I spent a lot of my childhood summers traveling with family. It was one of the ways to escape the hectic life of school and work. I recall a few summers spending a week in the beautiful, colorful city of Bangkok. The smell of fresh ocean waters. The warmth of the grainy sand enveloping my feet. The noise of the crowds and the smell of spices, lemongrass, ginger and peanuts wafting through the air. The sizzling noise from the hot woks. I remember holding onto my grandmother’s wrinkly hand as we boarded a large wooden boat to cross a large river to the main city. With my little beige sunhat and my blue backpack, I would choose to sit at the farthest corner where I could hear the sounds of the waves and feel the wind in my face. Everything was so new and just so…exciting. How I long to be in Thailand right now. I miss all the smells and the excitement of being in a foreign place.
Those memories of walking on the dusty streets seem to be fading, everyday. They seem more distant and foggy. Yet the feelings of excitement and the smells of the street and their food is still very much alive within me. I would like to think that I do have knack or at least some expertise in what authentic Thai food should taste like. I miss the sweet mangoes with sticky rice; I miss the fresh coconut drinks on the streets; I miss the steaming hot pad thai that was sprinkled with peanuts and the fiery hot curries with tender braised beef.
My love for thai food has definitely challenged me to recreate some of my fave dishes including the gorgeous creamy peanut sauce that usually accompanies chicken satay.
This particular recipe is very special to me. Zoe and I had stumbled on this while we were in Ohio last summer. We met a wonderful woman named Amie. We became fast friends as we connected over our love for food. She has been our inspiration of what it means to understand and appreciate food. Realizing how much we loved food, she asked us to cook for her and a group of foodies. We were absolutely stoked at the opportunity; but daunted by the task they entrusted us with. Both of us had never cooked a whole meal for anyone besides close family and friends, especially not in a strange new kitchen and especially to an audience who is not gluten or lactose intolerant. Going back to our roots, and summoning our childhood memories, we decided to prepare some of the most classic Asian recipes that we had grown up with like stir fried vegetables, egg foo young, coconut rice, beef rendang. But like always, we wanted to be unconventional. Exquisite. Unique. With our love for Thai food, it was no surprised we picked this particular dish – Thai peanut satay with tender poached chicken.
(This picture was taken at the event)
Instead of peanut butter, this sauce is only thickened by hand crushed peanuts and flavored with red curry paste. This not only gives the sauce a more body but it also adds extra depth to it. After making it multiple times, we have simplified this recipe over time and made it vegan-friendly. So that means you can make it ANYTIME even for meal preps.
With the launch of our new website this week, this Thai Peanut Satay Sauce is our very first recipe we are releasing here. It makes us so excited to reflect on the leaps and bounds Zoe and I have overcome over the past 2 years of blogging.
Although it hasn’t been easy, it has been a worthwhile. Through challenges, trials, battling with mental and physical challenges we founded this blog. It blows my mind to think that we were actually able to pull this off. And “How Fitting” it is that our very first recipe was inspired by memories with my family, since my family have been our greatest supporter for this blog.
We are excited to see what more there is and what new ideas we can come up with. But for now enjoy this peanut satay sauce. This will be one be that we will remaking over and over again. This was meant to be part of our meal prep week but we managed to finish it all before the week had even begun. Yes this sauce is addicting and best yet – even people who don’t like peanuts will come back for more – because our guests did the same!
- 1¼ cup lite coconut milk (or full fat coconut milk if you want a thicker sauce)
- 2 tbsp Red curry paste (GF & Vegan)**
- ½ cup roasted peanuts (unsalted)
- 1 tsp GF soy sauce
- 2 tbsp lime juice
- 2 tbsp coconut palm sugar
- **TIP: make this in advance to let sauce thicken.
- In a food processor/blender, add peanuts and blitz until fine. Your nuts don't have to be perfectly grounded. It is nice to have a few bites of extra chunks of crunchy goodness.
- In a small pot over medium heat, add all the ingredients including the peanuts. Let it simmer and thicken slightly.
- Taste and adjust seasoning.
- KEY: Put the sauce aside and let it cool. The sauce will naturally thicken over time, I would suggest around 2 hours).
We love serving this with crispy tofu or poached chicken. But honestly you could use this as salad dressing or toss with rice because IT IS THAT GOOD!
- 1¼ cup lite coconut milk
- 2 tbsp Red curry paste (GF & Vegan)**
- 3-4 tbsp peanut butter
- 1 tsp GF soy sauce (omit if nut butter is salted)
- 2 tbsp lime juice
- 2 tbsp coconut palm sugar
- In a small pot over medium heat, add the ingredients. If you like it thicker you can add 4 tbsp of peanut butter.
- Cook until desired consistency. The longer you cook the thicker it will get. You may also add hot water to thin it out. Adjust according to preference.
- Taste and adjust seasoning.
LOVE,
Zoe & Mia
March 2018 Recipe Redux Challenge
Family Springtime Celebrations
Easter is April 1. Passover begins March 30. Whether or not you are celebrating either holiday, show us your favorite family recipes for springtime celebrations.
(Please note that this is a closed link-up for Recipe ReDux posts only. Any links added to this collection for non-ReDux posts will be deleted.)
4
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