Steamed Vegetables and Peanut Dip
Why I Love This Recipe
The recipe book I got this from said it was a Thai recipe
Ingredients You'll Need
Peanut oil 1/3 cup
Dried Onion Flakes 1 tbl
1 garlic clove, crushed
Shrimp paste 1/4 tsp
Smooth peanut butter 1/4 cup
Water 1/3 cup
Salt 1/2 tsp
Soy sauce 1 tbl
Sugar 2 tsp
Lemon juice 1 tbl
Vegetable Ingredients
6-8 small potatoes, or if you only have large baking potatoes, cut two of them into quarters.
Green beans 1 lb.
4 carrots
Chinese cabbage 1/2 head, cut into wedges
1/2 a cucumber, quartered the long way
2 bunches of watercress
4 hard boiled eggs
Bean sprouts 4 cups
Directions
In a large soup pot or kettle, steam the cabbage wedges, green beans and carrots for half an hour. At the same time, in a separate pan, boil the small potatoes for half an hour.
After everything has steamed and boiled for fifteen minutes, add the eggs to the potatoes for boiling, and begin on the peanut sauce.
Heat the peanut oil in a medium skillet. Add the onion flakes and saute until they are golden. Drain the onions on paper towels and remove all but 2 tbl of the oil from the pan. Add the garlic, shrimp paste and chili sauce to the oil in the pan. Stirring often, cook about 3 minutes. Stir in the peanut butter and water; bring to a boil. Stirring occasionally, boil until sauce is thick and smooth. Stir in salt, soy sauce, sugar and lemon juice. Set aside until cool, then stir in the sauteed onion flakes.
With luck, your eggs and veggies will be done about the same time as the sauce. Peel the eggs, and arrange all the veggies, etc. on a plate with the sauce in a bowl for dipping.
I recommend letting everyone have their own dipping bowl; the cabbage wedges, at least, will be messy.
For the same reason, I don't recommend this recipe for any formal setting. You almost have to use your fingers to dip things like bean sprouts and watercress. Actually, you have to use your fingers for dipping all of it. But, oh is it good! Let your family debate which veggie tastes best in the sauce. (I vote for the green beans, but my mother says the cabbage.)