Do you like peanuts, peanut butter, garlic, hot pepper, creamy sauces, dips, and salad dressings, Asian flavors? Are you looking for ways to make vegetables more appealing to your family and friends? If so, you’re in luck!
The dip
Today I’m going to show you how to make a delicious, low-fat, dairy-free, dip and salad dressing using natural peanut butter. You can make it mild or spicy, thick or thin. I like to serve it with parboiled vegetables, raw celery and jicama sticks, or over a tossed green salad or a main course salad that includes chicken breast, pork, or beef.
Kids love it
I’ve watched picky kids take second helpings of vegetables when offered this sauce. It was a huge hit when I taught 4th, 5th, and 6th graders at a local elementary school how to make it. They helped measure our the ingredients and they did all the mixing. They couldn’t get over how good peanut butter tasted with garlic and pepper and how good it tasted with vegetables. Parboil veggies instead of steaming or serving them raw
Check out my blog post on parboiling/blanching vegetables for the best preparation method. (It beats serving broccoli, cauliflower, and carrots raw. It makes vegetable tender, tasty, and digestible. It preserves more of their brilliant colors than steaming. It makes more of the nutrients available for absorption than when they veggies are raw. It makes the veggies more tender, tasty, and digestible and the leftovers look and taste just as good the next day.
The veggies on the dip try on the right were blanched. Photo from the cover of The Garden of Eating: A Produce Dominated Diet & Cookbook (Planetary Press, 2004) >>>>>
The idea
I got the idea for this dip recipe many years ago from a book called Flat Breads & Flavors by Naomi Duguid and Jeffry Alford. Their recipe called for Cayenne pepper (a whole teaspoon of it). I prefer making it with ground chipotlé (smoked dried jalapeno pepper powder) and using less of it since not everyone likes HOT stuff. I tripled the amount of garlic. I added the option of different kinds of vinegar or replacing the vinegar with lime or orange juice. I also increased the scallions, because I love the flavor and texture they add, and offered the option of using chopped cilantro instead of scallions.
Allergic to peanuts?
If you're allergic to peanuts or cooking for someone who is you can replace peanut butter with roasted cashew butter. You can buy it or made your own cashew butter from roasted cashews. FYI: I didn't care for the recipe made with almond butter.
Double up
My cooking students, clients, friends, and family members have enjoyed this recipe so much that many of them make double or triple batches to ensure ample leftovers. You’ll see below that you can even make a big batch and freeze some for future meals, a great idea for company or in anticipation of a busy week.
If you want to see me make this step by step, check out my You Tube Video:
Spicy Peanut Sauce with Chipotlé
Prep: 20 minutes/ Yield: 1 1/2 cups; 9 servings
A few notes about ingredients: Look for organic peanut butter bottled in glass (not plastic!) with no added salt, sugar, hydrogenated oil, or soybeans. Freshly ground peanut produces a thin, watery dressing.
I often make a double or triple batch, then freeze whatever I don’t think I’ll use up within a week or two. For a triple batch of dressing, use a 16-ounce jar of nut butter; triple everything else. For a double batch of dip, use a 16-ounce jar of nut butter; double everything else.
The key ingredient is ground chipotlé (smoked dried jalapeno pepper powder). Look for in the spice section or on the enthnic aisle of natural foods stores, gourmet markets, and Mexican grocery stores. It adds a rich smoky taste that’s less sharp than cayenne pepper.
Ingredients:
½ to 3/4 cup roasted non-hydrogenated, unsalted, unsweetened peanut butter
1/2 cup warm filtered water, additional tablespoon as needed
2 tablespoons tamari soy sauce or 1 teaspoon finely ground unrefined sea salt
1/4 cup raw apple cider vinegar, brown rice vinegar or lime juice (see variations below)
1/2 teaspoon ground chipotlé (start with less; add more if you like)
3 medium garlic cloves, minced or pressed
2 to 4 tablespoons cold water for dressing,
1/4 cup minced, fresh scallions or cilantro
1. Don’t discard the oil on top of new jar of peanut butter. Blend the entire contents of the jar in a food processor or a bowl with a sturdy spoon. If you’re not makinga triple batch, return the mixture to the original jar and refrigerate the unused portion.
2. Combine the salt or tamari, warm water, and peanut butter in blender, food processor, or a bowl with a whisk and blend until smooth. Add the vinegar or lime or orange juice, chipotlé, garlic, and 2 to 4 tablespoons of cold water and blend. If the mixture appears thin, mix in an additional ¼ cup peanut butter. Stir in the scallions or cilantro.
3. Pour the mixture into a jar, cover, and refrigerate for at least 4 hours or freeze for 1 or 2 hours, until thick, before serving. The mixture will thicken in the fridge. If desired, thin with additional water. Freeze whatever you don’t plan to use within 10 days.
1/4 cup: 96 calories, 5 g protein, 4 g carbohydrate (1 g fiber), 7 g fat, 9 g calcium, 96 to 192 mg sodium
Variations:
* Spicy Peanut Dip: Add an additional 1/4 to 1/3 cup peanut butter in step 2 above.
* Spicy Peanut-Orange Sauce with Chipotlé: Replace warm water with orange juice or replace the vinegar with frozen orange juice concentrate for a sweeter taste. This makes a fantastic marinade and sauce for pork, shrimp, or chicken breast halves.
* Peanut Sauce for Kids Who Don't Like Red Pepper or Garlic: Omit chipotlé, garlic, and scallions from the master recipe. Add 1 tablespoon finely minced or grated fresh ginger root, ginger juice, or ginger purée, and 2 tablespoons of honey, agavé nectar, or maple syrup. Taste and adjust flavorings as needed. Serve over plain chicken breast, baked sweet potatoes, squash, noodles, or steamed or parboiled carrots, broccoli, or mixed vegetables.
* If you're allergic to peanuts make Spicy Cashew Sauce: Substitute roasted cashew butter in the basic recipe or any of the variations.
Source: The Garden of Eating: A Produce Dominated Diet & Cookbook by Rachel Albert Matesz & Don Matesz (Planetary Press, Copyright 2004)
To order and get a FREE sample shopping list for the menus in the book, click here:
Comments