April 6, 2021

Keep this sauce in the refrigerator for inspiration all day long.

Around lunchtime, leftovers like noodles or grains and random raw or roasted vegetables become a bowl of something good. In this photo, it’s turkey meatballs, wild rice mix with peas from the night before and a little saucy goodness.

For dinner, I swab an entire cauliflower before roasting, marinate tofu or chicken pieces before grilling, and stir into any combination of stir-fried vegetables. Whenever I’m searching around for quick, inspired, and varied meals, it’s the sauces in the refrigerator that save the day.

Alternately, use lime or lemon or grapefruit instead of orange. Use gochuchang or sambal oelek or harissa instead of chili crisp. Use tahini instead of peanut butter. Use half miso half peanut butter. Add garlic. This is a jumping off point. You get the picture.

 

Peanut Orange Chili Sauce

Makes 1 cup

Slather on tofu, chicken, and fish before baking or broiling or grilling. Toss with noodles, dip vegetables, dress a hearty salad.

 

1/2 cup natural, no sugar, creamy or crunchy peanut butter (crunchy = slightly more peanut-y)

1/3 cup tamari or low sodium soy sauce

3 tablespoons toasted sesame oil

Zest and juice from 1 navel orange

2 tablespoons honey

1 to 2 tablespoons chili crisp, depending on tolerance for spice

1-inch piece of ginger root, peeled and roughly chopped

1 clove garlic, peeled

 

Place all of the ingredients in a blender or food processor and whir until totally smooth, 2 or 3 minutes. Add cold water, tablespoon by tablespoon, to loosen if it’s too thick. Store in the refrigerator in a covered jar and shake well before using. Keeps a week or longer.

 

Comments are closed.