Photo by Tim Nauman Photography
