Kuah Kacang (Peanut Sauce)

Finally I managed to do this one. Ponek den. So so sorry it took so long to get myself together but its finally done. I don't have a final image of the kuah kacang and I think even the video was cut short a bit so we don't really get to see it done... ampun ampun! But I think you can figure out lah how it looks like. We normally eat this with nasi impit or ketupat. I don't think this is suppose to be for satay though although it does look like it. The making of the ketupat casing is soooo confusing so nanti lah. Maybe next raya we'll figure that one out.

So here goes...

Raw peanuts with thin skin

The Preparation

• You will need to fry some raw peanuts without any oil on low fire. It takes a bit of time but just don't burn the peanuts.
• When its cooked, you will need to get the thin skin off so its just the peanuts.
• Pound it but not too fine. You want to have some chunky-ish peanuts and some fine ones for the Kuah Kacang.

Smart Cooking: My sister, Ainita who lives in England uses chunky peanut butter instead and she says the final product is a lot creamier. So she skips this part of the process. ;-) She'll be back in February, so we'll be making steamboat for her so if this blog is still happening at that point, you will get steamboat! Yay!

The Ingredients

• 10 bawang merah (shallots).
• 5 bawang putih (garlic).
• 1 inch of lengkuas (galangal).
• 2 sticks of serai (lemon grass).
• Udang kering (dried shrimp) powder, just a bit of this
• 2 tablespoons of belachan (shrimp paste).
• 4 tablespoons of cili boh (dried chilli paste).
• Salt
All the above ingredients are blended to become more like a paste. Add a bit of water for it to become paste-y. (My English teacher must be pulling her hair out if she read this)
• Air assam jawa (tamarind paste mixed with a bit of water)
• Gula Anau or Gula Melaka (Palm sugar). My mom gets her gula melaka from pasar kuala pilah. Its the best. You don't have to, you can use any old gula melaka. ;-)
• 1 bawang besar (large onions) to be sliced. Do not blend these 3 last ingredients.

Gula Anau

The Method

• Heat up some oil in a wok and when the oil is hot, put in the large onions. Once it is yellow, put in the blended ingredients.
• Add a bit of water so it'll cook. Wait till the oil surfaces (naik minyak lah tu).
• Put in the air assam jawa and let it simmer for a bit.
• Then add the peanuts. The mix will start to thicken. Once that happens, add air assam. Let it simmer.
• If the colour doesn't seem right, add a bit more cili boh.
• Add the gula anau into the simmering mix. The colour will become a bit reddish. My mom melted the gula anau first before adding it into the mix but you can just cut it and add. It'll melt itself. Add more water to the mix. Cook until thicken.

Here is the video. It was fun having my nephew, Hakiem around while we made this.

 

So... masak lah dengan kasih sayang, memang lagi sedap. Enjoy!