“Kuah Kacang” or peanut sauce is a rich and nutty-sweet concoction paired with Nasi Impit, Lemang, Ketupat, Lodeh as well as Satay.
Ingredients
• 700g red onions, finely cut
• 27g galangal, peeled and cut small
• 12g lemongrass, white part only
• 26g belacan
• 61g chili boh
• 105g coconut sugar (Gula Melaka)
• 4 tbsp tamarind pulp mixed with ¾ cup water
• 1.35 litres water
• 1 cup cooking oil
Preparation
• On a dry baking tray, roast peanuts at 180°C in the oven for 15 to 20 minutes, depending on the size of your peanuts.
• Once roasted and slightly cooled, remove peanut skin by rubbing small handfuls between your palms and fingers. The skin will easily come off.
• Using a food processor, pulse the peanuts to medium coarseness – some fine, others chunky.
• Slice onions thinly.
• If you’re using a solid chunk of coconut sugar, grate or chop it into smaller pieces.
• Soak tamarind pulp in ¾ cup water, massaging it to release the pulp from the seed.
• Finally, blend galangal with lemongrass until very smooth. You may need to add some water to aid in the process.
Step 1: Sauté/Sear
• In a slow cooker, select the sauté/sear high temperature setting. Add belacan.
• Stir the belacan regularly, breaking it into smaller clumps and toasting it until it is almost dry and looks like clumpy sand. You’ll be able to smell its pungent aroma as the belacan toasts.
• Add cooking oil to the slow cooker and wait until it starts to bubble.
• Add chilli boh and blended mixture, mixing and stirring until the ingredients in the pot no longer looks wet or watery, about 6 to 8 minutes. The timing will depend on the water content of your ingredients, as well as the amount of water used to blend the galangal and lemongrass earlier.
Step 2: Pressure cook
• Add all the onions and stir until everything is evenly mixed.
• Cancel the sauté/sear high temperature setting and place a lid over the slow cooker. Set it to pressure cook for 5 minutes. We selected the manual pressure cook setting. Don’t be surprised if your ingredients already smell like peanut sauce.
• Once the pressure cook is complete and the pressure has been released, remove the lid.
• Add coconut sugar, and stir until it’s mixed through.
• Once again, let the ingredients pressure cook for another 5 minutes. This will disintegrate the onions further. Imagine doing this on a regular stove – this step alone takes anywhere from 25 to 30 minutes.
Step 3: Slow cooker peanut sauce
• Add in ground peanuts and stir to combine with the rest of the ingredients.
• Next, add 1.35 litres of water, followed by the tamarind pulp water poured through a sieve to catch any seeds. Squeeze the pulp to remove the yummy juices. Give all the ingredients a really good stir.
• Cover the slow cooker and cook for six hours on low temperature. The slow cooking process will replace the need to soak your peanuts overnight while cooking your kuah satay at the same time. Brilliant!
• While waiting, prepare the other dishes, set the table, have a shower, etc. The slow cooker will take care of everything else, and even if you run overtime, most slow cookers will continue to keep your dish warm without further cooking it.
• Once the slow cooker is done and the steam is released, remove the lid. Give the sauce a few good stirs. Your slow cooker peanut sauce is ready!
Extra tips
• Depending on the belacan you use, salt may not be needed at all as belacan is naturally salty. However, do give the peanut sauce a taste when it is done cooking to make sure.
• Homemade chili boh is best – check out our recipe for chili boh here – however, if you don’t have the time to make your own, look for good quality chili boh with only dried chilies as its main ingredient. Many market or supermarket varieties include other ingredients like garlic or ginger. Avoid these if possible.
• If you’re too lazy to grate or chop your coconut sugar, some supermarkets now carry the already grated options.
• Some tamarind pastes are stronger than others. If yours is very dark in colour, you may need only half the amount. However, maintain the same quantity of water.
• If you want to speed things up, set the slow cooker to three hours on high temperature.
Slow cooker peanut sauce is legit, and smells and tastes every bit as good as the stove top variety.
If you have no slow cooker at home, follow our recipe for some amazing stove-top peanut sauce for all your “kuah kacang” needs.
This article first appeared in butterkicap.com
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