Peanut Sauce - Sophia's Thai Kitchen T-12

In my early 20's and right after graduating from university, I move to Davis, CA. It was a small university town with nothing much to do (for a broke post undergraduate with huge student loan debt and 2 full-time minimum wage jobs), but bike around the town, window shop, admire the art on UC Davis, and frequent the farmers market (which was ALL YEAR LONG - being a vegan this was a huge bonus). When I was able to save enough money to "treat yo self" (shout out to P&R) I would eat at this little Thai restaurant, Sophia's Thai Kitchen. Their food was so good that when I would fly back to Portland I would stop at Sophia's to bring take out to my parents! My favorite dish was T-12, their Thai Specialty, "fresh spinach with peanut sauce." Their peanut sauce was AMAZING! Over the years I have searched and searched trying to replicate Sophia's recipes, only to fail and fall into utter deep depressions, just kidding, though not about the failure part...until one night I was playing with a previous failed recipe, made a couple tweaks (one being the addition of red curry paste) and to my surprise replicated my T-12! This sauce is EASY and QUICK! It is great addition to a Buddha Bowl, rice noodles and veggies, a Thai wrap, or  the classic T-12: a bed of fresh spinach, rice, protein (try my crispy tofu recipe), and peanut sauce. It stores great in the frig for 7 days. Try it today!     

Sophia's Thai Kitchen T-12

Ingredients: 

1/2 can coconut milk
1 tablespoon red curry paste
1/3 cup *peanut butter
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1 tablespoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon lime juice

Directions:

Place all ingredients into a medium sized pot on stove top. Heat to medium, stirring constantly, until sauce begins to simmer and sugar and salt have dissolved. Spoon onto favorite dish or eat straight out of the pot! ENJOY!

Yield: 2-3 servings. I always double the recipe and use it throughout the week...because basically I'm a peanut sauce whore! 

*peanut butter: use a smooth sugary peanut butter such as Jiff or Skippy - do not use fresh peanut butter, your sauce will break and it will look like brown scrambled egg sauce that is gritty and tasteless. Trust me, I learned this the hard way!  

Above is my copy cat Sophia's Thai Kitchen T-12. Bed of fresh baby spinach, basmati rice, crispy tofu and peanut sauce - YUMMY!