Peanut Sauce (times two)

There are two kinds of peanut sauces in this world. One is dark, sweet, and just slightly redolent of a deep roasted peanut flavor. The other is kind of like runny peanut butter. I certainly have my own preference (can you tell?) but I’ve met just as many people with a preference opposite to mine, so which kind should I show you how to make?

Both!

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First, the runny peanut butter kind. I promise I won’t think less of you if this is the kind you prefer. Well, I promise I’ll try. Start with 1/4 cup of peanut butter. There are a very small number of peanut butters that do contain gluten, believe it or not. Ideally you should just choose one where you can recognize (and pronounce) every ingredient listed, but if you don’t have a fancy organic one available to you, Jif is one national brand that’s GF. [As always, the products I use were GFCF at the time of posting, but manufacturers can change formulas without warning. Always check your labels!]

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Mix in 1/2 cup of coconut milk. If you’re looking for something to do with the rest of the can, you could make Tandoori Chicken, or a partial batch of Mango Rice.

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Whisk them together until the peanut butter is totally blended. Then add 2 Tablespoons of Thai Kitchen fish sauce, and 3 Tablespoons of rice vinegar. (Do be sure that you’re using real rice vinegar and not some fake “flavored” vinegar, because it might be fermented from barley — malt is the key word you want to always avoid.)

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Mix in 2 teaspoons of minced ginger, and 1 teaspoon (2 cloves) of minced garlic.

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Finally, add in 4 Tablespoons of brown sugar. You would think this makes it sweet enough for me… but it doesn’t.

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You can keep this in the refrigerator for a good week if you store it in a nice airtight container. But enough of this nonsense! On to the better — er, I mean other version of peanut sauce.

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Alright, I confess. I don’t bother to replicate this elusive sauce from scratch, I cheat and use a bottled base. Actually, “I don’t bother” is misleading, because I have tried many times and failed. I just can’t get that awesome flavor of restaurant-style peanut sauce on my own. If you can’t find this Premier Japan sauce at your local health food store, it is available online as well.

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Start with 1 cup of the hoisin sauce, and mix in 1 Tablespoon of creamy peanut butter.

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Also add in 2-3 teaspoons of water to thin it out just a bit. And that’s it!

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Of course it helps if you have some spring rolls on hand to dip into your batch of delicious peanut sauce. If you don’t know how to make spring rolls… stay tuned.

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Happy Eating!

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Peanut Sauce #1

1/4 cup GF peanut butter
1/2 cup coconut milk
2 Tbs Thai Kitchen fish sauce
3 Tbs rice vinegar
2 tsp minced ginger
1 tsp minced garlic
4 Tbs brown sugar

Peanut Sauce #2

1 cup Premier Japan hoisin sauce
1 Tbs GF peanut butter
2-3 tsp water