Tag Archives: sauce

We have been asked a number of times for a Manchurian sauce. This is a blend of flavours from Indian and China, and is very difficult to obtain in the UK, so here is a recipe using ingredients we sell here at Oriental Food Shop.

Ingredients

• 1 bunch spring onions, finely chopped
• 3cm piece of ginger, grated or finely chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 1 green chilli, finely chopped
• 2 teaspoons sambal oelek chili paste
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 2 tablespoons tomato sauce or one tomato, deseeded and chopped
• 1 red bell pepper, deseeded and chopped (optional)
• 1 teaspoon cornflour
• 2 tablespoons dark soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon rice vinegar
• Salt to taste
• Vegetable oil for frying

Method

In a hot wok or frying pan fry the ginder and garlic for a minute in the vegetable oil. Add the spring onions, green chilli and sugar and cook for another three minutes.

Add the sambal oelek, soy sauce, vinegar, tomato, bell pepper and salt. Stir thoroughly and cook for another two minutes. To thicken, blend the cornflour with a little water and stir in for the last minute of cooking.

Garnish with chopped spring onions.

Although we sell Sweet and Sauce ready-made, we are sometimes asked for an authentic recipe. You need to remember the formula 2-2-1-1:

Ingredients

• 2 parts sugar (sweet)
• 2 parts rice vinegar (sour)
• 1 part light soy sauce (flavour)
• 1 part tomato ketchup (colour, flavour)

and some water (or pineapple juice)

So for example you could use either tablespoons or cups to measure the above, depending upon how much sauce you want to make.

Method

Combine the ingredients together in a saucepan and bring to the boil, simmer for 2 minutes. You may need to add a little bit more of water to adjust the thickness. If you want a thicker sauce, then mix a teaspoon of cornflour or potato flour with cold water and add to the sauce, and simmer for another 2 minutes.

To make Cantonese style sweet and sour chicken, first cut 500g of chicken breast into 2cm pieces and fry in a little oil until brown. Add a chopped red or green bell pepper and stir fry until the chicken is cooked through. Remove from the pan, and make up the sweet and sour souce as above in the same pan. Add a small tin of drained pineapple chunks, and return the chicken & peppers to the pan to heat through. Serve.