When parents and toddlers go to war at the dinner table, I’m guessing it’s usually over vegetables. I’m working on a long post about the second rule of baby food, but here’s an enticing tidbit in the form of another broccoli recipe. It illustrates a key point about vegetable cookery: most vegetables taste best when cooked with plenty of fat. Parenting magazines totally don’t get this, and every month they print recipes for low-fat vegetable dishes that will be pushed to the side of the plate by kids and parents alike.

I made this broccoli tonight, and Iris not only demanded more broccoli after it was gone, but she was only satisfied when we let her eat the sauce out of the serving bowl with a spoon. This is kind of the opposite of the previous broccoli recipe I posted–that one has no sauce and lots of pure broccoli flavor; this one drenches the broccoli in sauce. But broccoli can take it.

**BROCCOLI WITH PEANUT SAUCE**
Adapted from Cook’s Illustrated, May/June 2002

*Your local Thai restaurant probably makes something like this with assorted vegetables and calls it Swimming Rama or something similar. This version is most likely less sweet, less thick, and more delicious.*

**For the sauce:**
3 tablespoons fish sauce
1 tablespoon lime juice
1 teaspoon grated lime zest
1 tablespoon light brown sugar or palm sugar
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
3/4 cup coconut milk
1/4 cup water
3 tablespoons creamy peanut butter (I like Jif)

1 tablespoon peanut oil
1 pound broccoli, cut into 1-inch florets
2 medium cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon minced fresh ginger

1. Whisk together the sauce ingredients in a bowl or a 1-quart Pyrex measuring cup.

2. Heat the oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium high. Add the broccoli and stir-fry until bright green and slightly browned, about two minutes. Add the garlic and ginger and stir-fry until fragrant, about ten seconds. Add the sauce, stir, and reduce heat to medium-low. Cover and simmer 5 minutes or until broccoli is tender and sauce is slightly thickened. Serve with jasmine rice.