Peanut sauce facts for kids
Peanut sauce with vegetables in pecel
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| Alternative names | Satay sauce, bumbu kacang, sambal kacang, pecel |
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| Type | Condiment |
| Place of origin | Indonesia |
| Serving temperature | Room temperature |
| Main ingredients | Ground roasted peanuts, water and spices |
| Other information | Now part of global cuisine, but associated mainly with Southeast Asian cuisine. |
Peanut sauce is a yummy sauce made from ground roasted or fried peanuts. It's also called satay sauce, bumbu kacang, sambal kacang, or pecel. This sauce is very popular in Indonesian cuisine and is used in many dishes around the world.
People use peanut sauce with different foods like meat and vegetables. It adds a lot of flavor to grilled meat on skewers, like satay. It's also poured over vegetables as a salad dressing, for example, in a dish called gado-gado. Sometimes, it's used as a dipping sauce for snacks.
Contents
What's in Peanut Sauce?
The main part of peanut sauce is ground roasted peanuts. You can also use peanut butter, but it might not taste quite the same. There are many ways to make peanut sauce, so it can have different flavors and textures.
A common recipe usually includes:
- Ground roasted peanuts or peanut butter
- Coconut milk
- Soy sauce
- Tamarind (a sour fruit paste)
- Galangal (a root like ginger)
- Garlic
- Spices like coriander seed or cumin
Other things that can be added are chili peppers (for a bit of spice), sugar, fried onion, and lemongrass. The amount of water mixed in changes how thick or thin the sauce is.
In many Western countries, people often use peanut butter to make peanut sauce because it's easy to find. But to make it more like the traditional way, some recipes suggest grinding roasted peanuts from scratch. They might even use a stone mortar and pestle to get the perfect texture and earthy taste. This sauce is often served with chicken skewers, beef satay, or warm noodles.
Where is Peanut Sauce Popular?
Indonesian Peanut Sauce
Peanut sauce, or bumbu kacang, is a very important part of Indonesian cuisine. It's used in many famous Indonesian dishes. Some of these include satay, gado-gado, karedok, ketoprak, rujak, pecel, and even Chinese-influenced dishes like siomay.
Peanut sauce is usually added to main ingredients like meat or vegetables to make them taste better. It can also be a dipping sauce, like sambal kacang (a mix of ground chili and fried peanuts) for otak-otak or ketan. It's also used as a dressing for vegetables.
Peanuts first came to Indonesia from Mexico in the 1500s. They were brought by merchants from Portugal and Spain. Peanuts grew very well in the warm weather of Southeast Asia. Today, you can find them roasted and chopped on top of many dishes, and in marinades and dipping sauces.
Indonesian peanut sauce is known for its balanced taste. It uses ingredients like fried peanuts, gula jawa (palm sugar), garlic, shallot, ginger, tamarind, lemon juice, lemongrass, salt, chilli, pepper, and sweet soy sauce. These are all ground together and mixed with water. The secret to a good Indonesian peanut sauce is that it's "not too thick and not too watery." Indonesian peanut sauce is usually less sweet than the Thai version.
Peanut Sauce in the Netherlands
The Netherlands adopted peanut sauce because of its history with Southeast Asia. Besides being used in traditional Indonesian and Dutch-Indonesian dishes, it's also become a common side dish in Dutch meals. For example, it's eaten at a barbecue or with French fries.
A popular combination at Dutch fast food places is French fries with mayonnaise and peanut sauce. Sometimes, raw chopped onions and ketchup or Dutch curry sauce are added too. This dish is called Frietje Oorlog, which means "Fries War." Peanut sauce is also eaten with baguette, bread, cucumber, or potatoes. It's even an ingredient in a deep-fried snack called Satékroket, which is a croquette (a small, breaded, fried roll) made with an Indonesian satay-based filling.
Peanut Sauce Around the World
Peanut sauce is enjoyed in many other countries too:
- In Chinese cooking, it's often used on grilled meat. It's also found in hot pot and dan dan noodles.
- In Hong Kong, one popular dish using this sauce is satay beef noodles, often eaten for breakfast.
- In India, a spicy peanut sauce called groundnut chutney is served with breakfast foods like idli and dosa.
- In the Philippines, peanut sauce is called sarsa ng mani. It's used as a dipping sauce for satay and different kinds of lumpia (spring rolls).
- In Singapore, peanut sauce is a dipping sauce for satay. It's also eaten with rice vermicelli in a dish called satay bee hoon.
- In Vietnam, it's called tương đậu phộng. It's used in the cuốn diếp dish. The Vietnamese version also includes hoisin sauce.
See also
In Spanish: Salsa satay para niños
