Ingredients:
2/3 cup pork broth, at room temperature
1/4 cup lightly salted roasted peanuts (see note)
1 tablespoon fish sauce
1 tablespoon canola oil
1 tablespoon chili garlic sauce
2 cloves of garlic
1 green onion, green parts only, chopped
additional lightly salted roasted peanuts, chopped
Directions:
Note: I made this using my very powerful VitaMix with is able to turn nuts into a smooth paste. If using a regular blender, substitute about 3 tablespoons of smooth peanut butter for the 1/4 cup peanuts.
In a mixer, pulse the peanuts, garlic and oil until smooth. Add the broth, fish sauce and garlic sauce, pulsing after each addition. Pulse until very smooth. If using a VitaMix, continue mix on high until the mixture is hot-steam will come out of the top when you remove the lid- about 1-2 minutes. If using a less powerful blender, pour the sauce into a small sauce pan to heat through. Allow to cool to room temperature. Stir in the green onion and chopped peanuts.
I used it on steamed Chinese eggplant, but I think it has potential as a (slightly thin) dipping sauce and I bet it would be great drizzled over green salads. Many possibilities for this one.
Yield: a little more than 1 cup
My thoughts:
Oh my is this a great sauce. It is rare that I am so taken aback about how good it tastes. I am not normally a big peanut or even, sauce fan but yum. So worth whipping up today. Or right this very second. It was actually just something I threw together for a quick dinner side dish but was so taken with it, I just had to write down what I did and share it with all of you. It is just so lovely and fresh tasting. Much more special than the simple ingredients list would lead you to believe. The peanuts are perfectly balanced by the spice so you don’t get that “watered down peanut butter” effect that a lot of peanut sauces seem to give. My VitaMix (this sounds like a commercial, but seriously…) got it so smooth that I could not believe that it was made with whole peanuts. AND it heated it up in like 2 minutes. Freakishly good and easy. I think it would be just as good made in a regular blender (not a food processor, you want it to be smooth) but I’d skip straight to using prepared peanut butter. A little bit of coarsely chopped peanuts is fine but you don’t want a thick or gloppy sauce. Anyway, while it was divine tossed with some steamed eggplant and roasted garlic, I am already plotting other ways to use up the leftovers.
It is also easy to vegan-ize, just use vegetable broth, leave out the fish paste and maybe add a dash of soy sauce or tamari instead.
Thanks for posting this one. I’m especially grateful for the vegetarian alternative, not because I am one, but because it’s a good tip to know!
Mmmm, yum! Looks so silky. I bet it would be divine over steamed broccoli.
I’ll bet this would be awesome over thai noodles with some snow peas and chicken.
This would be a great sauce for fresh springrolls or beef/chicken satays.
Amy-
It is funny you mentioned that, I did make something sort of similar to that, I will share that recipe soon.
I agree with Amy, that would be great over thai noodles. Yum!
I can never have enough spicy peanut sauce! Looking forward to the noodle recipe 🙂
This looks sooo delicious. I will have to try it! I’ve been wanting to make spring rolls lately.
That looks really nice. I want to dip saty chicken in it!
Talk of eggplant makes me wish for summer and my dad’s garden to be in full swing…
The sauce has an interesting list of ingredients. It’s cool to find out that they come together and make such a cool taste!
We can picture the dishes now…so good on noodles, chicken, wontons/spring rolls.
Ooh this is going to win me great points with Hubbs, I can tell!
wow, I can eat this with anything!
This sauce looks fabulous. A must to try very soon. It took me until yesterday to make the caramels you posted weeks ago. Let me say this about those caramels: WOW! WOW!, WOW! They are so good, Rachael, you should be punished! They are better than Rheb’s (sorry Rheb’s ladies, but it’s true.)I didn’t have rum in the house, so I subsituted bourbon….it worked very well. My hips would like to thank you for the extra 3 pounds!
Sounds really good, I am a huge advocate for sauces. They make things taste so delicious.