Chinese Sweet Chili Sauce 甜辣醬

We discovered this delicious sauce in during the zongzi madness at the end of May.  We made the oh so melt in the mouth Northern Taiwan Zongzi, an absolutely new experience for us in that all the ingredients are cooked and seasoned before finally assembling as a zongzi.  To go along with this zongzi we also made this Sweet and Spicy Chili Sauce 甜辣醬 which ended up being a revelation in itself! 

This sweet chili sauce not only perfectly complemented our zongzi but also surprised us by its absolute deliciousness of taste: tangy, sweet and spicy all at once.  It is the perfect sauce to use as a dip for wontons, dumplings, potstickers, spring rolls, chicken wings, and noodles.

Ginger Scallion Sauce 薑蔥醬

Here's a quick and easy Chinese sauce that's simply fabulous.  It's found in many places in Hong Kong but mostly at the siu mei shops 燒味鋪 that sell those delectable barbeque Chinese meats.  An order of 'white cut chicken 白切雞' or 'soy sauce chicken 豉油雞' comes with a generous side of this Ginger Scallion Sauce 薑蔥醬, also known as Ginger Spring Onion Sauce, an aromatic oil sauce intensely infused as well as packed with scallion and ginger.  

Chinese Crab Sauce Noodles 蟹肉醬麵

This Chinese Crab Sauce Noodle is a dish to impress, no doubt about it, and it's perfect both to amaze with its gorgeous sexy looks as well as its sublime knock it out of the ball park taste explosion of ultimate crabbiness.  Luckily for us the ones we most like to impress with good food is ourselves...meaning me... because we're making this for my birthday!  (I'm a summer baby.)  

It's the Chinese custom, for those of you who don't know, to have a bowl of noodles to celebrate a birthday and what better celebration of my wonderful self (hehe) and our love of pure foody goodness than this bowl of sinfully decadent Crab Sauce Noodles 蟹肉醬麵, slippery chewy noodles smothered with a generous golden dollop of rich umami packed crab meat and roe sauce.

Umeboshi Roe Pasta

This lovely pasta dish is actually a happy mistake...no, not a mistake, more like a happy meander that occurred when we were trying to recreate another Japanese dish known as mentaiko pasta (which is super nom nom!)  

The problem with recreating that particular dish is that we couldn't find the main ingredient for it, Japanese cured cod roe.  So we played around and came up with something just as good (we think!) 

Our Umeboshi Roe Pasta is a simple to make creamy yet light pasta with a delicately tangy sauce dotted with umami bursts of roe that is so delicious and totally addictive.  Umeboshi really rock the flavor!

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!

Chinese Pan Fried Fish with Sauce 煎紅衫魚

This simple and easy to prepare pan fried fish dish is a favorite in our house for the rare times when we decide not to steam a fish for dinner (usually our favorite way to prepare fresh fish!)  

Deceptively simple to look at and make, we find this fish dish incredibly tasty: a firm white fish meat cooked to golden crispy skinned perfection, then, at the last minute, inundated with a multi flavored sauce that permeates every bite with dash, zip and multiple layers of tastiness.  Try this Chinese Pan Fried Fish with Sauce, or 煎紅衫魚, and see if you don't find it just as yummilicious as we do!

Chinese Steamed Spareribs with Black Truffle Sauce 黑松露醬蒸排骨

We've heard all that jazz about Black Truffle, that great European gastronomic treasure, but for some reason or the other have never actually tried it.  (Too poor, probably and too busy eating yummilicious chinese food!)  Anyhow, recently someone gave us a bottle of Black Truffle sauce and suddenly there we were, at our virgin tasting of this famous food.  

Out of the bottle and onto crackers, it had a surprisingly sharp aroma (almost garlicky) that one could smell all over the house and an intense mushroomy, slightly earthy, yet delicate taste.  Surprisingly delicate really, I'd have thought black truffle would be something that grabs you by the throat and makes you swoon with lust.  To be honest, it was not what we expected.  But then I'm not sure what we expected...

Sweet & Sour Braised Fish 酸甜魚

I love, love, love the amazingly delightful taste of the Chinese sweet and sour sauce, but I have to seriously protest against that bright orange gooey guck that passes for sweet and sour sauce these days.  What is that stuff?  And why is it so bright orange?!  Everyone must be using the same bottled stuff because it tastes and looks exactly the same from restaurant to restaurant.  

If you love the taste of Chinese sweet and sour, why not try the traditional Chinese way, and make the very delicious Sweet and Sour Fish, or 酸甜魚.  I promise, this traditional preparation tastes way better than restaurant style sweet and sour!  Plus it's easy peasy!