Peanut Sauce
TIME/SERVINGS
Total: 5 mins
Active: 5 mins
Makes: About 1 cup
By Regan Burns
Several Asian cultures make a version of peanut sauce. This one may not be the most authentic, but it’s really, really good. Serve it as a dipping sauce, over cold noodles, tossed in a salad, or with our summer rolls.
What to buy: Look for hoisin sauce and chile-garlic paste in the Asian section of your supermarket. For the chile paste, we prefer the one made by Huy Fong Foods (with the rooster on the jar!).
Game plan: You can make this sauce a day ahead. Just keep it refrigerated in a covered container. Let it sit for a bit at room temperature before serving.
- 1/2 cup natural-style creamy peanut butter
- 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
- 2 tablespoons hoisin sauce
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 1 small garlic clove, mashed to a paste
- 1 teaspoon chile-garlic paste
- 1 tablespoon dark sesame oil
- Juice of 1 lime
- 1/4 cup water
- Combine all ingredients in a medium mixing bowl. Stir until well combined, adding more water to thin the sauce if necessary.
Note: We like to use natural peanut butter for this recipe. If you use the conventional kind, add less sugar to the sauce.
COMMENTS | ADD YOUR OWN
sounds great
Shouldn't you heat it?
asking about heating it, are you concerned about the hoisin? i heard once that you needed to cook hoisin, but many contervailing books/experts do not say this. FYI
I've never heard that it's necessary to cook hoisin.
While some Asian cultures do call for cooking peanut sauce--Vietnam and Indonesia, for example, it's not necessary for this super-quick version.
love it
mine always tastes off.
This sound so good, I'm trying it tonight! :)
Delete the soy sauce and replace with VN nước mắm or Thai nam pla. Add as much of this fish sauce as you dare - it's really great here!
dont peanut sauces usually have coconut milk???? i thought they did, thats why i would cover everything on my place with it, full knowing it was going straight to my thighs.....
alkpal: no need to cook hoisin. It's traditionally made from sweet potatoes, and, with all the spices and sugar, it's got natural preservatives.
caitybirdie: peanut sauces don't necessarily have coconut milk, although in many cuisines (like Thai) it does pair with it.
You could add coconut milk in place of the water in this recipe. I've also added heavy cream when making peanut sauce.
Can also add fresh Asian chilies rather than the paste, though they probably use paste in many restaurants.
Good call on the fish sauce in place of the soy. Makes sense to me.
yes adding Fish Sauce is the way to go, also try Sautéing some minced onions and garlic, and then add everything else to the pot and heat it up a bit, its not necessary to heat this sauce up, but in my opinion everything will mix better when heated.
I also don't like my sauce to be as thick as most restaurant likes theirs so I add some VN nuoc mam to mines and it thins it out a bit and it's superb with almost everything....I would leave a recipe for the mixture but growing up I was taught by my mom and she never went by measurement....but heres the ingredients and I'll try to eyeball it for yal...
VN nuoc mam:
VN fish sauce - 1/2 a cup
Lime - Juice from 3-4 limes more if you like it sour
Garlic - mince 3 gloves of garlic
Chile - paste or fresh or both to preferred spiciness
Sugar - 2 tbl spoon
Water - about 1 cup of hot water
Mix everything in a bowl with the water being last item to go in, and then just fine tone the sauce to your taste by adding more fish sauce, lime juice, chile, or sugar....
Do you think I could sub soy nut butter?
The recipe sounds great and Nuoc Mam would be an excellent addition. Thanqmap, your recipe for Nuoc Cham sounds wonderful too. Nuoc Cham makes plain rice tast good.
I make peanut sauce all the time - it's a great, quick single-gal condiment for a hurried weeknight meal of noodles or grains and veggies. I never cook it. Because of that, I don't care for fish sauce in mine - make it too fishy (somehow it tastes better to me when cooked). I don't use coconut milk because it's just me and I don't want to open a whole can.
There are plenty of substitutions that work great, too. No lime juice? Use rice vinegar. I often include a splash of rice wine. I never use sugar, and add sweetness elsewhere. No hoisin sauce? No problem. Use molasses or honey. I also use black soy sauce - it's thick and sweet and very yummy. If you don't have rooster sauce, try any hot sauce. Also that wonderful sweet chili sauce that you get in the big bottle at Asian groceries is great, but again, reduce the sweetener elsewhere.
I keep powdered ginger around for whipping up an emergency batch of this, too.
I made this using cashew butter instead of peanut butter (BF is allergic), and it's very good, but with a subtler, more delicate flavor.
I tried this recipe to the very last and it was not a good taste. I even tried to thin it out with some water and it still was not a good taste. I am vietnamese, so I am aware of what peanut sauce should taste like. Sorry, there was a miss somewhere in the ingredients.
I will ask my mom for it and post for all. Thanks though!
I've been looking for a Vietnamese peanut sauce recipe. The one's I've had in restaurants that I like are always somewhat thick, very peanutty and served warm. Anyone got a good recipe for that? Haven't tried this one yet. Come close?
Lincat
I often make Salad Rolls but use shrimp and pork. It is important to remove the root end of the sprout fr clean fresh taste and texture. Also chopped peanuts are so much better. Peanut butter usually as additives and gives that off taste.
There are many dipping sauces that are wonderful on Thai or Vietnamese Salad Rolls. Here is one we love:
http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/a...
Having been to SE Asia many times (30+ times to Thailand) I have learned so much from local chefs and street vendors. Love SE Asia and the clture and cuisine.
I've had huge success with this! Thanks!!!!