Peanut Sauce

This recipe is from Good and Cheap.

Good and Cheap is a gorgeous cookbook for people with limited income, particularly on a $4/day food stamps budget. The PDF is free (ahora en Español!) and has been downloaded more than 15,000,000 times. I have more cookbooks, too!
This is the peanut sauce I make when I have decided to do it properly. I LOVE peanut sauce so I often make a cheaty version with just peanut butter, sriracha and a little brown sugar and soy sauce. It does the trick for my mid-afternoon or late-night hanger needs. But this is the proper version and the addition of the garlic, shallot and fresh chiles really does make it that much better and really only adds 10 minutes of cooking and clean up so not a bad trade. This is beautiful as a dip, but I love it on noodles, especially cold Asian Noodles with cucumber or as a glaze for chicken or beef and vegetables in a stir fry. Make it and you’ll use it, guaranteed.