Saus Kacang

Saus kacang is the Indonesian peanut sauce you’ve had with satay, and making it from scratch is worth every minute. Bird’s eye chili, onion, garlic, and shrimp paste get ground together into a fragrant paste, fried until golden, then simmered with crunchy peanut butter, tamarind water, and coconut milk into a thick, rich sauce.

Shrimp paste (trassi) is the ingredient that gives this sauce its distinctly Indonesian flavor. It smells intense raw, but once fried with the aromatics it mellows into a deep, savory backbone that you can’t get from any substitute.

Tamarind water adds a sour tang that cuts through the richness of the peanut butter and coconut milk, keeping the sauce balanced rather than heavy.

Kitchen Tips

• Grind the chili, onion, garlic, and shrimp paste into a fine paste before frying. Chunky pieces won’t incorporate into the sauce smoothly.
• Add the coconut milk gradually while stirring. Pour it all in at once and the sauce can break instead of emulsifying into a smooth gravy.
• Cook until thick gravy consistency. The sauce thickens more as it cools, so pull it slightly looser than your target thickness.

Variations

• Add a tablespoon of palm sugar or brown sugar for a sweeter, more balanced version.
• Use two or three bird’s eye chilies for a much spicier sauce.
• Thin with extra coconut milk to use as a salad dressing for gado-gado.