Portabellas with Peanut Sauce

My favorite Thai restaurant is in Ithaca, NY -- Thai Cuisine. It boasts the "best Thai food in New York State, including New York City," according to Getaways For Gourmets. Every Sunday, there's this amazing dim sum brunch. Basically, the staff members carry around a couple trays of freshly prepared items. Then, they allow you to choose what you'd like to munch on, leave you alone for a short while, and return again with yet another selection of small dishes.

The process goes on for as long as you'd like it to. The best part is the price -- each plate costs less than $5 (and typically less than that!).

Of all selections, I most enjoy the portabellas with peanut sauce. And now that we don't live in Ithaca, I often crave the mushrooms like crazy. So, last night I set out to create a similar dish in our own kitchen. Though I didn't have coconut milk, the results are remarkably similar to the real deal.


PORTABELLAS WITH PEANUT SAUCE (for 4)

What you'll need . . .

• 4 large portabella mushrooms, scrub and remove stems
• 2 tablespoons peanut butter (I used Justin's with honey)
• 1 tablespoons low sodium soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon sunflower or canola oil
• 1 tablespoon almond milk (or more, depending on your preferred taste)
• Sesame seeds
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon ginger powder

Method . . .

1. Slice mushrooms into 1/4-ish inch slices.
2. In a large pan, spray with a bit of olive oil (or just lightly oil) and set over medium-high heat.
3. Lay out mushroom slices on the pan and reduce heat to medium. Cook and gently stir until both sides are lightly browned (mostly, the shrooms will get soft and juicy). Set aside.
4. In a small bowl, use a fork to whisk together the peanut butter, soy sauce, and oil. Then add the almond milk and whisk until smooth. Add the cayenne, ginger, and sesame seeds. Stir until well incorporated.
5. Lay out mushroom slices on a plate and drizzle/top with a generous helping of the peanut sauce. Garnish with basil for extra tastiness.

Truth time: We didn't eat ours displayed this beautifully. Nope. That's all for show. Instead, we dumped a ton of the sauce onto the mushrooms and dug in immediately.


We've been on a quest to recreate many of our beloved weekend meals at home (because we go out to eat far more than I'd like to admit). We're getting pretty good at it, too -- enough that we're starting to prefer our twist on the dishes to the real thing.

So, here's my question for you: Have you cooked up any of your restaurant favorites at home? Were you extremely satisfied or horribly unhappy with the results? Leave a comment or email us at neverhomemaker [at] gmail [dot] com.

Like what you just read? You can subscribe to the feed of these posts or follow us on Twitter or Facebook to be the first to know what the (never home)makers are up to. And we’ll love you forever!!