the Older Bolder Life Friday Feast: Gochujang Curry Peanut Sauce (Dip)

I’ve shared before that we’re big fans of spicy peanut sauces, particularly when we’re grilling during the warmer months and have great leftover proteins in the fridge on most of these blisteringly hot summer days. To hammer that point home, and tempt your taste buds today, there’s an image below featuring this wonderful sauce over the Original Recipe Chicken from last Friday’s Feast.

Curry and peanut flavors tend to play really well together, and while you could certainly make your own curry sauce, given the number of ingredients and time required to make a really great curry sauce, we much more often than not reach for one of the tasty prepared curries available today (scan ingredients carefully).

Curry, peanut, and coconut flavors also play very well together, and on a whim a few months back, brand-spanking new tub of gochujang in hand, I stirred a couple of tablespoons of gochujang into the peanut sauce I was crafting to serve as a dip for crudite for a little party at the house.

Gochujang is, among other things, an umami flavor bomb, bringing all sorts of deep, almost at times fruity peppery notes to a dish, without being ferociously hot.

Oh you can certainly add more heat to this sauce, either with fresh peppers (try minced serranos or jalapeños), or using cayenne or other spicy ground red peppers, and you do want this sauce to be fairly spicy, given that the foods you’re pouring it over or dipping in it typically aren’t. We’ve even thrown a little chipotle powder in a batch or two, and love the smokey heat that chipotles bring to the table.

Finally, a friend who took this recipe home from the party above likes to add a teaspoon or more or cumin as well – it’s not a typical peanut sauce ingredient but is damned tasty too.

1 tbsp avocado or olive oil
1/3 cup prepared red curry paste (maybe more)
1-3 tbsp gochujang paste
1 can full-fat coconut milk (14.5 ounce)
1/2 cup + 2 tbsp creamy peanut butter
3 tbsp unseasoned rice vinegar
1 tbsp good fish sauce
1 tbsp honey (optional)
1 tsp ground cumin (optional)
Kosher salt to taste

Heat your oil of choice over medium heat in a medium-sized saucepan, and the prepared curry paste and at least 1 tbsp of gochujang, and cook, stirring pretty much consistently, until the paste darkens a bit, is very fragrant, and just begins to stick to the pan.

Quickly add the entire can of coconut milk, stirring to combine well, and bring to a simmer. Continue to whisk occasionally until the mixture has reduced by 10-15%; it’ll darken a bit as it cooks as well.

Remove from the heat and immediately whisk in the peanut butter, rice vinegar, fish sauce, and if you’re using them – the cumin, honey, and other spicy flavors (see above).

Let it cool a bit, then taste, and adjust seasons; we almost always add a bit more gochujang and/or cumin, even a little cayenne or chipotle powder occasionally.

Keep this one chilled in the fridge.

Enjoy.