I love making peanut sauce, and I especially like to make it in the summer when locally grown fresh veggies are available. Here’s one example of a peanut noodle dish.

I had some shiitake and oyster mushrooms from Hazel Dell.

I sliced them and sauteed them in a little butter and peanut oil with 1/2 of a yellow onion and some scallions.

While the mushrooms cook, boil some water for your noodles. I used a package of udon noodles and prepared them according to the instructions on the package. Pay attention to the instructions because over or under-cooked noodles do not make a great dish.

When the noodles are done, rinse them in cold water and drain well. Then transfer them to a large bowl and add the mushrooms as well as some other veggies. I added sliced carrots and blanched broccoli florets.

Pour on as much peanut sauce as you like and mix well.

Get creative with some seasonal veggies and enjoy.

I love peanuts. Peanut butter. Peanut butter cookies. Roasted peanuts. Spicy peanuts. There is something about the flavor of peanuts that is very appealing to me and I am so very grateful I do not suffer from peanut allergies.

That said, I don’t eat many peanuts anymore because I mostly eat almonds. Almond butter, roasted almonds, etc. So, it is always a special treat when I decide to make peanut sauce for something like peanut noodles or Gado Gado, a traditional Indonesian vegetable salad covered in peanut sauce. Yum. That always brings me back to one of my favorite places on earth: Indonesia- the inspiration for this sauce.

So, here’s your warning: This isn’t really a quick sauce to prepare. You need to follow through with a few steps, but it is well worth the time and effort, I promise.

Step 1: Thinly slice 4 cloves of garlic and fry them with 3-5 dried Thai chilies (I always go with 5) in a couple tablespoons of peanut oil until the garlic is golden and toasted and the chilies are a little puffed.

Step 2: Remove these from the heat and oil to stop them from cooking. Let them cool on some paper towels while prepping the rest of the sauce.

In my kitchen, I have a step 3: Make peanut butter. I put 2 cups of peanuts in the Vita-Mix and make fresh peanut butter in about one minute’s time. If you don’t own a Vita-Mix yet, make sure you are using real peanut butter. Basically, that means please, please, please only use peanut butter if the the ingredients read: Peanuts. Or, Peanuts and Salt.

Step 4: In a bowl or large Pyrex measuring cup, add approximately 1 cup of peanut butter. Everything in this recipe is approximate, so you can play with the flavors and add more of something or less according to your tastes.

Next, add:

• 5 TB soy sauce
• 1/2 cup honey
• juice from 2 lemons
• juice from 1/2 lime
• 1/4 cup warm water (it is easier to mix with warm water rather than cold)

I have a special attachment to my mortar and pestle because I bought it in Indonesia.

Add the garlic and chilies to your sauce and mix well.

I made a big bowl of peanut noodles with this sauce. Too bad I didn’t double the recipe and store some in the fridge for a week or so. Next time.

The heat in this sauce comes from the fire roasted peppers I bought from Ollin Farms. If you don’t have peppers like these, you will need to substitute with chili peppers or hot sauce.