Satay Peanuts Sauce

The Malaysian version peanut sauce is sweeter and thicker and it is actually quite easy to recreate at home. Over the years I have tried so many peanut sauce recipes but for me, nothing can beat this one. My daughter despite being a ‘western food’ lover also loves peanut sauce.

I always make a large batch of the peanut sauce and use it as a dressing for the gado gado salad and eat it with Lontong (a coconut based soup containing shrimp, fried tempeh, fried tofu, boiled eggs and vegetables like chopped cabbage, turnip and carrots) and Sambal Ikan Bilis (Anchovies in Hot Sauce).

In this recipe, I cheat a bit by using store-bought peanuts but it doesn’t mean any reduction in flavour or quality of the finished dish. All it does is saving my cooking time.

Peanut Sauce 

(Adapted from Azie Kitchen)

Ingredients

½ kg peanuts – coarsely ground (I used store-bought skinless roasted & salted peanuts)
1 cup dried chili paste
1 cup tamarind juice (1½ tbsp. tamarind paste diluted in 1 cup water)
1 cup brown sugar  (adjust according to your preference)
1 tsp salt (store-bought roasted peanut is already salty)
3/4 - 1 cup Mazola oil


To blend into a paste

10 shallots

3 cloves of garlic

1-inch ginger

1-inch galangal                                

4 stalk of lemon grass – white part only and coarsely chopped

How to cook

1.    Put the crushed peanuts in a pan with 2½ cups of water and simmer over low heat until all the liquid is absorbed by the peanuts. Turn off the heat then set aside.

2.    In a pot, heat up the cooking oil and sauté the blended ingredients until aromatic then stir in the chili paste and continue simmering over low heat until the sauce is sufficiently cooked and the oil separates oil. Remember to stir occasionally to prevent the sauce from sticking to the bottom of the pot. 

3.    Add 2 cups of water, tamarind juice, sugar and salt. Bring to a boil and continue to cook until the sauce slightly thickens.

4.    Add the crushed peanuts and lower the heat. Adjust the taste and the thickness of the sauce. If it seems too thick then add a little bit of hot water and stir to mix well. Then taste to check the balance of flavours, add more tamarind juice, sugar or salt if you think it's lacking. Stir occasionally to prevent the sauce from sticking to the bottom of the pot.  The sauce should be a little bit sweet.

5.    Turn off the heat and serve with cucumber wedges, red onion wedges and ketupat (compressed rice cakes).  There you have it, the Malaysian style peanut sauce. 

Note:

You can put it in a covered container and keep it in the refrigerator for future use.