Peanut sauce

Officially obsessed with Deborah Madison's peanut sauce from her tofu book. This, spooned over slices of pan-fried tofu, is what I will live on should I give up dairy for good. Enough for 6.

Dump 1/2 a cup of peanut butter (the crushed, natural kind) into the bowl of a food processor. Add a clove of garlic, minced to a paste, and 2 tablespoons each of shoyu, grated palm sugar and black vinegar. (Less) brown sugar for palm; balsamic vinegar for black. Puree. Pour 1/2 cup of hot water - slowly - down the feed chute. Chopped chilli when you want heat. Chopped coriander if you've got it.

Though I've not tried to make this by hand, I'm currently reading Edna Lewis, and she makes a strong case for making everything from scratch. So long as you beat everything together well, adding the hot water in a slow, steady stream, I reckon this would work, especially if you whisk frantically at the end.

(Cindy's soy bombs would be unreal dipped in a thinned (more water) version)

Comments

[jude]

i make this all the time. but never tried palm sugar.

[Cindy]

Duly bookmarked. :-)

[Johanna]

peanut sauce over tofu sounds excellent - I am sure this would work by hand - I usually make satay sauce in the saucepan and stir in liquids such a water or coconut milk - I find you use less energy stirring than washing the food processor!

[chelsea]

Yes, yes and yes! That sauce sounds wonderful - great for those lovely rice-paper wrapped, vermicelli-filled spring rolls too, I imagine.
Edna's on my bookshelf too and always makes me daydream about snapping beans and quilting bees.
And - those soy bombs are incredible; I could eat far too many... Especially with such a good sauce.

[Wendy]

Have bookmarked this. Make noodles with grilled chickenp, ak choi & peanut sauce fairly often but always just improvise with the sauce. Sometimes it works, sometimes it really doesn't. Will be nice to have a recipe to follow!

[kathryn]

This does look rather good Ms Dodds. Trust Deborah to come up with something as complex and balanced as this. I shall be trying out very soon.

[another outspoken female]

I became a peanut sauce fiend when I first read the Moosewood cookbooks in the mid-80s but this uncooked version sounds so much easier (it used to take forever stirring over low heat and topping up with water when it dried out). I went off peanuts in the 90s and made it thereafter with cashew paste or other nut butters. Yum.

I've got the urge to make tofu and brown rice balls now, something I ate dripping in peanut sauce for lunch at least once a week for 4 years at the now defunct rooftop cafe in Fitzroy.

Tell me more about the wonders of black vinegar. Never used it.

[Bailey Barash]

I'll definitely try the peanut sauce recipe!
I've produced a short documentary about Edna Lewis and her protege Scott Peacock.
You can view it in its entirety on this Gourmet Magazine website:

http://www.gourmet.com/magazine/video/2008/01/Edna

If you want to know more about my work, go to http://bbarash.com/film/chicken_sweetpotato

Best regards,
Bailey

[green ink]

Oh God, yum. This is dinner tonight!! :)

[Megan Mountcastle]

Sounds great! Can't wait to try-- sounds like it would be delicious over soba noodles-- thanks!

[another outspoken female]

Duly made a batch. So bloody easy! I'm thinking gado gado for lunch (easier than making rice balls but you never know...)

[Ali]

i'm thinking i should make a list of all my cookbooks. that little tofu cookbook i've had for many years and have been eating a lot less tofu recently, mostly because i used to eat perhaps too much (i love it), and not enough of other things to round it all out.

but having eaten my way with impunity through many delicious meals while on vacation, i'm feeling rather in the need for greater simplicity and less in general. i'm happy to be reminded of that little jewel sitting unobtrusively on the shelf flanked by a raw food detox cookbook and my 30 year old notebook filled with my own collected recipes from everywhere.

oh edna. she's right, you know. about the totally handmade thing. you can taste the difference. whisking and hand-pounding gives you muscles!

[Lucy]

So glad the sauce resonated with you lovely people, too. (Been moving, therefore been rather bad at replying in due time, sorry!)

Ali, thank YOU for Edna. She feels like a gift, for some reason that I cannot quite put my finger on; she's gentile and quiet and writes a mean recipe. Madison's Tofu book is SO good - she's got lots of peanut sauce recipes, but for some reason (probably ease of prep) this is the one that stuck for me.

Read about an Indonesian peanut sambal with crisp shards of golden-brown fried garlic this weekend and am thinking your Indo tempeh with that might just blow my mind...

[Shula]

I added a knob of fresh ginger. Gave it a bit of heat. xo

[Lucy]

shula! that's a brilliant thought. it's addictive...

[kathryn elliott]

I finally made this over the weekend and it's DELICIOUS. Oh my lordy-lord, it's wonderful. Am almost upset it's taken me so long to actually make and taste the thing. Had it over two really simple and otherwise boring meals and it really sparked them up. I reckon I'll be making this a lot from now on.

And (as always) I like that it's so flexible. I can imagine tweaking and adjusting according to what's in the cupboard.

Plus, I made it by hand, because I was only making enough for one. It takes some mashing with the back of a fork to get the peanut butter mixed in, but it's quite easy to do.