Balinese Inspired Sauce: Spicy Green Magic Dressing

As you know, I am a foodie. I love trying new foods wherever I travel and recreating them at home. So, yes I am true foodie who actually makes most of her own food 🙂

During my recent travel to Bali, I was really impressed by their quality and type of food. I loved all their traditional Balinese food and the flavour combinations they had to offer. I usually try and attend a cooking class in the country I travel to. But our trip to Bali was a little too short that I could not conveniently fit in a cooking class. So, I had to figure out what special local ingredients they used in their cuisine.

There was one flavour that I could taste in almost every food I ate and I believe this is the flavour of the Kaffir lime leaves used in the Balinese cuisine. So, this sauce/dressing is inspired from foodie experience in Bali. This sauce/dressing is spicy, has a surprisingly magical flavour (in a good way) and goes well with steam/bake white meat and fish, steam vegetables and will even work well in a stir fry. I have paired this sauce with my baked tofu, pan fried salmon and steamed vegetables and this sauce has taken my dish to the next level. I hope you get to try this amazing sauce/dressing in your next Asian inspired dish.

I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as I have. As always, please let me know what you think of this recipe.

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Makes about 250ml of dressing/sauce

Ingredients

• 1-1.5 cups fresh coriander;
• Handful of baby spinach;
• 1 dried chilli (soaked in hot water for 30 minutes) or 1 fresh birds eye chilli (you can use more if you prefer your sauce spicier);
• 1 clove garlic, crushed;
• 1 lemon grass – not the white part at the bottom, but the green part above the white part (this is more for smell rather than taste, save the white part for laksa paste);
• 5 kaffir lime leaves, chopped;
• 1/4 cup cashews;
• 1 tsp white sesame seeds;
• 2 tbsp. unsweetened coconut milk;
• 1-1.5 tbsp. soy sauce;
• 1 tbsp. freshly squeezed lime juice; and
• 1/3-1/2 cup water (you can add more if you prefer your sauce/dressing more runny).

Method

1. Place all the above ingredients in a blender and blender until well combined the sauce resembles a smooth consistency;

   

2. If you are finding difficult to blend the ingredients, add a little water;
3. Store in the fridge for up to a week; and
4. Enjoy with your favourite meat or vegetables or in a stir fry.