I went through a bit of a vegetarian phase last week…well, not quite, I looked up a few recipes at healthyfood.co.nz but this was the only one that I made…

Ingredients

For the spicy peanut sauce

• 1/2 teaspoon oil
• 1 tablespoon chopped onion
• 1 clove garlic, crushed
• 1/4 teaspoon grated fresh ginger
• 2 tablespoons crunchy peanut butter
• 1 teaspoon soy sauce
• 1 small pinch ground chilli
• 1 squeeze lemon juice
• 1/4 cup trim milk

For the vegetables

• 1 egg, hard boiled
• 1 medium potato, scrubbed and cubed
• 1 carrot, peeled and cut in quarters lengthwise
• 1/2 cup broccoli florets
• cauliflower or other seasonal veges (I usually use 2 cups of veges in total)
• snow peas or a few beans if you have them

Step 1

Steam the veges till tender (the egg can hard-boil in the saucepan of water that you set the steamer on top of).

Step 2

While the veges are cooking, prepare the sauce. Heat the oil in a small pan or saucepan. Cook the onion and garlic until tender then mix in the ginger. Add the peanut butter, soy sauce, chilli and lemon juice and mix well, then gradually stir in the milk.

Step 3

Simmer the sauce until thickened. If it becomes too thick, simply add a dash more milk. When the veg are cooked, pile them onto a warm plate. Slice the egg into quarters and use the spicy peanut sauce for dipping.

Overall, I found this take on the recipe rather bland, nice for sure but not stunning. The only deviation I made from the recipe was for using frozen stir-fry veges instead of those listed in on the page but the blandness lay in the nutty sauce…

The next night, I changed tack and eliminated the veges in favour of some of those superb Hellers sausages that have been on sale the last few months at New World. I made the sauce as advertised but upgraded the ‘small pinch’ of ground chili to a full teaspoon – Woohoo! Now we’re cooking!!! That really is now SPICY peanut sauce…

Of course, now, I have to be somewhat cautious because I detest peanut butter on toast, pancakes, scones, pikelets or anything else except as an ingredient in cooking but this is so nice with the extra chili that I am going to have to try it again…and again…but woe will be me should I expend the last of the peanut butter on a mere sauce…