The Definitive Chinese Sauces List To Help You Enhance The Flavor Of Your Dishes

The Definitive Chinese Sauces List To Help You Enhance The Flavor Of Your Dishes

Have you ever wondered why Chinese dishes are extremely common and popular across the continent? Well, I always do and I have realized it is because of the stretchy Chinese sauces list. The sauces offer a variety of tantalizing tastes and amazing flavors. Initially, they were meant to be used while preparing traditional dishes. Chinese sauce list will guide you on how different sauces can be used with variety of dishes.

The Chinese sauces list introduces to you six common Chinese sauces and their unique characteristics that will blow your mind into a realm of imaginations.

1.Soy Sauce

Soy sauce is the most common sauce that you cannot miss in any Chinese sauces list. Soy comes from Japanese word ‘Shoyu’. It is one of the natural sauces, since it is prepared by mixing fermented soya beans, water, salts and roasted grains.

Soy Sauce

Types of Soy Sauce

There are two types of soy sauce depending on your preference. Light soy sauce is thinner and a bit salty while dark soy sauce has a deeper color and flavor. You can select either depending on the one that tickles your fancy.

Dishes

Soy sauce can give you wonderful flavors when you use it to prepare dishes such as Tofu Marinade, Kung Pao Chicken Stir-fry and Soy Sauce Chicken.

Nutritional Value

Soy sauce has a high nutritional value. One spoon of soy sauce contains about 11 calories, 2gms of protein, 1gm carbohydrates and 1006mg sodium.

2.Hoisin Sauce

Hoisin Sauce

Flavor

Hoisin sauce is meant to give you Asian flavor in most of the dishes and that is why it is commonly referred to as Chinese barbeque sauce. Hoisin has a dark and thick appearance and salty and sweet flavor like that of American – style barbecue sauce.

Ingredients

The fragrant and pungent flavor of Hoisin sauce can be traced from the key ingredients such as fermented soya beans, vinegar, chilis, garlic, sesame oil and sweetener.

Dishes.

With Hoisin sauce, you can prepare dishes such as Hoisin dipping sauce, Hoisin pork stir- fry and spareribs. Hoisin sauce can also achieve perfect results for you when used to marinate meat.

3.Rice Wine

Rice wine is made by fermentation of rice. Most of the Chinese sauces lists rank rice wine as one of the top sauces, especially since it is easy to use for beginners. Rice wine can achieve your greater depth of sweetness when you use it with marinades and sauces.

Rice Wine

Varieties of Rice Wine

There are three common varieties you can choose from. These are:

1. Shaoxing or Chinese Rice Wine.
2. Sake or Dry Japanese Rice Wine and.
3. Mirin or Sweet Japanese Rice Wine.

Common Recipes

Good quality rice wine is easily available for you and thus it will be possible to enjoy two mouthwatering dishes. White cut chicken is prepared by soaking the whole chicken into the rice wine. Apart from that, Kung Pao Chicken Stir – Fry is prepared by chicken marinade formed by rice wine.

Once you familiarize yourself with the taste of the sauce, you can experiment it with a few dishes.

4.Rice Vinegar

Most people confuse rice vinegar with rice wine. For this reason, it is important to double check the name on the label to ensure that you have the right product, be it rice vinegar or rice wine. Contrary to popular believe that all vinegars have acidic taste, rice vinegar stands out. That is because it is very mild, and has a subtle sweet aftertaste.

Rice Vinegar

You can use rice vinegar in marinades, salad dressings and for vegetable pickling and the results are always admirable. If you have a craving for sweet and sour or hot and sour dishes, then rice vinegar will be a perfect sauce for your taste.

Types of Rice Vinegar

Rice vinegar gives you a chance to experience different tastes of the same sauce. Rice vinegar has been integrated into three common types known as white, red and black rice vinegar. You can easily find white rice vinegar in most supermarkets and outlets.

Common Recipes

Some of the most common recipes in which rice vinegar is used as an ingredient include:

1. Cold Peanut Sesame Noodles and pan- seared chicken.
2. Chrysanthemum and Tofu Salad commonly known as ‘Ma Lan Tou’.
3. Scallion Pancake Pierogies.

5.Oyster Sauce

Do you wish to achieve awesome flavor in stir-fries as quickly as possible? If yes, then oyster sauce is the perfect solution for your needs. It is made from oysters.

Oyster Sauce

The sauce is manufactured by mixing oyster juices, sugar, salt and soy sauce and sometimes cornstarch can be included to make it thicker. Worth noting is the fact that it has a similar appearance with that of soy sauce.

What Does It Taste Like?

Oyster sauce is unsurprisingly both salty and sweet. The salty taste is far from table salt and more of ocean water. I once thought that Oyster sauce has a fish and funky taste just like fish sauce but to my surprise, it was sweet and less salty. Silly me.

You can also use the sauce to attenuate the color of the food, more so if you want to achieve a darker tone.

6.Plum Sauce

Plums are plenty in summer and rare in winter. It is no wonder the sauce was discovered while plum lovers were trying to find ways of preserving plums in preparation for the cold season. Chinese plums sauce will achieve for you a crazy level of sweetness and spice flavors when used with any dish. Plum sauce has is less sweet and tarter when compared with sour sauce.

Plum Sauce

What Is Plum Sauce Made Of?

Plum sauce is simply made by mixing six ingredients:

1. Plums
2. Vinegar
3. Sugar
4. Chiles
5. Ginger
6. Salt

Plum sauce can also be made from other fruits such as apricot or a combination of apricots and plums.

You can tweak the ingredients to suit your taste. However, this comes with experience after multiple trials.

Uses of Plum Sauce

Plum sauce has various uses such as

• Sauce for ‘moo shu’
• Dipping sauce for egg rolls and dumplings.
• Use as a condiment when taking rice or noodles
• Preparation of Asian slaw for dressing
• A stir-fry sauce

Final Thought

The 6-sauce discussed in this Chinese Sauces List have unique taste and flavors when used with different dishes. Some of the sauces are simple to prepare and thus can be homemade while others can only be sourced from nearby supermarkets. Most of Chinese sauces are made from natural and organic substances and thus not harmful to your health.