How to Use Peanut Satay Sauce | Easy Recipe Included
I’m so excited to write about this because satay is believed to have been derived from Indonesia. But there appears to be a variation of this peanut sauce throughout Southeast Asia.
Indonesia is the country where I am currently living and have lived here for a total of 19 years. The culture and especially the food is a part of me and chicken satay skewers and peanut satay sauce is one of my ultimate comfort foods.
So to understand how to use peanut satay sauce, it’s important to understand what satay is, skewered grilled meat served with a peanut sauce with an Indonesian sweet soy sauce, often served with steaming hot white rice or rice cakes AKA “Lontong”. I would always eat all the satay first and then use all the remaining peanut sauce with steaming hot rice and two sunny-side-up eggs, I promise you, this is an incredibly deliciously comforting experience that always puts a smile on my face.
Are there other ways to use this delicious peanut sauce?
What is Peanut Satay Sauce Used For?
7 Unique and Delicious Ways to Utilize Peanut Satay Sauce
French fries
Before you knock this idea, in Holland we have a snackbar food called “Patatje Oorlog”, which literally translates to "french fries war" or "french fry battle". It’s French fries served with a peanut sauce, mayonnaise and dice raw onions. This is by far one of my favorite alternative ways to enjoy satay peanut sauce. The raw diced onions help to give extra texture and flavor that funny enough balance out the sweetness from the peanut sauce and the creaminess from the mayonnaise.Mixed Salad
Yep, you read that right. Here in Indonesia there’s a dish called Gado-Gado, which is a mixed salad of cucumbers, beansprouts, lettuce, boiled potatoes, fried tempeh, boiled eggs, morning glory and prawn crackers crackers. Perhaps not the healthiest way to enjoy a salad, but its oh so delicious
Dipping Sauce for Spring Rolls and Deep Fried Tofu Cubes
Thailand and Vietnam have a peanut dipping sauce version for their spring rolls. You can either use the summer roll variety, which is the fresh spring rolls or also the deep-fried spring roll.Noodle Stir-Fry Sauce
I love using the vermicelli noodles or egg noodles. I’ve even use both noodles at the same for different texture. It’s divine.Grilled Vegetables
Need to add some extra zing to your roasted vegetables? Brush some peanut sauce right at the end of grilling your vegetables.
Pizza Sauce Topping
Grilled chicken pizza with satay peanut sauce
Dipping sauce for Prawn Crackers
This one has to be an addictive option, I’ve literally eaten owl after bowl of prawn crackers and satay peanut sauce. This is such a guilty pleasure and a calorie bomb.
Spread in a Wrap
If you’re making a grilled chicken or tofu wrap, slather the sauce on the inside of the wrap before adding your filling and roll it up and voila, you have a tasty handheld meal.
Stir in with rice
Mix with cooked rice noodles
Gado-gado, an Indonesian salad with a peanut salad dressing
Steamed dumplings dipping sauce
Try my easy satay peanut sauce recipe:
There are two homemade peanut sauce recipes that I turn to over and over again: The Indonesian peanut sauce and the Thai style peanut sauce.
Here is the recipe for the Indonesian easy peanut sauce, which so happens to be my Indonesian mother’s recipe.
About the Ingredients:
I know that commercial peanut butter spread or a crunchy peanut butter are sometimes used as substitutes for both the Indonesian and Thai peanut, but traditional satay sauces don't actually use peanut butter, as this is not an Asian ingredient. Hence that's why we always use real peanuts in both recipes.
Traditional Indonesian Satay Spicy Peanut Sauce (bumbu kacang)
Ingredients
500 grams of peanuts
8 chillies (45 grams)
8 candlenuts (30 grams)
8 fresh garlic cloves (45 grams)
8 shallots (70 grams)
4 kafir lime leaves
150 grams Palm sugar
2 teaspoons salt (12g)
Vegetable frying oil
1 Liter Water
Optional: Indonesian sweet soya sauce
Cooking instructions
Step 1. fry the garlic, shallots, cande nuts and chilli for about a minute on medium high heat. You'll want to only get a slight light brown coloring. Don't cook too long as you don't want to burn the aromatics, especially the garlic as this will give a bitter flavor to your sauce. Youll see the chillies start to wrinkle, and thats when you know its all done. Remove and place in a food processor or blender.
Step 2. fry peanuts for 3 minutes in about 3/4 cup of oil. YOu'll get this nce peanut aroma filling your kitchen and some of the uts may turn a little light golden brown. then add to the food processor with all the other ingredients
Step 3. Blend for 5 minutes until you have a nice thick paste. YOu can use a blender which may work a little better actually. but since I dont have one, I used a food processor instead.
Step 4. Return the peanut mixture to the work wok along with 1 Liter of warm water and cook down on high heat till it bubbles after which you turn the heat down to a low setting. What you want to do here is cook off the water until you have a thick and flavorful peanut sauce. Make sure to keep stirring every few minutes to not burn the peanuts on the bottom and keep things moving. after about 10 minutes it will start to thicken and you''ll need to turn the heat down to low, the sauce should continue to bubble at this point. This will take about an hour. YOu'll notice that oil will start to pop to the surface. We want this to happen! And that's also how you know when the recipe is ready.
Do be careful, as the sauce boils, it may give the occasional splash and can be quite hot. you really want the lowest heat setting and you dont want it to boil aggressively and splatter every where. I've done that and made a complete mess of y kitchen.
Step 5. Add the sugar and salt about 10 minutes in and continue cooking until you see the oils float to the top. This 60 minute cooking process helps to intensify the flavors while thickening the sauce. This takes about an hour of cooking. Check out the pictures to get an idea of the texture that we are after.
Step 6. (optional) I like to drizzle sweet soya sauce at the end for additional sweetness, plus it look awesome!
Substitutions:
Instead of frying the peanuts, you can substitute with either a chunky or smooth peanut butter. But I rarely do this because I just prefer making my own natural peanut butter.
Thai Creamy Peanut Sauce Recipe
Ingredients
This Thai-style peanut sauce uses different ingredients and uses coconut milk and is often used as the sauce for Thai chicken satay
1 cup coconut milk
2 tablespoons of Thai red curry paste or Massaman curry paste
3 tablespoons of palm sugar
500 ml of water
3/4 cup crushed whole peanuts 125g
3 tablespoons of tamarind paste
1 teaspoon fish sauce
Cooking Instructions
Step 1. in a pot on medium heat add half the coconut milk till it boils then add the red curry paste and keep stirring making sure not to burn the paste. A lot of flavors are developing here. The sauce will thicken up and the oils from the coconut oil and paste will separate.
Step 2. Then add the rest of the coconut milk and stir. Then add the crushed peanuts and stir again
Step 3. Add the tamarind paste, the palm sugar and fish sauce and keep stirring for another 5 minutes and you'll want to end up with a thick sauce and chunky sauce.
Step 4. Once you have reached a thick chunky consistency, your Thai traditional satay sauce is ready
