ISO – Fabulous Peanut Sauce

I love Thai Foodie….  She has a recipe for Peanut Sauce (Legit, no less!) that makes a much larger quantity than I was prepared for….

• 3/4 cup natural creamy peanut butter (our notation….be careful…get the real natural…not the natural one with added sugar….thanks Jif – not!)
• 2 tbsp Thai red curry paste (a tablespoon or so less if you don’t want it as spicy, a tablespoon or so more if you want it spicier)
• 13.5 oz can coconut milk
• 1/2 cup brown sugar or 3/4 cup grated palm sugar
• 2 tbsp white vinegar or 2 tbsp tamarind paste (concentrate)
• 1/2 cup water
• salt to taste

Since I bought Jif “natural” and didn’t  check for added sugar until AFTER I tasted the sauce and realized it was WAY too sweet….  I ended up adding an extra 2-3 tablespoons tamarind and a couple tablespoons of fish sauce, as well as using the full 2 tablespoons of red curry paste to offset the “too sweet” aspect.  Success!!

I have about 2 tablespoons of the ACF peanut sauce left in the fridge….and I’ve got close to a QUART of fresh peanut sauce… They taste slightly different…. The ACF sauce uses lime juice for the “sour” component and Thai-Foodie uses tamarind.  Both are in keeping with Thai cuisine, so both are “authentic.”  One thing I’m sure of at this point is I need to find a few things peanut sauce works with so we can enjoy our labors!

Another Peanut Sauce…

I got a copy of The Original Thai Cookbook (by Jennifer Brennan) for Christmas.  I’m starting to wonder what region of Thailand the recipes come from.  The Peanut Sauce is ok…just not what we think of when we think of Thai Peanut sauce.  It’s super thick – spreadable thick…and lacks a sour quality.  The ingredients are red curry paste, coconut milk, peanut butter, palm sugar  and fish sauce.  Like I said…really thick…  I ended up adding palm sugar (even though the peanut butter had sugar in it…same peanut butter as I used above….some soy, more fish sauce, the juice of half a lime AND 1/2 cup of water.  It was still thick…and neither of us like it as much as either of the previous sauces we tried.  And so…on to the next!