Tianmianjiang sauce

Ingredients

• 250 g fermented yellow soybean sauce lees
• 80 g plain wheat flour
• 120 g granulated white sugar
• 18 g fine salt
• 300 ml filtered water
• 15 ml toasted sesame oil

Method

1. Sift the flour into a bowl. Gradually add part of the water while whisking until you have a perfectly smooth batter with no lumps; the texture should resemble a pourable thick cream.
2. Finely crush the fermented yellow soybean sauce lees with a mortar or blender. If they contain hard pieces, pass them through a sieve; the base should be dark, salty, aromatic, and slightly grainy, but free of dry shards.
3. Pour the remaining water into a heavy-bottomed saucepan, add the sugar and salt, and heat over medium heat until completely dissolved. The liquid should become clear and slightly syrupy, without boiling vigorously.
4. Lower the heat. Add the flour batter in a thin stream while stirring constantly with a spatula. Scrape the bottom and corners of the pan well; the mixture will turn white and then thicken gently.
5. Add the fermented soybean lees and mix thoroughly until the color is even and very dark brown. Keep the heat low: the sauce should produce small, slow bubbles, never aggressive splashes.
6. Cook, stirring very often, especially along the bottom, until the sauce becomes glossy, dense, and coating. It is ready when a spatula drawn across the bottom leaves a clean trail that closes slowly.
7. Add the toasted sesame oil off the heat and stir until the surface is satiny. Taste: the sauce should be distinctly sweet-salty, fermented, and deep, with no raw flour taste.
8. Immediately transfer to a clean, warm jar. Smooth the surface, let cool slightly, then seal and refrigerate. Ideally, wait overnight before using so the flavors of cooked wheat, sugar, and fermented soybean can mellow and round out.

Nutrition

Per serving

Energy

222.4 kcal

Protein

2.39 g

Carbohydrate

43.89 g

Fat

3.95 g

Fibre

0.6 g

Calcium

6.51 mg

Iron

0.46 mg

Magnesium

15.1 mg