Wicked Awesome Thai Peanut Sauce

Hey, take a look at this!

It's maple syrup from the incomparable Ben's Sugar Shack!  I won a contest on their facebook page to share an interesting recipe idea using their maple syrup.  Of course I entered Wicked Awesome Thai Peanut Sauce.  This is a recipe I originally developed a few years back when I was writing a local cooking column for the Westford Patch.  But I've continued tweaking the recipe, so figured it was worth an update.

You can serve this sauce with just about anything.  It's great just over rice noodles.  Or with stir fried veggies.  Over when I posted it on the Patch, I served it with a combo of shrimp, scallops, and squid.  This time I just used what was in the fridge:  some tofu, broccoli, mushrooms, onions, green onions, and kale.  Use your imagination, or use this recipe to clean out the crisper drawer.

Ingredients:


1/2 cup peanut butter (I use crunch peanut butter for a weird reason:  my son is allergic to tree nuts.  While it's easy to find peanut butter that is free of tree nuts, it's almost impossible to buy whole peanuts that are free from cross contamination.  If you're not dealing with allergies, I'd probably go with smooth peanut butter, then add some crushed peanuts on top.  But crunchy peanut butter is a good short cut if you have to!)
4 Tablespoons soy sauce
4 Tablespoon maple syrup
2 Tablespoons rice wine vinegar
2 Tablespoons veggie oil
1 Tablespoon sesame oil
1 Tablespoon grated fresh ginger root (or 1 teaspoon ginger powder)
2 cloves garlic, minced, or 1 teaspoon garlic paste, or 1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon chili oil
1 teaspoon spicy crushed red pepper flakes (you can use anything spicy is this recipe, as much or as little as you want.  It is a sweet recipe, so I like some spiciness to offset it--I usually use chili oil and red pepper flakes, but you can also use some spicy curry powder or paste, or finely diced spicy peppers, or anything else with a little kick).

Directions:

Mix all ingredients in a medium bowl until well combined.  It takes a bit of stirring, and looks kind of gross.  But, it tastes great. 

You don't really need to cook this sauce--I sample it as I'm making it to adjust the spicy/sweetness of it.  However, the flavors blend a little better if it's been cooked for a few minutes.  I usually just pour it over the skillet of whatever I'm making and let it simmer for about 5 minutes.
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Thanks again to Ben's Sugar Shack for the maple syrup.  If anyone is up in New Hampshire, check them out.  Or, I think they'll be back at the Westford Farmers Market this year--I guess I'll find out tomorrow at the first market of the season! And I know I've seen their products over at Springdell Farm in Littleton.  Seriously, maple syrup, maple sugar candy, maple cotton candy, maple everything.  Delish!

And if you're looking for a different take on a peanut sauce, Jules shared a delicious coconut curry peanut sauce recipe last summer.  I think it's safe to say we're fans of peanut sauce here at How Does Your Garden Grow!