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This is my recipe for peanut sauce. I’m posting it because many friends have requested it. Serves 4 people.

Ingredients:
2 Tsp Oil
1/2 Cup finely chopped Shallots
6 Cloves finely chopped Garlic
1 Tsp Dried Lemon Grass
1/8 Cup Soy Sauce
1 Small can (5.6fl) Coconut Milk
1/2 (16oz) jar natural nutty peanut butter. (Laura Scudder’s)
2 pinch hot pepper flakes
1 Tbsp Sugar
1/2 Tsp Salt

The base of this recipe makes a very thick pasty sauce.  I’ll leave the thinning out to your personal tastes.

Start by finely chopping the shallots. I found that about 5 or 6 shallots made 1/2 cup when all chopped up.

Next you will finely chop the 6 garlic cloves. To peel the garlic cut off the butt-end and smash the clove with the flat of your knife. Use your fist on the flat of the blade, a chef’s knife works great for this. The skin will come off easily and the smashing also releases some of the garlic oils for more flavor.

Heat 2 teaspoons of oil in a 12″ pan on medium heat.  Add shallots and garlic . Cook for about 2 minutes stirring occasionally. Reduce heat to low and allow pan to cool off a bit. Add 1 teaspoon of dried lemongrass.

Once the lemongrass is incorporated add the 1/8 cup of Soy Sauce and one small can (5.6fl) of coconut milk. Allow this to simmer for a few minutes. Make sure you use soy sauce that says naturally fermented or naturally brewed. Soy sauce made this way has soy beans that have really fermented instead of a faux fermentation that lots of cheap soy sauces will use.

Now it’s time to add 1/2 of a 160z jar of  crunchy natural peanut butter.  I used Laura Scudder’s but you can use whatever brand you have on hand or get from the store. If you don’t have natural peanut butter you can substitute regular peanut butter but I don’t think the taste is as good. You get more peanut flavor from the natural. Add pepper flakes at this point for flavor. Add more than 2 pinches if you want your sauce to be spicy. Stir well and maintain low heat. Add in 1 tablespoon of sugar and 1/2 teaspoon of salt.

You now have a very thick peanut sauce. You could use it at this point but I prefer a thinner sauce for dipping and an even thinner sauce to mix with meat and veggies on rice.

To thin you sauce out you can use milk or coconut milk. Lets assume from this point on that milk means cows milk or coconut milk whichever you use, I used cows milk because it was easy. You will also add more soy sauce. Add your milk slowly completely stirring in all the liquid.

For my final product I used another 1/8 cup of soy sauce and about 1.5-2 cups of milk. As you are incorporating your liquids make sure that you sir constantly and are scraping the bottom of your pan. Raise heat as needed to bring sauce to a boil. If oil starts to separate reduce heat, add a small amount of milk and stir completely. Remember to stir or you won’t be happy with your sauce.

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