With this tip, you can make the very best peanut sauce yourself
Just take a look at the photo below of me, and you might already be able to see that I’m pretty into peanut sauce! With gado gado, naturally, and with satay skewers, of course, but a generous spoonful of peanut sauce over a cold noodle salad (delicious with steamed edamame and toasted sesame seeds) also makes me very happy. And do you know how to make the very best peanut sauce?
I’ll readily admit that on a weekday evening when something needs to be on the table quickly, I simply reach for the jar of peanut butter as the base for a quick sauce. But with just a little more time and patience, that’s exactly where you can gain a lot of extra flavor…
Start with the basics
Starting with raw, unsalted peanuts can make the sauce so much tastier! Roast them briefly and then grind them yourself, and you won’t believe how delicious and much fresher they taste than the jarred version. You may have experienced the same thing with homemade peanut butter, probably thinking, ‘Holy moly, THIS is what delicious peanut butter tastes like!’.
A little time, lots of love
It will take you a little more time, because you can achieve an even deeper flavor by first frying the peanuts in oil or roasting them in the oven. Both methods are simple and give the peanuts that freshly roasted, nutty aroma and flavor that also makes your mouth water at the market nut stall. If you choose to roast them in the oven, you can do so without oil: place them on a baking sheet in an oven at 180° for ten minutes.
Chunky or smooth
Then grind the peanuts in a food processor. A kind of ball will form at first, but simply let it run for four or five minutes. You can now decide how coarse (with pieces) or smooth you want the peanut sauce/butter to be, and you’ll make it more liquid with water later and season it to taste.
We’ve got one for you
And wouldn’t you know it, we have a fantastic peanut sauce recipe ready for you, in an article about—and recipe for—equally wonderfully delicious chicken satay. Both deserve a place on your table, and don’t forget that you can serve this sauce with a whole range of Asian or Surinamese dishes – make the most of it!
Also read:
- 6 surprising peanut butter combinations
- Recipe: easy spicy chicken satay
- These 7 Indonesian dishes every home cook should know
