You can fall in love with Chinese cuisine only once and for all. Once you try a successful dish of Chinese cuisine, this love will remain forever, because it is really very tasty. In today's article we will lift the veil of secrets of Chinese cuisine and learn how to prepare sauces born in the Middle Kingdom.
The Chinese are extraordinary people. Their culture is rich and ancient, and their culinary traditions are very different from those familiar to us. What borscht is for us is for the Chinese rice and noodles in a hot, sweet and sour sauce, and also a piece of raw fish. But the most interesting thing is the Chinese sauces. Traditional oriental gravies and dressings, as well as thick dips for dumplings and other products, are not like our ketchup with mayonnaise. The taste is completely different, and the aroma is unusual, it beckons.
A good Chinese sauce will decorate any table. It goes well with any appetizers, pasta, and simple rice will turn from a banal porridge into an exotic dish. Today we will introduce you to the variety of traditional Chinese sauces, tell you all their secrets, and most importantly, learn how to cook them at home, in your usual kitchen, from the most affordable and familiar products. This is quite real!
How to make Chinese sauce
Traditional sauces in Chinese cuisine are very diverse. They basically all have a harmonious combination of tastes: sour, sweet and sometimes spicy. Each Chinese sauce has a bright taste, a spicy aroma that whets the appetite, and a rather liquid consistency.
As a rule, they are prepared without heat treatment. To prepare this product at home, you don’t have to simmer, boil or steam anything. Simply mix all the necessary ingredients in a container. Sometimes you need the help of a blender, but often you can do without it. The Chinese are conservative, and not only at home, but also in restaurants, they often cook without using newfangled equipment.
Chinese sauce
Muilchi ek jot - Korean fish sauce
This is a liquid anchovy sauce, golden in color, with a salty taste. The taste is very reminiscent of classic Thai or Chinese fish sauce.
Interesting fact: an approximate recipe for this sauce called “garum” was widely used back in Ancient Rome.
Compound:
This sauce is very easy to prepare by mixing fermented anchovies (or clams) and salt. Then the sauce “ferments” for several days or weeks (depending on the recipe).
Application:
Quite often, Korean cooks use this sauce instead of ketchup and add it to soups and Kimchi.
What is Chinese sauce served with?
We can talk about this topic endlessly! But it’s worth remembering that our crops are vegetables, and in China you may be served a dressing for fried dumplings, and in Moscow – for a regular vegetable salad. Still, the tastes and habits of our peoples are very different, so you should focus on your preferences.
Traditionally, these dressings are served with Chinese food: rice, noodles and dishes based on them. They are also used to season meat, Peking duck, fried veal, and chicken. They are added to seafood, algae, and they are always poured over various shrimps and octopuses, and other sea creatures. Traditional oriental salads and appetizers, such as spicy eggplant salad, cheese balls, rice crispies and flatbreads, are completely meaningless without special dressings!
But it is not so important what these dressings are served with in traditional cuisine. To understand this, just go to any Chinese restaurant and look at the menu. Another thing, more important, is tastes and preferences. Prepare a couple of variations of Chinese sauces, dip a piece of regular bread or cracker into them, and taste them. You will immediately understand what it will go well with! Definitely and win-win - with any meat and fish, rice and noodles. And the rest are bold experiments that you shouldn’t be afraid of!
Sweet and sour sauce with pomegranate
VadimVasenin/Depositphotos.com
Ingredients
- 100 ml freshly squeezed pomegranate juice;
- 100 ml red semi-sweet wine;
- ½ teaspoon dried basil;
- a pinch of ground black pepper;
- ½ teaspoon salt;
- 1 teaspoon sugar;
- 1–2 cloves of garlic;
- ¾ teaspoon potato starch.
Preparation
Pour the juice into the pan, add half the wine, basil, pepper, salt, sugar and chopped garlic. Bring to a boil over medium heat, then reduce to low.
Dissolve the starch in the remaining wine, add to the pan and cook the sauce for about a minute, stirring constantly.
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