Peanut Coconut Sauce (Satay Sauce)

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Last few days my mother said she wanted to make 'nasi impit' (pressed rice) for our tomorrow morning breakfast. She asked me and my aunt to make the 'kuah kacang' (peanut sauce) for the meal. Nasi impit is a pressed rice dish usually eaten with kuah kacang or rendang. 

'Kuah kacang' or peanut sauce is a sauce made from a combination of some herbs and ground peanut. This peanut sauce is usually served as satay dipping sauce, as prawn fritter dipping sauce, in lontong and as pressed rice sauce. It has a nutty and sweet taste, but also a bit spicy. The spiciness level of this peanut sauce can always be altered by reducing or adding the amount of chili used. 

As far as I know, there are two versions of peanut sauce recipe here, which are peanut sauce without using coconut milk and peanut sauce with coconut milk in it. The peanut sauce which is cooked without adding coconut milk will have more spicy and herb taste, and the creamy taste will come only from peanut. In the other hand, the peanut sauce with coconut milk in it is creamier and less spicy as the spicy taste is balanced with the creamy taste from the coconut milk. 

Although it is a simple and easy recipe, there are a few tips I follow to cook the peanut sauce and I think we have to follow some of them to ensure our peanut sauce is tasty. 

Enough Sweetness
The peanut sauce in satay dish are usually sweet. Satay itself is sweet. This means that we have to put enough amount of sugar in it. I prefer to use palm sugar because it gives a richer taste to the sauce compared with white sugar.

Frying the peanuts
The peanuts must be well fried until golden, but not burnt. Burnt peanuts will produce a small hint of bitter taste in the sauce. And if the peanut is not well fried until golden, the taste of the sauce will not be smoky enough. 

Frying the ingredients in oil
Other tip which I don't follow here is some people tend to fry the dried chilies in cooking oil before blending them with other ingredients to enhance the taste. The taste of the sauce will be richer. Some people also fry the peanuts in cooking oil before grinding it. 

The size of peanuts particles
Peanut particles size largely affect the sauce texture. Usually we use medium fine to coarse peanut particles in the sauce. I think the fineness of ground peanut will depends on ones preference. The finer the ground peanut, the finer the sauce texture. 

To me peanut sauce is a versatile sauce. I usually eat it with pressed rice, fritters and it is also good to be eaten with bread. You can also use the sauce in burgers, hot dog and sandwiches. Dip the fried or baked patty in rich peanut sauce and add it in the burger. 

Peanut Coconut Sauce in a pot. 
Ready in 1 1/2 hour

Ingredients

  • 250 gram peanuts
  • 250 ml coconut milk
  • 11 shallots
  • 5 cloves garlic
  • 13 dried chilies
  • 1 inch ginger
  • 1/2 inch galangal
  • 3 stalks of lemongrass
  • 3 to 5 palm sugar
  • Salt to taste
  • 1/2 cup cooking oil

Methods

  • Fry the peanuts without using oil.
  • Then grind them to fine particles.
  • Cut dried chilies into 1 inch length and soak in hot water for 5 to 10 minutes. Then strain them. 
  • Make a fine paste of shallot, garlic, ginger, galangal and dried chili.
  • Heat cooking oil in a pot. Add in the paste.
  • Cook until a bit golden. Add in ground peanuts. And 5 cups of water. Cook until the peanut become tender and not taste raw. Wait until the water reduced to half.
  • Add in palm sugar and salt. Test taste.
  • Then add in coconut milk and stir occasionally.
  • Test taste again and adjust the taste if necessary.
  • Cook until the sauce become thick like a sauce consistency and remove the heat.
Pics of peanut sauce and nasi impit. The first three photos on the top are taken while I was preparing the sauce. In the middle photo, I added Malacca palm sugar to the sauce. After that 1 added 1 more piece in the same size. 


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