Decades ago, I went to a Thai restaurant in L.A. and scrunched up my nose at the thought of Coconut Chicken Soup. I’d never even seen a Thai restaurant, so it seemed strange to this western Pennsylvanian and I was not convinced it would be good. Then I tried it and it instantly became one of my very favorite things. Any time I have a cold, it’s my go-to cure…along with Ma Tunno’s Chicken Soup of course!
Then I tried Pad Thai and Pad See Yew and fell hopelessly love with the flavors. But nothing prepared me for the passion I was about to exhibit over peanut sauce.
I have lived 67 years and have never heard anyone utter the words, “Boy, do I have a hankering for some celery sticks, raw carrots and broccoli,” but the miracle of peanut sauce is — it actually makes that happen! It makes me want to eat vegetables…far too many vegetables. To be fair, the carrots, celery and broccoli are just a vehicle to get the peanut sauce into my mouth. But anything that will encourage vegetable eating is always a good thing.
My kids loved Thai food so much that we made a visit to a Thai restaurant our tradition every New Year’s Eve. And now that I’m back in western Pennsylvania I am thrilled to report there are numerous Thai eateries.
But my search for the perfect peanut sauce came up empty time and again, until I found a great recipe in a blog called FoxandBriar.com. I happened to have all the ingredients (that almost never happens) so I decided to make it. It really is so good that I’m including a link to that blog post called The Best Thai Peanut Sauce Recipe. But since I love yinz (as they say in Pittsburgh) I am also sharing it here. The only change I made is I added a bit more brown sugar, and since it was life-altering for me, that’s what I’m calling it.
It’s an easy, delicious thing to bring to a summer picnic. I even boiled some rice noodles, sautéed some zucchini and carrots and then tossed it all together with this peanut sauce and a bit of hot water. It was delicious. All it was missing was a smattering of chopped peanuts on top, and some bean sprouts, but I was too hungry to take that extra step.
So, try this as a dip, a salad dressing, or as a sauce for your rice noodles and veggies, and let me know if you are as crazy about it as I am. Happy Summer!
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Life-Altering Peanut Sauce
Combine all ingredients except water and mix well. Whisk to fully combine. Add water 1 tablespoon at a time until desired consistency is reached. (Fox and Briar website says use 2 for a sauce and 4 for a dressing.)
They also say if you use Jif or some other commercial peanut butter it might turn out too sweet, so you should try reducing the brown sugar to 1 tablespoon.) I used 3 tablespoons of brown sugar with the Costco peanut butter.)