Nut-Free "Peanut" Sauce (AIP/Paleo)

Coconuts, while the name may bring nuts to mind, coconut is not a true nut, rather a fruit- in the same family as peaches and cherries.

I really don’t know why it has taken me so long to nail this one down, but I digress. When I first went AIP I found that I was frequently eating all manner of stir fries and Asian style cuisine and realized how much I was missing peanut based sauces. I know by now proposing a nut-free, peanut-free, peanut sauce, just sounds kooky, but keep reading; humor me.

I’ve seen paleo versions that use other nut butters, but, as you know, nuts are a no-go on the AIP. That leaves us with tigernuts (tuber) and coconut (drupe); I think tigernut has a time and place for its utility, but for a smooth sauce, it totally missed the mark for me with it’s inherent grittiness. Discovering I could make coconut butter work happened by complete accident and utter frugalness.

You see, coconut butter AKA coconut manna, is made from smooth ground coconut meat. It has a mild, but unmistakable coconut flavor. It solidifies in the jar and usually has to be melted to be of any utility, usually by double boiler or submerging the jar in hot water for a few minutes. This day in particular I just needed a small amount so I chiseled it out and put it in a skillet to melt. One thing led to another, ADHD time-warp had taken hold and before I knew it my coconut butter was “burned”…but that shit’s expensive, so I tried to salvage it, and did I ever! I will warn you, there will be 100 shades of “what the hell did I just do” before it all comes together, keep the faith, you will not be sorry. I had nothing to lose, because the other option was the trash. My advice—“Just keep stirring!”

It passed the husband test, the first time, with no explanation. Sometimes he gets an explanation of what I’m feeding him- sometimes with clues and context, sometimes without. When I’m going for a true dupe, I’ll actually give no context as I wouldn’t want that to sway his opinion. I had him sample this, still slightly warm, on a cucumber slice. When he responded with an excited “is that peanut sauce?!” I knew I was on to something…

Ingredients

1/2 cup coconut butter

1/4 cup coconut aminos

1 tsp powdered ginger or 1 Tbsp grated fresh ginger root

1 clove grated garlic

1 tsp fish sauce

2 Tbsp Maple Syrup

1/2 cup water

1/4 tsp sea salt *adjust to taste

AIP Reintroductions

1 Tbsp Sambal or 1 tsp chili flakes

sesame seeds

It’s going to go through an ugly duckling phase, don’t panic.

1. Toast the coconut butter in a skillet (I prefer stainless here) over medium-low heat, stirring frequently, remove from the heat when its a medium golden brown. The residual heat in the pan could cause it to burn if you take it all the way—stop when its slightly lighter than peanut butter.

2. Add the garlic and ginger, whisk in, then add the aminos, maple and fish sauce. IT WILL LUMP TOGETHER AND COME FREE OF THE PAN.

3. Return the pan to the heat, and whisk in water, a couple tablespoons at a time until it reaches the desired consistency. Let it bubble a bit, scraping sides so it does not burn. It may thicken a little, adjust consistency with additional water. Depending on your coconut butter brand, you may find that the amount of water needed to reach your desired consistency varies quite a bit.

4. Check seasonings, add additional salt as necessary

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