Sara Moulton's Peanut Sauce

March 10, 2006 — -- This recipe comes from Sara Moulton's "Sara's Secrets for Weeknight Meals" (Broadway Books, 2005).

Many years ago, I hired my friend Rosa Ross, a cooking teacher and author who specializes in Chinese cuisine, to teach me some recipes for a Chinese New Year's party we were throwing at Gourmet. One of the recipes was Summer Rolls With Peanut Dipping Sauce.

The sauce was completely addictive and is still my favorite after all these years. Here is my adapted version. It would make a nice sauce for skewered chicken, pork, or vegetables or even sautéed shrimp. Or you can toss it with linguine, shredded cooked chicken (rotisserie chicken would work well here), and defrosted frozen peas.

Hands-on time: 10 minutes
Total preparation time: 10 minutes

Combine the peanut butter, hoisin sauce, scallions, lime juice, ¼ cup water, soy sauce, ginger and hot sauce to taste in a food processor and puree until smooth. Add additional water, if necessary, to thin the sauce to a pourable consistency. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.

Makes about 1½ cups