Imagine a world without sauces! All our food would be so tasteless and flavourless. Nothing would be seasoned; our pasta and noodles wouldn't taste the same. It will not be an exaggeration to say that would be in itself a mini catastrophe for the food world. From the basic tomato sauce to the exquisite barbeque sauce, every sauce every day makes our food taste better. But with the sheer variety of sauces that are used in different dishes, it is difficult to buy everything from the market and keep storing them in our refrigerators. In that case, will it not be super convenient for all of us to know how to make some of our favourite sauces at home?
While we tend to buy basic sauces like tomato, soy, green chilli and chilli garlic, some other condiments find themselves out of favour, even though we do want to eat them. One of the sauces is black bean sauce that is extensively used in the Chinese cuisine. Not only does it give the food a pungent, aromatic, nutty flavour, but it is also great for your health. It contains only good fats and no cholesterol, so it is great for heart health. Although the flavour attained by black bean sauce is unique, there are a few close replacements that you can go for in case you do not find it easily in the market or you want to experiment a little. Some of these sauces are hoisin sauce, miso paste and tianmian sauce. But if you really want to cook with black bean sauce only, here is a recipe to make it at home.
Chinese food cooked in black bean sauce | Unsplash
- 4 Tbsp peanut Oil
- 4 tbsp black beans (fermented, rinsed and drained)
- 1 tsp cornstarch
- 2 tbsp soy sauce
- 2 tbsp minced garlic
- 1.5 tbsp chicken broth
- 4 tbsp cooking rice wine
- 1.5 tsp sugar
Method
- For making the sauce, you would need fermented black soy beans.
- Rinse the fermented beans properly and then drain them. Make sure they are completely dry before cooking.
- Heat a wok or heavy skillet. Keep in mind that the flame should be medium to high.
- Add the oil and let it get heated.
- Add the minced garlic and cook till it turns golden.
- Now, add the drained black beans.
- Stir-fry the beans for about a minute.
- Add the corn starch and the soy sauce and cook for half a minute.
- Finally, add the sugar and rice wine and cook till the gravy thickens and you can see a thick sauce-like consistency.
- The ingredients used can make up to one full cup of sauce.
- Once cool, pour the sauce in a container and store it for future use.
You can make many things with the black bean Asian sauce. It goes great with noodles, chicken and other meat varieties, grilled vegetables and tofu. Remember, the sauce is very salty in taste, so add salt in your dishes accordingly. Happy cooking everyone!
