peanut and sesame sauce

A sauce served on cold noodles, resembles an appetizer I had in a Chinese restaurant. Tastes good cold on various kinds of rice noodles or wheat noodles.

• 1/4 cup chili oil (take some oil and some (hot) pepper flakes... bring to simmer in oil, shut off and let cool down)
• 1/8 cup sesame seed oil
• 1/2-3/4 cup peanut butter
• 1 tsp minced garlic
• 1-2 tsp minced ginger

Mix all ingredients, and thin with a small amount of hot water if necessary... May be kept in the fridge for a few days before serving on noodles.

I make a slightly different peanut/sesame sauce. Served over udon, it is traditionally known as DANGER NOODLE. I like these either hot or cold; your leftovers will be GREAT. It would be fine fine on hot rice or stirfry vegetables as well, though.

For copious dinner for two, you need:

• sesame and/or peanut oil
• a shallot
• several cloves of garlic
• fivespice: cinnamon, clove, anise, ginger, I think coriander? I put coriander in at any rate.
• red pepper flakes, salt, pepper
• handful of sesame seeds
• tofu or meat if you want
• 3-4 big spoonfuls peanut butter
• 2 big spoonfuls tahini (or just more peanut butter)
• maybe 2 cups vegetable broth
• mirin OR pinches of sugar
• some kind of vinegar, pref Asian but whatever
• hot pepper oil
• chopped green onion and shredded carrot for garnish
• udon noodles OR rice AND/OR steamed vegetables such as broccoli, with which to eat the sauce.

If you have having noodles or rice, cook them while you are making the peanut sauce.

In a frying pan, heat up the oil. Mince up your shallot and garlic and throw them in the pan. Add sesame seeds, copious fivespice, salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes, and saute until everything is totally soft and fragrant and obviously delicious. If you want the extra protein, throw in some tofu or meat of some kind, and get it all browned and soaky in the deliciousness.

Add lots of peanut butter, tahini, and broth, and stir everything together. The broth will make it easier for the peanut butter and tahini to dissolve. You can use water if you need to, but clearly broth provides more actual flavor. It doesn't especially matter what proportion of peanut butter to tahini you use; do whatever you want.

This sauce should be spicy and sweet, so make with the spicing. Use some mirin or sugar, some vinegar, and some hot oil. We have minimal supplies in the Asian spicing area, so I was forced to use sugar and plain white vinegar as opposed to mirin and fish sauce and black vinegar. Clearly, if you have mirin and black vinegar, you can use those. Keep in mind that the fivespice and slowcooked garlic make this fairly sweet already; use more vinegar to balance it out. The hot oil amount depends on your spice tolerance; put in as much as you like.

Once everything is sufficiently dissolved and spiced correctly, reduce the sauce until it is fairly thick. You want it to stick to the noodles and the potential tofu all at once. Mine got a little grainy, which was fine.

When everything is good, toss with cooked udon or rice and put in your good big bowls. Top with chopped green onion and possibly some shredded carrot. Chopped peanuts are good too.

EAT DANGER NOODLE! Or danger rice. Or danger broccoli.