That looks yummy. The owner of our Thai food truck did some cooking classes for us at my library and shared her family recipe for peanut sauce. I've tried making a lot of peanut sauces, but her simple one is the favorite. She uses creamy peanut butter, not sure what kind. I use natural, no sugar peanut butter... I'd rather add my own sweet.

* Exported from MasterCook *

May's Peanut Sauce

Recipe By :

Serving Size : 0 Preparation Time :0:00

Categories : Sauces

Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method

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1 can coconut milk

1/2 cup peanut butter -- creamy or chunky

1/4 cup sugar

2 tablespoons paprika

2 tablespoons red curry paste -- or to taste

salt -- to taste

Cook and stir on low until heated through.

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PM, that looks delicious, too bad about the texture.

katieC, I'm saving that recipe. Amanda loves those rice noodles with peanut sauce and I haven't made them in a long time.

The recipe I have is buried somewhere in the notebooks full of recipes I got from here and printed off. Evil Jessica gave it to me and it was good, but the one with coconut milk looks better and I won't have to dig in the archives for it. I'll just have to find some red curry paste.

Annie

Both recipes posted are familiar. We used to live within walking distance to an excellent Thai restaurant and short drive to a Vietnamese in Corona Queens.

DH just does not like coconut milk at all. Tolerates it if I make something....so we compromised by eating out. When we moved I did try and ice cube tray the coconut and just add to mine but gave up. This was a dozen years ago so he may be fine with it now. (I think I over did the experiments)😂

I still miss the two dishes I used to order.

The Thai owners became good friends and attended all our big parties. We ordered off the menu without issue. Still cannot make those two dishes at home no matter how I tried.

party's recipe has all the classic cast of characters/ingredients/flavors. Use toasted sesame oil. A bit more vinegar. All those ingredients in one bowl and keep the peanut butter aside in another bowl. Use the hot noodle water, just a few tBsp's to stir and thin the PButter.3-4 tBsp's (something magical happens you will see). When pulling the heated noodles and drained, add the oil/vinegar mix and toss. Then add the creamy peanut butter. Toss, then green onions.

(I add 4-5 tBsp of toasted sesame seed to the toss)

I would do the, or any extras in a similar recipe, like the chicken....separate. Then combine just before serving. Both to me are separate dishes that pair well, at the table. Chicken over the noodles or on the side, touching,😂.

Sleevendog - I'm like your husband in that I do not like coconut milk in Thai food or curries, but I like coconut in desserts and granola. Kevin is the opposite - he doesn't like coconut at all except in curries, and so he only gets that when we go to Thai restaurants. And when I make macaroons or coconut ice cream, I have to eat all of it myself.

As for peanut sauces - I have never made a sauce with peanut butter, partly because I do not stock peanut butter (only cashew and almond butter), but I do occasionally add peanuts to a stir-fry. I think they can be a great garnish, but the peanuts must be dry roasted, and it is better if they are unsalted, as I like to add soy sauce to the dish as well. I like to put chopped peanuts in spring rolls made with rice paper wrappers. I actually call them summer rolls - I think spring rolls are fried and summer rolls are not.

LoneJack, I've never purchased any pre-made sauce like that... I always assume that homemade would be better! I just searched the ingredient list for the HoT peanut sauce and it seems to match right up with the recipe I used -- except for the water being the primary ingredient! The recipe I used didn't call for water, but once it heated it was clearly too thick, so I did thin it a bit at that point.

KatieC, that is a completely different recipe from what I used and I'll bet it has a different mouth-feel, which is what I want. I'm shocked that the recipe uses paprika! In trying to imagine the taste, I suspect it will be similar to a Vietnamese cold noodle salad I once had... so good. Like Annie, I need to find some red curry paste before I can try it. Thank you for posting the recipe!

Annie, my wheat-free/gf BF also loves rice noodles and I haven't made anything like it in ages, but I'm on a roll now. :) If I can find some appropriate beef, Mongolian Beef w/ fried rice noodles is next on my to-do list. I finally found the hot bean paste I needed! Frying up those billowy piles of rice noodles is so much fun. lol!

sleeve, I think your idea of keeping the PB separate and pre-thinning is exactly what's needed to get a better texture with the sauce recipe I made. Will definitely do it that way next time.

