Thai Sesame Peanut Sauce

Some foods I could eat at every meal. Peanut butter is one of them. My favorite peanut dish has always been Pad Thai with that rich, silky sweet sauce. As a rule, the best Pad Thai usually comes from the sketchiest restaurants where you’re not really sure what they’re cooking with and you’re not sure you want to know.

But this recipe wasn’t inspired from a Thai restaurant; it comes from Ina Garten. One episode, Ina was making a lunch for some couple that paid a God awful amount of money at a charity auction to have lunch with her. The worst part was the pants the husband(not Jeffrey) was wearing; they were turquoise with some yellow nautical pattern—God, I wanted to turn off the TV right there.

But I’m glad I didn’t because Ina made an Asian noodle salad that sounded too good to pass up. This weekend I grabbed some foreign ingredients I don’t normally keep around(tahini, roasted red chili paste) and tried to imitate the recipe as best I could from memory. If you can’t find roasted red chili paste, it’s basically just red chilis, fish sauce, garlic, and a heck of a lot of sodium. The unique flavor really helps add a lot of depth without much effort.

Thai Sesame Peanut Sauce

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup peanut butter
• 1/4 cup raw or roasted tahini
• 2 Tablespoons soy sauce
• 4 teaspoons Thai Kitchen roasted red chili paste
• 1 Tablespoon honey
• 1 Tablespoon toasted sesame oil
• 1 teaspoon chili powder(optional)

Combine all the ingredients together and whisk until emulsified. Add more salt to taste if necessary. If the sauce isn’t hot enough, continue adding chili powder until it reaches your desired spice level.

After that you can smother this on grilled chicken, or toss it with noodles and sprouts, or mix it into a salad like I did. In the mix were:

• Mixed greens
• Shredded carrots
• Mushrooms
• Firm tofu

I was really impressed with how quick and easy the sauce was to make. I will definitely be whipping it up again. You can make a big batch of this and refrigerate the extra sauce in a sealed container for up to a week. And if it’s good enough to serve in the Hamptons, it’s good enough to serve wherever you are.