Thai Food - Looking for Good Bottled Sauces

Actually, peanut sauce is really easy to make. I used this recipe the other day. I got it from allrecipes.com . There are several there:

The Best Thai Peanut Sauce
Submitted by: Stephanie M.
Rated: 4 out of 5 by 75 members Prep Time: 15 Minutes
Ready In: 15 Minutes
Yields: 16 servings

"This easy no-cook peanut sauce has a terrific authentic Thai taste. It is spicy and peanutty, and is perfect as a dipping sauce for chicken, shrimp, and beef... or even to use tossed with warm cooked noodles for a quick pasta dish."
INGREDIENTS:
1 1/2 cups creamy peanut
butter
1/2 cup coconut milk
3 tablespoons water
3 tablespoons fresh lime juice
3 tablespoons soy sauce 1 tablespoon fish sauce
1 tablespoon hot sauce
1 tablespoon minced fresh
ginger root
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

DIRECTIONS:
1. In a bowl, mix the peanut butter, coconut milk, water, lime juice, soy sauce, fish sauce, hot sauce, ginger, and garlic. Mix in the cilantro just before serving.

try the yummy sauces at Trader Joes. they have a great variety & you know they are (mostly) healthy.

My husbands favorite is the Thai Kitchen Red Curry paste. There is a recipe on the back of the label for curry. I think it calls for coconut milk and chicken broth and a couple of other ingredients. You add veggies or chicken or prawns, whatever. And serve it over rice, it's awesome.

I like "house of tsang" peanut sauce. It doesn't taste like peanut butter like some others and it's got a nice kick to it. You can get it at any regular grocery store. A really simple quick recipe I like...Top ramen noodles cooked (don't use the package flavor). When the noodles are cooked, lightly coat them with the sauce. Add vegetables of your choice and for your family, mix in cubed cooked chicken coated in the sauce. It takes about 10-15 for prep and cook and it's really yummy.

My son and I love Phad Thai, so I made up my own recipe. Taste the sauce and adjust it how you like it. I hope you enjoy it.

Phad Thai
Cook rice noodles according to package.
2 skinless boneless chicken breast halves cut into bite-size pieces
½-1 onion slivered
1 ½-2 c. broccoli cut small, including stalk chopped
or bean sprouts at the end of cooking
1 carrot sliced thin or julienned
splash of olive oil
salt or celery salt to tastegarlic to taste
Sauté chicken with seasonings until mostly cooked, add the rest of the ingredients. Cook until chicken is cooked and vegetables are tender-crispy.

Sauce: 1 Tbls. Peanut butter
1 heaping Tbls. Peach or apricot preserves
½ C. rice vinegar
2 Tbls. Lemon or lime juice
splash of soy saucegarlic to taste
¼ - ½ tsp. Ginger
3 tbls. Sugar or to taste
Place all ingredients in a saucepan over med heat until melted and bubbly. Taste on your finger and add ingredients until it tastes right. Add some noodles to cooked chicken mix, then some sauce and stir, continue doing this until you have no more sauce and the mixture tastes right. Enjoy!

J.

PS: I don't really use premade sauces, I make my own. Sometimes I read the ingredients on the back of the sauces to get ideas.

Hi Celena: Here is a really great recipe for Thai Cucumber Salad.
2 cucumbers, peeled, halved lengthwise, sliced thinly
1/2 green pepper, small dice
1/4 small red onion, thinly sliced
1 jalapeno, small dice
1 carrot, small dice
Zest of 1 lemon
1/4 cup rice wine vinegar
2 tablespoons sugar
Salt and black pepper

Prepare all above vegetables and combine in bowl. Add vinegar and sugar to vegetables and mix in bowl. Add at least a teaspoon of salt (will make the cucumbers start to juice) and black pepper. Mix and let sit for at least 15 minutes to let flavors meld together. Very refreshing, plus no oil in the dressing to make it heavy. Enjoy!

Hello!
Don't know where you live but if you can find a local Asian market it is the way to go! I live in Albany and the owners of our local market are from Thailand. They are so helpful and happy to share their recipes as well as what are the best canned sauces, what goes with what, etc. It's pretty inexpensive too. So maybe you could look and see if you have one where you live. Just an idea. :-)

Trader Joe's has a great line of thai sauces

I had a friend take a cooking class in Thailand while he was visiting, he shared this recipe with me, it's excellent! You can get the oyster and fish sauce in the asain aisle of the grocery store. If you take the seeds and white flesh out of the peppers, they aren't too hot (or leave them in for the heat!)

Cashew chicken

2 chicken breasts, thinly sliced
1 c. cashews (can roast @ 350 degrees until toasted)
3 TBS. Veggie or peanut or sesame oil
8 cloves garlic minced
2 small onions, sliced
2 large red chilies, sliced
½ cup chicken stock or water
4-8 green onions, sliced
1 TBS. White wine or whiskey

-Sauce-
2 TBS oyster sauce
1 TBS soy sauce
1 TBS fish sauce
1 TBS sugar
Mix together until well blended

Add oil and brown garlic
Add chicken, white onions, and chilies
Fry for 3 minutes
Add chicken stock, stir to combine
Add sauce ingredients, stir to combine
Add cashews, spring onions, quickly stir
Add wine
Turn off heat and serve over rice.

I also have a recipe for really good peanut sauce:

1 c. coconut milk
1 TBS. curry powder
1/2 c. creamy peanut butter
3/4 c. chicken stock
1/4 c. brown sugar
2 TBS. lime or lemon juice
1 tsp. soy sauce
salt to taste

Bring coconut milk, curry, PB, chicken stock and brown sugar to a simmer in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Simmer for 5 minutes, stirring constantly, until smooth and thickened. Remove from heat and stir in lime juice and soy sauce. Season to taste with salt.

Use on chicken, pasta, as a pizza sauce, etc. It makes a LOT!

House of Tsang! (peanut sauce) kinda spicy so you can stretch it a little with extra PB/water.

Trader Joe's has a good selection of bottled Thai sauces.

A would also recommend Trader Joes because they monitor the ingredients that go into their products. Some of the processed foods that come directly from asia contain chemical additives and mis/unlabeled ingredients and are packaged in unsanitary conditions.

i second kerry r. we love the thai kitchen red curry paste. i usually double or triple the recipe on the label. i've tried the green curry too, but prefer red. i haven't tried many bottled peanut sauces, but haven't liked the ones i have tried...

Hi! My husband and I love House of Tsang's "Bangkok Padang Peanut Sauce." We have tried others and can hardly stand to eat them after trying this one. We always have a bottle on hand.
As far as jarred sauces, if you have a Trader Joe's in your area, they have these noodle boxes (shaped like a take-out rice box) that are quite good. You add your own veggies/meat, etc. so you can make it veg or with meat (or one of each). There is a Pad Thai one, a Satay one, and one other one. Their bottled sauces (red curry, green curry, etc.) are also quite good and really easy and my kids eat them too, which is a huge bonus. Good luck!

I was also going to suggest Trader Joes Sauces. Such a variety and well priced!