Dip is a beautiful thing, not to be underestimated. Focaccia is fantastic, but it is elevated to extreme levels of goodness when accompanied by a shallow dish of olive oil and balsamic vinegar. A tray of crudités are much more special when given the opportunity to be dunked into the flavorful concoction of goodness that is hummus.
Where would crispy tortilla chips be without pico de gallo; potstickers without tare dipping sauce? French fries without gravy? I don’t think so.
Then, add in the fun tactile involvement of taking your food on a trip from plate to dip to mouth and it is hard to argue against dip. Dip is extra flavor and it gives you a chance relate to your food! Dipping is joyful. Why else would the Swiss have come up with fondue?
This is the newest dip in my arsenal, Thai peanut sauce.
This recipe is going to be used, along with the char siu, in my next post. What could I possibly be making? (And, in case you were wondering; yes, I am feeling mysterious!)
Thai Peanut Sauce
(recipe adapted from Darlene Schmidt)
Ingredients
1 Cup unsalted dry roasted peanuts
2/3 Cup water
3 cloves of garlic
1 Tbsp soy sauce
2 tsp sesame oil
3 Tbsp brown sugar
2 Tbsp fish sauce
2 Tbsp lime juice
1 tsp Thai chili sauce
1/3 Cup coconut milk
Directions
- Call a meeting for the above groceries in a blender.
- Blend them to oblivion; smooth, tasty oblivion.
Clik here to view.
My dip is almost gone, I’m going to need to make another batch!
As soon as I made this I started dipping everything under the sun in it: the veggies in my take to work lunches, random leftovers from the fridge…. so yummy. I can’t wait to make chicken satay or to have a Polynesian pupu platter party. (Dare you to say that 5 times fast!)
What I really love about this particular recipe for peanut sauce is that it uses peanuts rather than peanut butter as a base. A peanut butter based peanut sauce is quite sublimely smooth, I will give you that, but starting off with peanuts just makes the sauce taste so much more vibrant.
Mr says that this peanut sauce is as good as in the restaurant.
This time last year: Stacked Summery Salad
And the year before: Pomegranate Lemonade Slush