Chinese food has been winning the hearts of several people. The famous take-out boxes have become a staple in many countries.
Sichuan cuisine has garnered a lot of attention, and you can find Sichuan sauce with a lot of food items today. Sichuan sauce is available as packets in supermarkets; you can get them as add-ons in fast food chains as well.
You can put Sichuan sauce on almost anything, and it would taste better. You can add it to noodles, chicken, fried rice, or any other food item you have, and it will blend in so well, giving away its unique taste.
What goes into the sauce?
The sauce contains pepper, honey, Sichuan pepper, vinegar, Chinese cooking oil, and some more spices. All of the ingredients together give a sweet and sour taste.
There will be slight changes in the ingredient for the preserved sauces available in the market.
Homemade Sichuan sauce – A quick recipe
So, you are one amongst those who do not like the taste of preservatives and believe in cooking fresh home-made sauce. Worry not! You can master cooking Sichuan sauce in no time. It is easy to make, and you might already have most of the ingredients on your kitchen shelves.
All you are going to need are:
- Soy sauce
- Sugar or honey (whichever you have at home)
- Cornstarch
- Rice vinegar
- Chili Garlic Sauce
- Red pepper flakes
- Garlic and ginger powder
- Chinese five-spice powder
As you see, most of the ingredients are at your hands reach in your kitchen. So let’s get started on how to whip some tasty Sichuan sauce.
The soy sauce is going to be the base of our sauce; the corn starch is to give thickened texture to the sauce. The honey and other spices will give the necessary flavor to it.
Making the sauce is easy. Take around 14th cup of soy sauce, add three tablespoon honey or sugar, add one tablespoon each of rice wine vinegar and chili garlic sauce. Rest of the flavorings you can add as per your taste. Mix all the ingredients, and voila.
Your sauce is ready.
If you are going to use the sauce for making chicken or noodles, you can stir fry it with the sauce. Alternately, you can use the sauce as a dip for your fried chicken or any other starter. You can store the sauce in the refrigerator for up to 4 days in a sealed container.
Cooking tips
- If you do not want a thick sauce, you can avoid using corn starch, or you can lower the quantity of it.
- Some people do not like overly spicy food, so while adding the pepper, you can taste it in between to keep it at the right amount of spiciness.
- In case you accidentally added more pepper flakes, add some sweetener or sweet sauce to compensate.
Now that you have some delicious Sichuan sauce at home, nothing else should stop you from cooking tasty oriental Chinese food.
If you don’t have time to make the sauce at home, we would suggest you go and buy the Sichuan sauces available in the market. Make sure you choose the best.
You can put this sauce on the following dishes:
- Spicy Sichuan Duck
- Sichuan Sweetened Noodles
- Sichuan Chinese Green Beans
- Sichuan-style Shrimp
- Sichuan Chicken
- Crispy nuggets with Sichuan Sauce
- Grilled eggplant with Sichuan sauce
There are plenty of dishes out there. All you have to do is take out the recipe and then make them at home.
Whether homemade or store bought, Sichuan sauce is a game-changer, and it is here to stay.
Story by David Van Der Ede
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