Crunchy Peanut Sauce

(Saus Kacang)

Ingredients:

• 7 tbs. peanut oil
• 1 tsp. dried garlic flakes or dried minced garlic
• 2 tbs. dried onion flakes
• 2 large dried chiles
• 1 tsp. dried shrimp paste (trasi)
• 1 tbs. lemon juice
• 1 tbs. dark soy sauce
• 12 oz. crunchy peanut butter
• 1.5 tbs. palm sugar

Steps:

1. Heat oil, but not too hot (300F is about right, see note below). Fry garlic flakes for a few seconds until golden, and drain on absorbent paper. Fry onion flakes for a few seconds until golden, and add to the garlic pile. Fry chiles until the are puffed and crisp. Discard seeds, crumble, and add to garlic/onion pile.
2. Fry shrimp paste in same oil. Add lemon juice and dark soy sauce. Remove from heat. Add peanut butter and stir until well blended. Cool.
3. When cold, add fried garlic, onion flakes, and chiles. Add palm sugar.

Notes:

• I have an old tea strainer that I've bent up to work as a basket for frying the garlic and onion flakes. Both of them fry almost instantly, and burning is an ever-present threat here. The basket lets me dunk the garlic/onion into the hot oil and pull them out instantly. Almost anything else is too slow.

Keywords: Indonesian, Condiments.