Bumbu Kacang

In April, Andy went to Bali for a conference. While he was there, he went to a cooking class. His certificate of achievement is still hanging (okay, a bit ironically) on the fridge. He also brought a little recipe book home with him. The class and the book are so not vegan, which Andy says aligns with his experience in Bali overall, but pretty much everything in the world can be veganised, right?

When we harvested a bunch of peanuts, I had a go at veganising the peanut sauce recipe, which we then turned into a sort of curry-satay stirfry-stew kind of thing.

According to the book, this is called Bumbu Kacang. This is my version, veganised. Terribly healthy it ain't, nor will I make any claims on its authenticity. But it was yummy.

150grams raw, unsalted peanuts with the papery bits still on
2 Tbsp. sunflower oil
1/4 cup warm water
4 cloves garlic, chopped
1 small, hot chilli, minced
1 tsp. miso paste
1 Tbsp. brown sugar
1 small tomato
1 tsp. soy sauce
zest from 1 lime
juice from 1/2 a lime

To make the Bumbu Kacang, heat the oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Fry the peanuts in the oil in batches (avoid crowding the pan). When they are just golden brown, remove them with a slotted spoon. In a mini-chopper (our method) or food processor or pestle&mortar, grind the peanuts with the water until finely ground.

Remove the peanuts to a bowl. In the mini chopper, blend the garlic, chilli, miso, and brown sugar until they are a paste. Pulse in the tomato. Stir this into the peanuts along with the soy sauce, lime zest and lime juice. Taste - adjust the flavours as needed to balance sweet, sour, salty and spicy.

At this point you could easily eat this as-is, perhaps as a dip for veggies or as a topping on grilled tofu. But we turned it into a full meal. Cauliflower, capsicum, zucchini and bok choy sauteed together; then the peanut sauce mixed in with a splish of coconut milk. We served it on rice, and topped with fresh coriander and some crunchy fried shallots.

The result was nothing like our usual peanut butter-based satay sauce, but holy pants it was good. Lighter, freshened up by the tomato in the sauce, but still intensely peanutty. A deeply satisfying use for a harvest of peanuts that I painstakingly shelled by hand.