Cooking: Peanut Sauce

We are experimenting with vegetarian cuisine for the month of January, an idea we hatched while we were in SoCal during the holidays. In part, it's a response to the (delightful) excesses of the season, and in part it's a challenge to approach food from a different perspective. We sat down and made a long list of vegetarian recipes that could carry us through the month. So far we have enjoyed the experiment, though I would be lying if I said we weren't missing bacon.

It is always difficult for me to think about making dinner on Friday nights, when I find myself out of creative energy. Last night we were low on supplies and I didn't want to go to the grocery store, and thinking in terms of no meat was especially challenging. We had already eaten a roasted vegetable soup and a cheese-based pasta dish during the week. Looking over our list of recipes, I was reminded of this amazing peanut sauce. It was introduced to us as part of a delicious chicken-broccoli stir fry recipe that J's housemate Jim made while I was still a college student. Over the years we have recreated the original dish many times, but we have also used the peanut sauce in different applications.

Here's the recipe for the sauce:
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup water
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon packed brown sugar

Blend these ingredients together in a small glass bowl. (I always find it easier to blend them if I warm them up in the microwave first).

So last night I cut up half an onion and two celery ribs into good-sized chunks, and I shredded 3/4 of a head of green cabbage. I heated some canola oil and sesame oil with crushed red pepper flakes in my big skillet, then stir-fried the veggies in the flavored oil. When everything was still a bit crisp, I poured a half-recipe of the peanut sauce into the center of the pan, warmed it up, and mixed it into the vegetables. We ate this over white rice and it was excellent. It also took less than 20 minutes from start to finish.

The beauty of the sauce is that it's so versatile. You can use it with any type of vegetable that you would stir-fry, alone or in combination. In addition to cabbage and broccoli, carrots and bell peppers are especially nice in there. And you can eat it over rice or noodles. One of our favorite variations combines the peanut sauce with steamed broccoli florets and whole wheat spaghetti or vermicelli. You can mix in tofu, shrimp, or chicken for added protein.

Two notes: First, I find the recipe as it is written makes a very thick sauce. I like to mix up half of the peanut butter, soy sauce, and brown sugar with the full amount of water. Or you can always make the full recipe and add water in the pan to thin it out. Second, I think the sauce testes best when there is some heat in it. I used crushed red pepper flakes last night, but you could also add hot pepper sauce directly to the mix, to suit your own taste.

Enjoy!