Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Eid Open House Menu 2 - Peanut Sauce with Rice Cake

peanut sauce

What is Hari Raya / Eid-ul Fitri for us Malaysian without ketupat? Ketupat is rice cooked in an individual baskets of woven coconut leaves. I still remember when I was a kid and went back to my father's hometown in Johor for Hari Raya, my late grandmother and aunties would get all the kids to sit down and learn the art of weaving coconut leaves into ketupat wrapper. Unfortunately, none of us did quite get it. Not then and definitely not now. It is rather sad but thank god for instant rice cake which may not be ketupat but it serves the same purpose.


I was pretty nervous when I could not find any at the asian supermarket near our place. I asked around and check the internet and finally someone told me to check out 99 Ranch Market. I have only been to the one in Anaheim a long time before and did not like the place so I decided to check out their outlet in Irvine. It was a Saturday and the parking was full that we had to park at the 30min parking area. Yup, 30 min for me to find my instant ketupat. But luck was on my side and I found it in the 3rd aisle that I went to. Phew!

For my openhouse, I made the instant ketupat for my soto and also to go with the peanut sauce. Peanut sauce is my mom's specialty. Every Raya, she will make peanut sauce. My aunts tried to make it but somehow their's did not turn out quite like my mom's peanut sauce so they just appointed my mom as THE person responsible for peanut sauce. I never did bother to find out how she make her peanut sauce that has became somewhat a legendary until I came here. After a few times of not-quite-like-mom's peanut sauce, this year, luck was on my side and my peanut sauce turned out really well. Just as good as my mom's famous peanut sauce. There are a lot of ways and ingredients to make peanut sauce out there but my mom's peanut sauce only have 5 ingredients and peanut butter is NOT 1 of them. Do try these simple and easy peanut sauce recipe and share with me the result.

peanut sauce
Peanut Sauce

24oz (680gm) dry-roasted peanuts, (I use store bought)
3 cups water
1/4 cup sambal oelek (less if you dont like it too spicy)
4oz palm sugar
salt

1. Grind the peanuts in a food processor. Longer if you want a finer peanuts.

2. In a large pot boil the water, sambal oelek, palm sugar and ground peanut. Stir continuosly.

3. Once its boiled, turn down heat and let it simmer. Add in salt and taste. Give a good stir every 15-20min.. This will take a very long time. It took me between 2-2.5hrs to get the right consistency. The peanut and water should combined nicely.

The recipe will give you a lot of peanut sauce. Just freeze the amount that you are not using for later use. Besides ketupat, you can also enjoy peanut sauce with satay or bread or even crackers.






35 comments:

NorthBorneoGirl said...

Thank God for instant ketupat! :) I need to top up my supply .. cannot find here .. so have to ask mom to send it via air :)

Your peanut sauce looks really yummy!

Meg said...

This looks delicious! I have never heard of instant rice cake, but I want to go find some! Thanks!

Salt N Turmeric said...

Norma, thank god indeed! I wouldnt know how to make them myself lol. There's none there? aww. I nak hantar kat u, now usps standard rate for international shipping dah min usd40. teruk kan?

Meg, thank you. The instant rice cake usually comes in a few brands but usually the pic will have satay on it. ;) Let me know if you cant find it in your area and we can arrange something.

@ GiGi House of Beauty said...

hi there,
i wonder how amazing your mom satay sauce not required any santan!! it sound like easy to make huh? i wanna try it out..i used to make the peanut sauce once b4, but the ingredient calls for santan, coriander seeds powder, assam juice..bla bla bla, so tedious. Thanks for the recipe so much!

MamaFaMi said...

I love peanut sauce with nasi impit! Kalau ada lodeh, lagi ngam!

Anonymous said...

this is such a cool recipe. i love trying things that i've never heard of. it makes the finished product taste even better.

NorthBorneoGirl said...

It's okay dear .. I will make it my next food adventure - seeking instant ketupat in Vancouver hehe .. I know the mailing pxs has really gone crazy! .. tht's why I malas nak order online nowadays :( maybe I will wait till mailing px goes down .. till hell freezes! :D

Rebecca Ilham said...

Yes, no coconut milk! This is perfect!

Salt N Turmeric said...

Gigi, yup my mom's peanut sauce recipe doesn't require any coconut milk or ginger or asam juice. lol. But it is good. Try it and let me know ok?

Mama, memang sah orang johor makan nasi impit dgn kuah lodeh and kuah kacang. hehe. My aunt gave me the recipe but the ingredients, mak oi. berjela2! so i told her takpelah, next time aje.

Joanna, there's something about trying something that you've never heard of. But are sure you've never had peanut sauce before? thai restaurants usually have them altho it tastes different than ours. Let me know the result ya?

Norma, sad kan tht they increase and leave us with no option? Nak hantar benda yg 3-4oz pun kena bayar byk tu. :(

Becky, you dont eat coconut milk is it? It seems like everybody is used to peanut sauce with coconut milk. I guess my peanut sauce recipe is the only one NOT using coconut milk?

Zue Murphy said...

Farina, your peanut sauce look nice and delicious. I like simple cooking like this. But I must have lemongrass and dry shrimp in it.

HomeKreation said...

This is the simplest recipe I've seen so far for peanut sauce. TQ. Will try to make this one day, may be good to go with Pecal!

AlongRoz

Salt N Turmeric said...

Zue, i used to add lemongrass in my peanut sauce too but this year i decided to follow my mom's peanut sauce recipe to the 'T'. ;)

Roz, i was surprised too when my mom told me thats all the ingredients she uses. Alamak. U just gave me an idea to eat my peanut sauce with pecal. Gotta go get some long beans. hehe.

