Warning about recipes. Read this first!
PEANUT SAUCE
Yield: About 2 C
| INGREDIENTS | ||
| 1 | fl oz | Peanut oil |
| 2 | tbl | Red curry paste |
| 12 | fl oz | Coconut milk |
| 6 | oz | Peanuts, ground |
| 3 | oz | Brown sugar |
| 3 | oz | Peanut butter, creamy |
| 2 | tbl | Fish sauce |
| 4 | tbl | Cilantro, minced |
METHOD
1. In a small saucepan, heat the peanut oil over medium heat. When hot, add the red curry paste and sautee until aromatic and slightly browned.
2. Carefully pour in half the coconut milk and whisk until smooth. Add the remaining coconut milk, peanuts, brown sugar, and peanut butter. Stir to combine.
3. Taste the peanut sauce at this point. Evaluate for salty, spicy, and sweet. Adjust as necessary. Only add the fish sauce if you need it, which you may not. I rarely need to add it due to the peanuts and peanut butter I use.
4. Heat thoroughly, being very careful to not let the sauce boil; it will separate and become greasy.
5. When hot, add cilantro, stir, and serve.
NOTES
Red curry paste – The key to this sauce. I do use a commercially produced paste (Mae Ploy), but it’s amazing. I also have my own red curry paste recipe that’s very good, but it’s just a hassle to make, considering the commercial alternative is about $4 for two cups.
Brown sugar vs palm sugar – If you know me at all, and are familiar with Thai cuisine, you’ll be wondering why I cheat and use brown sugar instead of the traditional and authentic palm sugar. The answer is simple: Cost, both time and money. I already have tons of brown sugar around the shop so it’s very easy to scoop and go, whereas the palm sugar is needed in very few recipes AND it has to be chopped off a large block before using.
The flavor profiles of brown sugar vs palm sugar are very similar. Both are sweet and have a slight bitterness to them from molasses. The palm sugar is more mellow in its sweetness, so if you try this recipe with palm sugar, you’ll probably need to increase it by 25% or so. But taste as you go, once it’s in, there’s no removing it!
Fish sauce – For the love of god: Turn on your brain before making this sauce. This dish is salt with salty, more salt, in a sauce of coconut milk. As will ALL salts, taste your dish before you add the salt, regardless of what the dish is. You may not need the salt.
COMMENTARY
This recipe is one of my most popular menu items of all time. Chocolate Truffle cake, chocolate chip cookies, peanut sauce, and pesto-alfredo sauce are the top four delicious items, in that order.
And so you now have the secret. But I believe it’s more than just the recipe that makes a dish delicious. It’s the chef who executes the recipe, and through that natural interpretation someone else’s peanut sauce will differ from mine just enough that I’m always going to have a job. I’m not worried about it.