Lars, I never thought to add peanuts to spring/summer rolls -- great idea! I'll agree to either name as long as they're not fried. :)

Thanks, everyone, for the replies!

Looks delicious, PM. Was it the texture of the sauce that you did not like? Can you describe in more detail?

A few weeks ago, I was about to request “favorite peanut sauce recipes.” I’ve made lots of various peanut sauces and over the pasrpt few decades have experimented with various SE Asian, Thai and Vietnamese foods. Sometimes I am bone hungry and just want to make up a quick, no brainer peanut sauce.

We always have natural, organic peanut butter on hand. Some restaurant peanut sauces are really good.

In a pinch, I’ve started with natural chunky peanut butter and hoisin sauce, some hot water. Taste after mixing. Add a bit of fish sauce or Thai bird chili to taste. Careful not to make too thick.

I’ve made thinnish peanut sauce that included coconut milk/cream. Warm it and mix together. Consider if you want more of the peanut flavor to come across, or, say, coconut.

I like coconut cream in curries. On of the most satisfying curry dishes I ever made was Pim (long long name, she has a cookbook and dates/dated chef David K.). The dish is Chiang Mai Noodles (also known as Khao Soi). I followed her recipe exactly. Rich, but utterly fantastic. I can not locate my photos of the dish right now. It included red or Penang curry, coconut cream, crispy noodles, shallots, (?) fresh limes leaves and fried chicken pieces. Holy drumstick, was it ever fantastic. I found a copy of Pim’s book on sale. Fantastic.

I’ve purchased tinned peanut or satay sauce and have used put that down as a base layer for my complex Thai pizza.

You are all making me hungry.

I've regularly used this peanut sauce that Triciae posted several years ago. I usually just substitute water for the chicken broth. And I've left out the curry paste with no significant loss of flavor (it's only 1 tsp.) Most of the time I use frozen crushed ginger instead of fresh. When I do that, I also use a garlic press and don't even bother with the blender.

It's very tasty and doesn't use fish sauce, which is a plus for me. It basically uses ingredients that I usually have on hand. I especially like its use of natural peanut butter since I don't care for the stuff that has hydrogenated vegetable oil. (I don't like the texture -- too much like eating peanut flavored Crisco.)

Peanut Dipping
Sauce (amounts are approximate):

Triciae from CF

1/2 cup natural creamy peanut butter
1/4 cup low-sodium chicken broth
3 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons minced fresh ginger
2 tablespoons lime juice
1 teaspoon minced garlic (1 clove)
1/2 teaspoon chili flakes
1 teaspoon red curry paste
1 shallot, peeled and roughly chopped
1 green Onion, thinly sliced for garnish on top of the sauce

Place all ingredients in blender and blend until smooth.
I warm the sauce in the microwave...it may thicken a bit. If it's too thick,
add more chicken broth.

petalique, the sauce had a weird mouth-feel for me. Not sure how to describe it, but it had a *cling* factor and definitely could have been better. The PB I used was natural and unsweetened -- good stuff.

shambo, I'll definitely try Triciae's recipe -- that lime juice sounds good! Thanks for posting the recipe!

Party music. Thanks for explaining. I can now imagine it.

Did you mix some of the hot noodle water with the PB? Sleeve’s post?

Sleevendog, what are the two dishes that you used to order?

I made this last night being forlorn for a good nut sauce using leftover noodles. I needed something easy. DH was late home. Wrong noodles but the nut sauce was excellent. (I have a mixed nut butter in the freezer)

What is left of the sauce, back top right is leftover, I'll make a lunch for Monday. Noodles tossed with most of it. I added chipotle and chili crisp. Blender would be a good choice but our dishwasher is going through home, 'scratch head', trouble-shooting at the moment, 😂😜oy.

Sleevendog, what are the two dishes that you used to order?

#14, lol. (no English spoken or menu). NYTimes has a good recipe but they have a pay-wall...so similar posted above. Another article I think from Eater has a good article but the family recipe is not public. "SpicyNutNoodle with seafood" (or chicken). The well known ChinaTown noodle place is just 'sesame noodle'. Always crushed peanuts garnish. Take-out, quick lunch. SeriousEats makes a decent go at it.

The noodle choice may be a good base choice. And al dente. Too soft? Mush.

Petalique, no, I didn’t know about that tip at the time, but it sounds exactly like what was needed to correct it.