A stack of papers sits on the counter by the fridge. It is next to a pile of magazines, calendar, and notes. It all gets shuffled around and hidden when guests are expected. The same counter serves as a beverage area when entertaining. A tub of ice, glasses, and assorted beverages take the place of my blogging office area. Those papers and magazines contain my to-do list of recipes. Tackling the to-do's may lessen the pile a bit until new ones pile on top. One of the to-do's I tackled is making Asian Peanut Dressing. It has been a long time coming.
A recipe caught my attention back in April. My friend Heather of girlichef shared her Peanut-Sesame Soba Noodles with Chicken & Kale. It was one for Weekday Supper and I immediately hit the print button as soon as I read it. The whole dish is a winner as far as I'm concerned. The element of it that stood above the rest was the dressing. So the recipe sat on my counter since April. Finally I decided it was time to give it a whirl. I did tweak it a bit and substituted ingredients I had on hand. A touch of heat was added with a dash of sriracha. I also used my trusty blender as I did with Oil and Lemon Dressing.
Asian Peanut Dressing is for salads or a dipping sauce. It has a certain creaminess from peanut butter. Fresh ginger and garlic give it an aromatic richness. Soy sauce is the salty element and honey gives it a touch of sweetness. Chopped peanuts added before serving give a crunchy texture. It's everything I've enjoyed from various peanut dressings at Thai restaurants all combined into one.
Which Asian cuisine is your favorite? It is so hard for me to choose. It all depends on what I'm in to mood to eat. One thing for sure is you won't find me passing up Japanese (sushi to be specific) or Thai. I have a feeling I've unleashed a new craving for Asian food. Stay tuned to see which other recipes I tackle from my stack of papers.
Asian Peanut Dressing
Ingredients
- ½ cup rice bran or light cooking oil
- ¼ cup rice vinegar
- 3 tablespoons soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon sesame oil
- 2 teaspoons honey
- 1 garlic clove minced
- 1 ½ teaspoons grated fresh ginger
- ¼ cup creamy peanut butter
- 1 teaspoon sriracha
- ¼ teaspoon fresh ground pepper
- Chopped peanuts for garnish
Instructions
- Put all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth.
- Transfer to a salad dressing serving container.
- Garnish with chopped peanuts when serving if desired.
The contrast of the heat from the sriracha and sweet peanut butter is intriguing. Might be good over cold noodles, too. Sort of like chuka somen - a Japanese-style soba salad with a Chinese accent.
If you are ever in LA, I'd love to introduce you to some of the best sushi chefs in the world =)
This dressing is great over cold noodles, especially soba.
That has my name written all over it!
Yummy! I love this dressing as we have salad based on peanut dressing.
Thanks Linda!
I was thinking like Kim...that this would be fabulous over noodles, too! What a lovely, versatile dressing!
Thanks Liz
Oh,I can completely relate to the endless stack of blog related papers, recipes to try, notes on recipes I've already tried, notes clipped to the fridge, etc. And the "sanitation" that happens when people come over. 🙂
I'm glad no one drops by, or at least not often, to catch those messy piles of papers and magazines.
Love this dressing. It would be great with grilled chicken as well, almost like Chicken Satay. Gotta try this one. Great post!
Oh great idea to use it for Chicken Satay. Thanks Bill!
I love the addition of sriracha! I could eat this on pretty much anything :). Thanks for the love!
You are welcome Heather and thanks for posting such a great recipe for Weekday Supper.
Doesn't it feel so good to get something off of your to-do list? I can totally relate. I use the dining room table as my blogging area, and there's always a huge stack of cookbooks, recipes, and ripped-out magazine pages sitting next to me, just waiting to be utilized!
Yes, it feels very good to check off something from the to-do list. I'm glad I'm not the only one with blogging piles.
Thanks for sharing this peanut sauce, Renee. I love this Asian condiment though I barely make it enough. So summery. G-d knows where is the recipe I use so good to have yours.
Thank you Shulie. This is one sauce I might as well make a giant batch because I'll eat it on or with so many things.