Classic Peanut Sauce

Literally the only sauce that ever mattered.

This isn’t the first time I’ve published this recipe but, considering I’ve been eating it 1-5 times a week for the past decade, I think it deserves to be played on repeat.

I basically survived off this exact stuff back in 2013 when I was living in Soho, which sounds super glam except really I was essentially squatting in an apartment the size of my left foot that was leased to a dead woman, with a bathtub in my kitchen and no fridge. That winter, I would buy vegetables and store them on the fire escape. My prep station was a massive wood butcher block balanced on top of a grocery cart. This meant that three-course meals were out of the question, and nearly every night I would come home, steam myself a pile of tofu, kale, and yams, and serve the whole shebang over rice slathered in this sauce that made the entire shleppy experience worth my while.

This is also the sauce I used to impress my non-cooking friends in high school when we were broke and hungry, because I could usually whip it up with stuff I would find while rummaging in their parents kitchen.

You can put this sauce on pretty much anything and make it taste worthy of your mouth, but I strongly suggest any of the following:

• any kind of noodle

• brown rice

• steamed green vegetables

• cooked root vegetables

• raw red bell peppers

• steamed or fried tofu

• your finger

Basic Peanut Sauce

Prep time: 10 minutes

Makes: about 1/2 cups

Ingredients:

• 6 TBL unsweetened unsalted peanut butter

• 3 TBL tamari

• 3 TBL rice vinegar (or unfiltered apple cider vinegar)

• 2 TBL maple syrup

• 2 cloves of garlic

• 1 tsp fresh grated ginger

• 2 TBL toasted sesame oil (make sure it’s the toasted kind)

• 1/4 cup cold water

• Chili flakes to taste

How to do it:

Hot Tip:

If you don’t have a blender, you can make this sauce by hand by combining everything into a bowl, and using a zester to create a pulp from the garlic and ginger. Stir vigorously with a fork until all the water has been incorporated.

Combine all ingredients in a blender or food processor, and blend until creamy and smooth.

You can add 1 extra tablespoon of water if you’d like a thinner sauce. Thick sauce is better for dipping (think spring rolls), while a thinner sauce will coat your noodles more sufficiently.

Enjoy on hot or cold foods. Sauce will keep all week in your fridge, thanks to the high vinegar content. Make a bunch, and slather all your dinners in it. Meal prep cold noodle salads with it (rice noodles, cilantro, mint, shredded carrot). Just don’t freeze it– it might get weird.