Peanut sauce

Peanut sauce, satay sauce, bumbu kacang, sambal kacang, or pecel is a sauce made from ground roasted or fried peanuts, widely used in the cuisines of Indonesia,Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, China and Africa. It is also used, to a lesser extent, in European (particularly Dutch) and Middle Eastern cuisine. It is also used in Filipino cuisine but rarely.

Peanut sauce goes well with chicken, meat and vegetables. It is often used to add flavour to grilled skewered meat such as satays, poured over vegetables as salad dressing such as in gado-gado, or as dipping sauces for spring rolls.

Ingredients

The main ingredient is ground roasted peanuts, for which peanut butter can act as a substitute. Several different recipes for making peanut sauces exist, resulting in a variety of flavours, textures and consistency. A typical recipe usually contains ground roasted peanuts or peanut butter (smooth or crunchy), coconut milk, soy sauce, tamarind, galangal, garlic, and spices (such as coriander seed, cumin, etc.). Other possible ingredients are chili peppers, sugar, milk, fried onion, and lemon grass. The texture and consistency (thin or thick) of a peanut sauce corresponds to the amount of water being mixed in it. Some recipes create thin or watery peanut sauce, while others make thick or gloppy peanut sauce.