Peanut sauce
Condiment
Top 10 pairings
Peanut sauce (Indonesian bumbu kacang or sambal kacang, Malay kuah kacang) is a rich, roasted-peanut condiment built on ground peanuts loosened with water or coconut milk and seasoned with chilli, garlic, shallot, palm sugar, tamarind or lime and a salty ferment such as kecap manis or shrimp paste. Nutty, savoury, sweet, sour and hot all at once, it is the iconic sauce of satay skewers and the dressing of gado-gado, poured warm and glossy over grilled meat, tofu, blanched vegetables or rice cakes.
Picking a good onedrag
Warm, glossy, deeply roastedStiff, rancid, fuzzy
Sound sauceEveryday bestA batch a few hours on, or a good jar lately opened. Warm it, loosen it to the job, and dress gado-gado, tofu, noodles or rice cakes.
Smell at the bowlStill nutty and savoury, but the roast sits behind the sugar and salt rather than leading
The oil on topOil pooled wide and deep after standing, the paste packed dense beneath it — it stirs straight back in
How it movesStiffened to a spoonable paste on standing — a splash of hot water brings it straight back
Read the labelCoconut milk high up, or lemongrass, galangal, candlenut and kaffir lime behind it — a richer satay build