If you search for peanut sauce recipes, you’ll find some common elements. Peanut butter. Hot water. Soy sauce. Something sweet. You can use white sugar or brown sugar or honey. I saw a recipe with agave nectar, if that’s what you want.
Beyond that, a little acid. No, not THAT acid. Acid like lime juice or lemon juice or some kind of vinegar. Rice wine vinegar is good, but white vinegar or apple cider vinegar is good too. I’ve never tried balsamic or wine vinegar.
And garlic. Finely chopped garlic, a clove or two. Garlic powder, if you don’t have fresh garlic on hand. (Not garlic salt. This is salty enough with the soy sauce.)
If you don’t like garlic, leave the garlic out.
Then, heat to taste, and by heat, I mean the flavor. A little cayenne pepper, a little hot sauce, a little crushed red pepper; something like that.
Finally, a little dark sesame oil is good. A VERY little. A little goes a long way. If you don’t have this, don’t let it stop you from making this. It’s fine without it; I just like it better WITH just a little.
What you add after that depends on your pantry, your taste, and your imagination. A little fish sauce? A little hoisin sauce? Some chili-garlic paste or a little Sriracha? If you like. Go for it. A little grated fresh ginger is very good, too. Grated fresh ginger, not the powdered stuff.
A couple serving suggestions. While this is excellent over steamed broccoli or pasta or cardboard, it’s even better if you have a little crushed peanuts to sprinkle on top, for the crunch. Another good addition: finely chopped green onions, if you like those. And cilantro, unless you are my friend Kelly and have the genes that let you taste what it REALLY tastes like. Maybe a squeeze of fresh lime juice on top.
That’s pretty much it. What this lacks is exact proportions, but don’t worry about that. You have the recipe below as a starting point. Add my suggestions to it from there, a little at a time. You may have to make it more than once and experiment. This is the price you pay to develop your ability to create deliciousness. You can do it.
http://www.veggiebelly.com/2013/02/stupidly-easy-peanut-noodles.html