I made my first homemade peanut sauce based on the common elements of several
recipes I found on the Internet. Start with the below ingredients then add
more of the various ingredients to taste (it can get quite spicy and salty).
The magic ingredient is Maesri brand red curry paste from Thailand which I
can now find at Lion supermarket for $0.69 for 114g can. Like the other
types of Maesri curry it contains chile, garlic, shallot, salt (!), sugar,
spices (?), and galangal which is related to ginger.

I just tasted it and almost passed out, it was so f* good. This is the
PERFECT sauce for meat or vegetables or just crackers or even the fried tofu
I had for lunch today. And not too expensive compared to the few brands
of commercial peanut sauce I've seen. I'm already pigging out on it even
before the meat and rice are done.

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Panda Peanut Sauce #1

Peanuts: 150g (-)
Coconut Milk: 500cc
Red Curry Paste: 25cc (+)
Fish Sauce: 25cc (+)
Soy Sauce: 10cc (-)
Oil: 15cc (+)
Turbinado Sugar: 20cc (~)
Lime Juice: 30cc (+)
Lemongrass chopped: 2g (~)
Ginger chopped: 2g (~)

Put peanuts in small frypan and mix with oil and lightly sautee
golden brown. Separate 50g of peanuts and add remaining 100g
to blender, add coconut milk and puree. Then add the separate
50cc to blender and pulse several times to chop them up for
a crunchier texture.

Pour mixture into saucepan and slowly heat while adding the base
amounts of red curry paste, fish sauce, and turbinado surgar.
If not salty enough decide whether to add more fish sauce or
soy, but be careful as this recipe can get way too salty. Add a
few extra cc of the red curry paste and taste before adding
more, but definitely no more than 40cc. Add about 30cc squeezed
lime juice, perhaps the juice of an average-sized lime. Then
finely chop a few grams each of lemongrass and ginger, which is
roughly half a 5cc teaspoon and add gradually to taste. Simmer
a bit, adding more coconut milk or even just water to thin.
Serve over meat and rice or use it as a vegetable dip or
whatever, just try it!

Using ingredients found at Lion supermarket except for the
peanuts I found at Whole Food, the price should be no more
than $2.25 for up to 750cc of sauce.
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My sauce was very good but a little too thick so I cut down on
the peanuts and reduced the coconut milk to the standard size
400ml can. It works out to roughly 0.5L for 2 small servings
or 1 generous serving (if you're a total pig).

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Panda Peanut Sauce #2

Raw Unsalted Peanuts: 100 g
Coconut Milk: 400 cc
Red Curry Paste: 20 cc !
Fish Sauce: 20 cc !
Soy Paste: 5 cc !
Olive Oil: 10 cc
Turbinado Sugar: 15 cc ~
Lime Juice: 25 cc +
Lemongrass chopped: 3 g ~
Ginger chopped: 3 g ~

Sautee peanuts in pan with oil until lightly-browned.
Cool peanuts as the heat may curdle the coconut milk.
Puree half to two-thirds of peanuts with coconut milk.
Add remaining peanuts and chop to desired consistency.

Heat slowly and stir often and as you're doing that add
the base amounts of curry paste, fish sauce, lime
juice, lemongrass, ginger, galanga, and sugar and
after simmering a moment taste and decide whether to
add more curry paste and add extra very carefully.

Then the fish sauce is good but extremely salty so add
extra very carefully and if you want add soy sauce or
paste but be very careful or it gets way too salty.

Finally slowly add extra lemongrass, ginger, galangal,
lime juice to taste (and Kaffir lime leaf if you can
find it), but remember those ingredients are also in
the red curry paste.

Output --> 500cc for $2.00

Oh, and for those who aren't into the simplicity of
metric, 5cc is one teaspoon. 100g of peanuts seems
to be slightly over 3/4 cup, and almost anything that
is moist with oil or liquid and chopped is roughly
1g per 1/4 teaspoon. Metric makes experimental
cooking SOOO much easier. I need to invest in a good
scale (instead of my mini "postal" scale) and a
metric measuring cup/spoon set.

Finally, the magic red curry paste and the ingredients
on the label complete with percentages (which is why
metric is so useful):

Maesri Brand Red Curry Paste
114g (4oz) can
Mamprik Maesri Ltd.
Thailand

Chili 35%, Garlic 23%, Shallot 20%, Salt 7%,
Lemongrass 6%, Spices 5%, Sugar 3%, Galangal 1%

One $0.75 can of this paste found at Lion should be
enough for at least 4 of the above portions, for
an output of 2L peanut sauce.

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