thai peanut dip.

there is meal time and there is the non-meal time which is of course, snack time. i've always been a fan of snack time and in fact as i've gotten older and eaten a good amount of meals alone i tend to graze all day instead of eating actual meals. for one, there is more variety and two, then i can eat something every hour or so, as opposted to waiting 5-6 hours between meals. that bores me and then i'm always starving.

my first memory of snacking is probably when i was about 4 years-old. my sister would go off on the school bus early in the morning and i would get to be home with my mom all by myself. i would become her little helper, trying to fold laundry as perfectly as she did, going with her to the grocery store and we would spend one of my favorite parts of the day together, lunch time. we would watch the love boat and i would ask for my favorite lunch, a snack plate. a snack plate was my mom's invention to get me to eat lunch and still keep my pallette amused at a young age. my smurf plate would be filled with about 6-8 ritz crackers, each decorated with their own unique topping. from strawberry jam, peanut butter, cheese, turkey or ham to even just butter on a cracker, i always considered this more of a decadent treat then a lunch. the snack plate definitely propelled my lifelong love of snacking forward. to this day, a plate of crackers with a variety of toppings is one of my favorite meals. i've tried to refine my tastes as i've gotten older, daring myself outside of the box with fig spread, goat cheese, pinot grigio salami, almond butter etc, but still the traditional snack plate plays many a roles in my weekly repore of foodstuffs.

when my parents were here for thai night, i tried to come up with interesting points for each part of the meal. i knew the thai chicken noodle soup had to be prepared right before we ate, putting me in the kitchen during cocktail time. to keep my parents entertained, i sat them in courtside seats to the kitchen and served them thai peanut dip to keep their palletes amused too.

during my afternoon cooking (read:chaos) affair, i made the dip. now mind you this isn't cooking, it's really just blending. ie. this is super low maintenance. so first gather your ingredients:

the recipe:
1 cup fresh-tasting dry roasted peanuts, unsalted
1/3 cup water
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tsp. dark soy sauce
2 tsp. sesame oil
2 Tbsp. brown sugar
2 Tbsp. fish sauce
1/2 Tbsp. lime juice
1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper
2 Tbsp. unsweetened coconut
2 Tbsp. milk

Blend all the ingredients together in your miniprep, the dip will be chunky at first because the peanuts take a little bit to break down, keep pulsing. also, the recipe i found didn't originally call for unsweetened coconut or milk, it called for coconut milk. i, of course, forgot the coconut milk at the store and improvised. i'm not sure if the end result was the original intent but i felt it came out well. the coconut added some sweetness that was definitely needed as this dip really packed a punch. also the milk helped thin it out a bit without adding more heat or acid, also was needed. this dip was thick people!
i served this along side some carrot sticks and fresh pita chips made with garlic oil. sorry forgot the presentation picture.