@ GiGi House of Beauty said...

hi, i hv tried your peanut sauce right away after i read your blog! aiyo, sungguh sedap dan enak kawan! my hubby said exactly macam pasar malam jual punya...sungguh senang hati lah i! Ribuan terima kasih ya...i grill some chicken and beef satay to dip with your mom recipe of satay sauce. YUM YUM.

Anis Zainal-Pacleb said...

babe, honestly when looking at the last pix tu, telan air liur ok....

p/s : gorges pixs... lurve them to the max....

Salt N Turmeric said...

Gigi, im glad you and family liked my easy peanut sauce recipe. Siap buat satay lagi! ;)

Anis, gambar tu memang nak buat orang drooling babe. lol.

Yatie_T said...

Farina,
the sauce looks so yummy and senang pulak tu nak buat. My mom's recipe includes coconut milk, lemongrass,ginger dan macam-macam lagilah. I buat sekali aje, lepas tu tak kuasa nak buat.... ingredient nya berjela-jela. Will have to try yours soon. Thanks.

Nazarina A said...

Just a yummy dish period!
I make my peanut sauce with roasted peanuts too

I have a chocolate award for you, because I know that you have to be a chocoholic!

http://giddygastronome.blogspot.com/2008/10/happy-halloween-eat-drink-and-be-scary.html

My Taste Heaven said...

wow that looks good!

Charmaine said...

Thank you for the recipe for the peanut sauce. I usually cook my nasi impit in the rice cooker using calrose rice (which contains more stratch). Tastes good too. But I will try your peanut sauce recipe, looks simple.

Salt N Turmeric said...

Yatie, dulu pun i letak segala jenins ingredients jugak. Then i decided why not just follow my mom's simple peanut sauce recipe. ;)

Nazarina, thank you. Il go and check out the award soon. *hugs*

MyTasteHeave, thank you. :)

Charming, since i can easily find instant rice cake i think il stick to tht for now. :)

Anonymous said...

great recipe, thanks for posting it. Heading out to an Asian market this week, I'm looking forward to trying this!

tigerfish said...

I bought the same rice cake ketupat before(from R99) to go with my satay! Hee heee....

Salt N Turmeric said...

Alexander, good luck! Do come back and share your experience ya?

Tigerfish, i guess r99 only sells tht brand. :)

Jo said...

I love ketupat and kuay satay. I can just eat this on its own. I was just back in KL over the weekend and indulged in some rendang and lemang. Yum!

Salt N Turmeric said...

You lucky girl you, Jo! I too wud just eat ketupat with satay sauce for breakfast or lunch or dinner.

CECIL said...

I heard so much about this instant ketupat but have never come across it. It'll make my life so much easier. Nothing can bet good peanut sauce with some ketupat.

ange said...

this recipe is so simple and GOOD! your mom must be an awesome cook. thank you for sharing.

ange

ps. thank you again for the rendang recipe... i love love LOVE it!

Argus Lou said...

Hi again! I'm on a roll trying the goodies on your blog, looks like. I love your mum's peanut sauce! But I added a few tablespoons of the chicken satay marinade (instead of wasting it) to 1/3 of your recipe.

One question: What does your sambal oelek consist of? The one I buy here contains mostly pureed red chillies and salt. Thanks for sharing.

Salt N Turmeric said...

Hi Argus, yes i do read all the comments that you left me. TQ! :) Guess you made the peanut sauce for your satay? BBQ?

sambal oelek here consist of chili, salt and vinegar. Maybe something like chili boh back home? Not quite sure since i dont eat chili boh. lol. The reason i use sambal oelek is because dried chili is way to pedas while fresh red chili is very expensive here. Just write me an email if you have further question ya?

Argus Lou said...

Chicken satay (tanpa lidi!) has been marinating overnight. Now awaiting other half to come home and then I can start grilling it in the oven - no barbeque lah (pity)!

I made my own nasi impit with jasmine rice boiled with a bit of salt, a bit of coconut milk and a bit of sushi rice. Then I used clingwrap to himpit the rice and pressed another pan over it but it's not heavy enough, so the 'cubes' aren't so stable, haha. I also have cut cucumbers - to mop up the remaining yummy peanut sauce later. :)

Salt N Turmeric said...

Does tht mean the chicken pieces are bigger than regular satay pieces? My fren make her own nasi impit too. Thank god i can easily get instant ketupat here. If not die lah coz i dont think i can make a good nasi impit. hehe.

p.s. dont forget onion!

Argus Lou said...

No, the chicken meat is ready sold in strips quite similar in size to M'sian satay, some a bit smaller. I can't eat raw onion, so I didn't serve it (can't stand onion breath, so didn't serve it to other half either!). Hey, nasi impit is different from ketupat, right? Isn't ketupat saltier? Some ketupat contain a filling of beans or is that something else?

Other half doesn't fancy nasi impit, so he was glad mine fell apart, haha.

Salt N Turmeric said...

ready-cut chicken meat? very easy one huh? lol. nasi impit is basically the same as ketupat except tht ketupat uses daun kelapa (i think) so tht gives the extra smell. the taste shud be the same since i remember makign ketupat when i was little and we didn't add any salt to it.

easy-salad-recipe.com said...

I'm trying to learn more about forein cuisuine, this looks really good, I'm going to try it on my famly. Thanks.

Jehan said...

Assalamualaikum. Thanks for the simple recipe. There aren't much asian stuff available here and I really want to learn how to cook malaysian cooking after so long living abroad!