Clay's Kitchen : Nấu Ăn Việt Nam (Vietnamese Recipes)

Nấu Ăn Việt Nam (Vietnamese Recipes)

Nước Lèo with Tamarind

1 tablespoon Tamarind paste
⅓ cup Plus 3 tablespoons water
1 tablespoon Vegetable oil
2 cloves garlic, chopped
⅓ cup tương¹
1 teaspoon granulated sugar
2 tablespoon peanut butter
2 tablespoon roasted Peanuts

Soak the tamarind paste in the 3 tablespoons water. Heat the oil and add the chopped garlic; cook briefly. Add the water from the tamarind to the saucepan, discarding the remaining tamarind paste and seeds. Stir and add the tương, ½ cup water, sugar, peanut butter. Mix well and boil for 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Sprinkle the nuts on top of the sauce and pour into individual bowls for serving.

¹ tương is a Vietnamese soybean preparation — a kind of thin, salty paste. If you can't find it, you might get away with substituting Chinese bean sauce, mashed and thinned a bit with water, or possibly a dark Japanese miso. Although you can make this in a food processor or blender, it's best to pound it in a mortar with a pestle to achieve that certain crunchiness which is a most desirable quality of much Vietnamese food.

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