Peanut Sauce

This is what I made over the weekend. It's something that I actually used to make quite a bit about a year or so ago. It tastes great, but the downside to this recipe is that the peanut butter can get quite pricey, which makes me wonder if it would be cheaper just to get a ready-made peanut sauce?

The recipe is from How It All Vegan, with a few minor changes.

Ingredients:

peanut butter (natural/organic is best). The recipe calls for 1c, but I used about 1/3-1/4 because I don't like a super peanut-y taste.
some ginger, finely chopped or grated
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 onion (sliced)
1 c water
1-2 tbsp sesame seed oil
3 tbsp soy sauce
cooking oil
dash of lemon or lime juice
some brown sugar

Method: saute the onions, garlic and ginger in the cooking oil, on medium heat. Then add all the other ingredients and stir until you get a smooth consistency.

I used to cook vegetables and tofu in the sauce too (veggies that go well with this include brocolli, mushrooms, bean sprouts, bell peppers...), but this time I just steamed some brocolli and red pepper separately (actually I'm not sure if I really steamed...basically I put the chopped veggies into a big pot with a bit of water, covered the pot and let them cook that way, tossing them every so often. Is that called steaming?). This actually worked better as the veggies were still fairly firm and not too soggy.

The tofu (medium firm, cut into thin rectangles) I just boiled (not a good move...I would cook the tofu in the sauce so that it absorbs the flavour).

And I served it all over rice. Very nice!