SINGAPORE – Prepping a feast at residence to have a good time chap goh mei, the fifteenth and final day of Chinese language New 12 months, on Feb 15?
In case you are planning a hotpot meal, spice it up by making your personal restaurant-worthy dips. This additionally means you will have full management over the extent of spiciness and saltiness.
For the Spicy Savoury Dip, I add sha cha jiang, also called Chinese language barbecue sauce. Search for the Taiwan-made Bull Head model. I purchased mine from sauce producer Kwong Cheong Thye in Lorong 27 Geylang. Additionally it is accessible on-line from Yue Hwa Chinese language Merchandise at $7 for a 250g bottle.
The sauce is made with soya bean oil, dried fish, garlic, ginger, shallots, sesame, coconut powder, dried shrimp, chilli powder, salt and pepper. Hold what’s left over for stir-fries or as seasoning for noodles.
Fermented chilli beancurd provides a posh savoury flavour to the ultimate sauce.
One other spicy dipping sauce that’s easier and simpler to organize is the Spicy Seafood Dip. It’s an adaptation of the favored Thai nam jim dipping sauce that’s historically used for seafood and is less complicated to organize.
Use a blender to combine the elements or chop them up and toss with somewhat palm sugar, lime juice and fish sauce. Thai palm sugar is really useful because it comes as a comfortable paste and dissolves extra simply.
Chilli cowards could make the non-spicy Sesame Dip, which additionally goes properly with fiery mala hotpot.
You may get bottled sesame seed paste at a Chinese language grocery store. Decide one that’s made purely from white sesame seeds. Some are labelled sesame paste, however include peanuts. White rice vinegar provides somewhat tang to maintain the sesame paste from being over-cloying.
Use the paste with a number of the oil that comes within the bottle, so it turns into much less viscous and simpler to combine with the opposite elements.
• Comply with Hedy Khoo on Instagram and Straits Instances Meals on Instagram and Fb.