A thick, glossy, reddish-brown Chinese sauce that is sweet, salty, and slightly spicy, made with fermented soybean paste, garlic, vinegar, soy sauce, sesame, and five-spice.
Ingredients
- 90 g yellow Chinese fermented soybean paste
- 55 g brown sugar
- 45 ml light Chinese soy sauce
- 35 ml Chinese rice vinegar
- 20 ml toasted sesame oil
- 2 cloves fresh garlic
- 1 tsp Chinese five-spice blend
- 1 tsp Chinese chili paste
- 1 tsp cornstarch
- 80 ml water
Method
- Prepare the garlic: peel it, remove the sprout if it is very green, then grate it very finely or crush it into a paste. The sauce should remain smooth; avoid coarse pieces, which would make it grainy.
- In a small cold saucepan, combine the fermented soybean paste, brown sugar, light soy sauce, rice vinegar, toasted sesame oil, garlic, five-spice, and chili paste. Whisk until you have a smooth, dark, glossy base.
- Gradually whisk in the water. The mixture should become supple but remain opaque, with a reddish-brown color. If any pieces of fermented paste remain, press them against the side of the saucepan with a spatula to crush them.
- Heat over medium-low. Stir constantly with a whisk or flexible spatula: the sauce should just begin to simmer, without coming to a hard boil. When small, thick bubbles appear around the edges and the raw garlic smell disappears, continue cooking over very low heat.
- Slurry the cornstarch with a little of the hot liquid from the saucepan, then pour it back into the sauce while whisking immediately. Continue cooking gently until the sauce clearly coats the spatula and a line drawn with your finger stays sharp for a few seconds.
- Taste off the heat. The sauce should be sweet and salty, dense, spicy but not burning, with a fermented soy and sesame finish. If it seems too thick, loosen it with a little hot water; if it seems too sharp, cook it briefly longer over very low heat.
- For a classic dipping-sauce texture, blend for a few seconds with an immersion blender or pass through a fine-mesh sieve. The surface should be smooth, satin-like, and reddish-brown, with no visible pieces of garlic.
- Let cool slightly before using. As it cools, the sauce thickens considerably: it should fall from the spoon in a slow ribbon, ideal for glazing meat, enriching a stir-fry, or serving as a dip.
Nutrition
Per serving
- Energy
- 152 kcal
- Protein
- 3.94 g
- Carbohydrate
- 19.77 g
- Fat
- 6.53 g
- Fibre
- 1.39 g
- Calcium
- 14.86 mg
- Iron
- 0.48 mg
- Magnesium
- 12.46 mg
