Last night, I wanted to make dinner for my girlfriend and myself. Unfortunately, we didn't really have much food left in the house. I made a very simple stir-fry type dish with chicken, broccoli, cabbage, carrots, onions, and noodles. For the sauce, I wanted something that packed a punch without being too hot for my girlfriend's delicate taste buds. The obvious solution? Garlic! The sauce ended up being pretty Thai inspired.
Ingredients:
- 1/3 cup oil, separated (sesame would be a good choice)
- 2 tbsp minced garlic (5-6 large cloves)
- 2 tbsp smooth peanut butter, preferably the natural stuff.
- 1 tbsp lime juice
- 2 tbsp vinegar (rice wine or white)
- 1 tsp+ Sriracha
- 1/4 tsp fresh or ground ginger
- Crushed red pepper to taste
Instructions:
- Put 2 tbsp oil in a small saucepan over medium-low heat.
- Add the minced garlic and saute, stirring often, until it starts turning gold.
- Add the peanut butter and stir until it's a homogeneous mixture.
- Stir in the remaining oil.
- Stir in the vinegar and lime juice.
- Add ground ginger and Sriracha. Go to town with the Sriracha if you like heat - it complements the flavors really nicely. Stir.
- Add crushed red pepper to taste. Stir.
- Cook for 5-10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Taste the sauce! It should be a bit grainy, but if it has too much garlic bite you can keep it on the heat for a while to let it smooth out.
Then, just add to your stir-fried vegetables/meat/noodles and you're golden! I was kind of surprised by this - my girlfriend generally dislikes Asian food and spiciness, but she went absolutely ape for this dish.
Consider these instructions a base. The nice thing about sauces is that they are very, very easy to play around with. If you don't want peanut butter, make sure to add something else as an emulsifier to keep the oil and water-based ingredients together (mustard should work well. A bit of heavy cream or mayonnaise could also do the trick). Expect a science article on emulsions soon.
StirFriday!
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