Recipe for schezwan sauce (shezuan sauce)
Recipe for schezwan sauce - Make this super easy, fiery schezuan sauce at home with easily available ingredients. Sweet and spicy this sauce is great to make schezwan noodles or as a dip with Chicken Dimsums!
Servings 1 jar
Equipment
- Skillet
Ingredients
- 40-45 medium sized Dry Red Chillies*
- 1 small Red Onion , finely minced, or use shallots
- 10 large Garlic Cloves , finely minced
- 1.5 inch Root Ginger , finely minced, skin removed
- 1/2 tsp Soy Sauce
- 1 tbsp Rice Wine Vinegar , or regular white vinegar
- 2 tbsp Tomato Ketchup
- 2 tbsp Granulated white Sugar , or brown sugar*
- 1.5 tsp Salt
- 8 tbsp Sesame Oil , (see notes)
- 2 cups Water
Instructions
To make the Chilli Paste:
- Heat the 2 cups of water until it is warmed up. Add the dried chillies to the water, cover and let it sit for 30-45 minutes.
- Remove the soaked-up chillies into a blender; reserve the water. Pulse it a few times and then continue blending until it is smooth. Add the reserved water little by little, ONLY if required.
- Transfer the chilli paste to a clean bowl.
To make the Sauce:
- Heat a sauté pan or a skillet and add the sesame oil to it.
- Once the oil is hot, add the onions, ginger, and garlic to it. Sauté until the onions get soft.
- Add in the ground chilli paste. Followed by the soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, tomato ketchup, sugar, and salt.
- Mix it all once vigorously. Reduce the flame to medium and let the chilli paste thicken up. The oil will separate from the chilli paste at this point.
- Remove from heat and let it cool down. Transfer it to a clean glass jar and store it in the refrigerator!
Notes
- I like to use Indian long variety of dried chillies. You can use any type of dried chillies you like. But based on the hotness, you might have to up or lessen the number of chilies.
- I use white sugar when I need a bright red color. But the flavor is better with the use of brown sugar; which of course adds a bit of a dark color to the schezwan sauce. If you arent bothered about the color, go with brown sugar.
- Using 8 tablespoons of oil may seem scary but if you intend to store this schezwan sauce in the refrigerator, the oil will float on the top and will keep in the sauce good for a long time. This way the sauce stays good in the refrigerator for up to a month. You can drain the excess oil with every tablespoon you use and leave the oil in the jar.
- If you intend to freeze the schezwan sauce, you can halve the amount of oil and make this sauce. Freeze in an airtight container or Ziploc. It stays good in the refrigerator for up to 3 months or more.