Chinese Black Bean Sauce 蒜蓉豆豉醬

Do you know what these rather plain looking beans are?  These humble little beans are the Chinese fermented black soybeans, known also as Douchi, or 豆豉.  These black beans are used for the making of that ubiquitous Chinese sauce that is used in all kinds of Chinese dishes, be it pork, beef, or seafood, the Chinese Black Bean Sauce, or 蒜蓉豆豉醬.  

As I was saying in our previous post about Chinese Steamed Fish with Black Bean Sauce, I didn't used to be a fan of this sauce, finding it rather overpowering and creating a 'sameness' in each dish in which it was used.  

Until, of course, the day that my 老公 decided to start making his own Chinese Black Bean Sauce, that is.  It turns out that homemade Chinese Black Bean Sauce is soooooo much better than canned or what you get in restaurants, a delightfully unique, multi-layered, intriguingly flavored sauce that will complement whatever dish you decide to pair it with!

Chilled Bigeye Fish - Chiu Chow Style 潮州凍大眼雞

The thing about spring in Hong Kong is that it lasts only a few cool windswept weeks and then it's gone forever.  BAM! and just like that we're right in the midst of hot summer heat.  Yuck!   If there is one thing that I could do without it's those endless summery months!  

And yet one must soldier on nevertheless and thus we find our thoughts turned longingly towards those delicious cold dishes in the Chinese repertoire. We've posted about several Northern Chinese style cold dishes like the crunchilicious Chinese Cold Cucumber Salad and the cold Chinese Spiced Beef Shin.

Today I want to share our latest obsession, a Southern style Chinese cold dish, the very easy to make and really, really amazingly fresh and sweet Chilled Bigeye Fish - Chiu Chow Style, or 潮州凍大眼雞.  This cold fish dish is so tasty and it keeps so well in the fridge that we're making batches of it so we can have it all the time! It's that good!