Peanut Sauce Recipe

Peanut sauce is one of the classic sauces in popular South East Asian cuisine. Often matched with satay, ketupat, nasi himpit, lodeh and a variety of other dishes. The recipe is simple and straightforward and uses a secret technique where half of the peanut sauce is ground with a blender until smooth and put back into the peanut sauce. This will further thicken the peanut sauce and further enhance the flavor of the peanut sauce.

Just like any cooked sambal-based dish, ground onions and chillies should be cooked until crisp and fully cooked so that there is no taste of raw onions and chillies in the final prepared peanut sauce.

Ingredients for Peanut Sauce

250g ground toasted peanuts

60g or 3 tablespoons ground chilli

20g or 3 cloves garlic

60g or 8 shallots.

4 lemongrass stalks

2.5cm ginger

2.5cm galangal

1500ml water

4 tablespoons of sugar

1 teaspoon of Melaka sugar

2 teaspoons of salt

1 teaspoon of tamarind paste

Method

1. Add lemongrass and grind galangal, ginger, garlic and small onion with 100ml water.

2. Heat a little oil for frying. When the oil is hot, add the ground ingredients.

3. Then add lemongrass.

4. When the onions start to turn yellowish, add ground chilli.

5. Mix well. Use medium heat and cook until mixture thickens. This will take time 8-10 minutes.

6. When it starts to thicken, add 500ml or 2 cup of water.

7. Add the ground fried beans. When the gravy thickens again after the beans absorb the water, add 250ml or 1 cup of water.

8. Add 2 teaspoon of salt or to taste

9. Add 4 tablespoons of sugar. The amount of sugar can be changed according to your taste for less or more.

10. Simmer over low heat until oil appears on the surface. This will take time 15-20 minutes.

11. When the oil starts rising to the surface, add 1 teaspoon of tamarind paste.

12. Simmer 10 minutes more and add 1 teaspoon of sugar.

13. If you want you can add 1/2 teaspoon of seasoning powder.

14. The peanut sauce is ready, but for a tastier gravy, take 300 ml of gravy and grind it in a blender.

15. Add back the blended peanut sauce, that was ground earlier. Mix well.

16. Add 100ml of water to dilute a little of the peanut gravy so that the oil can rise more easily. Stir and grind until the oil rises to the top.

17. Peanut gravy is now ready to serve.