peanuts & coconut milk

[alacarte]

I've been whacking my head against the wall trying to figure out how to make this recipe work.

I suspect the answer is easy -- maybe a matter of technique?

I'm trying to refine a spicy peanut dressing to accompany a salad. What I'm working with now is essentially one part pureed peanuts and one part coconut milk, plus smaller amounts of red curry paste, lime juice, and sugar.

The final product tastes great, but the texture is lumpy, oily, and generally offputting. Any thoughts on how I can fix this?

I've been pureeing roasted peanuts in a food processor, then combining all the ingredients in a saucepan and simmering, stirring now and then. The peanuts break down a bit and the sauce becomes creamy and thickens a bit. Once the sauce cools, the oil from the peanuts rise to the top.

Help! How can I make this smooth and pourable without affecting the taste too much?

[Carrot Top]

Well - this probably is not what you want to do for it might not be considered "authentic" - but I do a similar recipe but have always used the shortcut of simply using unsweetened peanut butter rather than the peanuts themselves.

Not sure about "exact" proportions but I guesstimate as to what the peanuts *would* be in measurement after the intended chopping-up/pureeing then use that amount of peanut butter -probably for 1C peanuts it might be around a little more than a half cup peanut butter?

Anyway - it does work.

Just an off-the-cuff answer. Probably someone can come up with a much more scientific one that will help, too.

[alacarte]

Thanks so much...

I'm less concerned with "authenticity" and more concerned with pulling together a recipe that works and is easy for someone else to replicate.

Do you cook your version on the stovetop, or just blend it all together?

PS, I enjoyed your Valentine's Day article!

[scubadoo97]

I make a peanut dressing using lime juice and zest, rice vinegar, fish sauce, peanut butter, ginger, garlic, soy sauce, oil, sugar and you could add a little coconut milk it would work. Blend together with stick blender.

[Carrot Top]

The sauce is put together in the mini-foodprocessor then is poured over the rest of the recipe which is already hot and almost-ready-to-serve in a wok on the top of the stove. Just a few more minutes of heat and some tossing together and all is set. (The rest of the ingredients are previously-cooked noodles and stir-fry veggies. . .oh! with chicken or shrimp or beef sometimes, too.)

I've never heated the sauce separately before tossing with the other ingredients - it does seem possible that it might break if brought up to a certain temp, even with the peanut butter shortcut.

Yummy stuff.

(And thanks, about the story. . . )

P.S. Scubadoo, how do you heat your sauce (if you do?)

Edited February 13, 2006 by Carrot Top (log)

[scubadoo97]

This is something I would use on a salad, cold noodles or as a marinade or dipping sauce. I would not heat this as a rule.

[alacarte]

This is something I would use on a salad, cold noodles or as a marinade or dipping sauce.  I would not heat this as a rule.

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Scuba, thank you for this.

How much peanut butter do you use? Is it a couple of teaspoons, or a full cup?

[A Patric]

Why not head to the local health food store for some liquid lecithin. That's what the stuff is for after all: emulsification of various liquids

A very little bit of lecithin and your oil separation problems will be a thing of the past.

Sincerely,

Alan

Edited February 13, 2006 by A Patric (log)

[scubadoo97]

This is something I would use on a salad, cold noodles or as a marinade or dipping sauce.  I would not heat this as a rule.

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Scuba, thank you for this.

How much peanut butter do you use? Is it a couple of teaspoons, or a full cup?

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I don't measure anything. Because of this I don't bake. I would think a tbs or 2. Keep dipping and tasting until you like the consistency and taste. I also use a sweet Thai chili paste sometimes in these dressing/sauces. Adds a little heat and sweetness.

[scubadoo97]

I would use peanut butter in the dressing to give it a smooth texture and taste but adding some crushed peanuts would be nice for some crunch or you could top the salad with some crushed toasted peanuts. I also lean toward using some fresh Thai basil and mint in my salads to give it a bright freshness that is so typical of Viet/Thai salads. Yumm I'm getting hungry for this now!

[Shalmanese]

Exactly. Most peanut butters are just peanuts, salt and a bit of lecithin, why go to all that work when you can just buy it. I would also throw in a bit of fish sauce to round out the salty flavours in that dressing.

[alacarte]

Thanks again for all the suggestions. I'm going to try the recipe again tonight -- this time with peanut butter.

I have regular (sweetened) peanut butter, which includes lecithin, and unsweetened peanut butter, which doesn't include lecithin. I can't seem to find an unsweetened peanut butter that also includes stabilizers -- they all have oil at the top and the "please stir before serving" warning.

Ideally I'd prefer unsweetened, and would just add a teaspoon of sugar to the recipe. But I'll try the recipe both ways and see what happens.

I'm also going to try a version with an Asian-style vinaigrette base, and just a small amount of peanut butter blended in.

Will check back in tomorrow with final results of what works best!

[Carrot Top]

Sitting in front of me is "Peter Pan No Sugar Added Creamy" peanut butter. Ingredients peanuts, peanut oil, partially hydr veg oils, salt, sucrose. No stirring needed, no separation. It is a new item on the shelves of the market I usually go to (Kroger).

The sauce recipe I use is peanut butter (about 1 C); 1 T minced garlic; 1" pc. ginger peeled and chopped; 3/4 C coconut cream; 1 Tbs soy sauce; 1 tsp. hot chili sauce (Chinese).

Can't wait to see what you finally come up with!

[scubadoo97]

I've used the natural BB with the oil on top and it works fine. Even taste more like peanuts. Another method of incorporation garlic and ginger into the dressing is to use a mortar and pestle and make a paste of the two using salt and or sugar as an abrasive

[alacarte]

Thanks again for everyone's advice. It was very helpful.

I made three changes when I tried the recipe last night, and the end result was successful!

Change #1: I used peanut butter (regular Skippy peanut butter). It had the stabilizers and the ingredients included sugar (not high fructose crap) and salt.

Change #2: I omitted the sugar from my list of ingredients, since there was already some in the peanut butter (a bit too much, IMHO).

Change #3: Heated over VERY low heat, stirring frequently. I think one of my earlier mistakes was to bring the mixture to a boil and then simmered the sauce. I suspect the too-high heat was one reason it separated.

The end result tasted mostly like peanut butter, so I upped the amount of lime juice and chili paste. The end result was still a little thick for my taste, so I added a couple more tablespoons of coconut milk and stirred it in, and that worked well.

The end product was really addictive -- it would be great on cold noodles!