Lately, I’ve been dissatisfied with the chili sauces I find in stores. Many of them taste of preservatives, and almost all have ingredient lists over 10 items long, including MSG or some offshoot. (Yes, I know MSG isn’t that bad for you, but if it’s a restaurant staple in Beijing I might as well limit the amount consumed at home.) Chili sauce is such a basic blend, yet store-bought brands contain ingredients decipherable only through a Chinese-English chemical compound dictionary.
(Chilis shown larger than real life.)
So recently I decided to buy a bunch of fresh red chilis and make my own sauces. I used the tiny little bird’s eye chilis, but you can also use larger red chili peppers for a milder sauce. I donned plastic gloves and spent half an hour mincing my chilis. (Too many painful incidences of having residual chili oil on my hand when removing contacts made me become extra cautious.) That was the only labor-intensive part. Then I just cooked the chilis with yellow rice wine and dark rice vinegar, stir in some sugar, and seasoned it with a little salt. Done.
As a variation, you can make chili black bean sauce. Just use fermented black beans, available in most Chinese grocerrs. (Rinse in water or rice wine before use to get out grit.) Add the chopped fermented black beans to the chilis, and leave out salt since the beans are already salty enough. You can use the finished sauce in a number of spicy Chinese dishes, like twice-cooked pork and Sichuan boiled beef. It can also replace the black beans and chili oil in my stir-fried chicken with black bean sauce.
Have you ever made your own chili sauce at home?
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Basic Chili Sauce
8 ounces fresh red bird’s eye chilis, stemmed and finely minced
2 tablespoons peanut or vegetable oil
1 tablespoon yellow rice wine
2 teaspoons dark rice vinegar
1 tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoons salt
Cook chilis in oil over medium-low heat for 1 minute. Add rice wine and vinegar and simmer for another 3 minutes. Stir in sugar and salt. Remove from heat and let cool before transfering to storage container. Sauce and be stored in the fridge for up to 3 weeks.
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Chili Black Bean Sauce
8 ounces fresh red bird’s eye chilis, stemmed and finely minced
1/3 cup fermented black beans, rinsed and chopped
2 tablespoons peanut or vegetable oil
1 tablespoon yellow rice wine
2 teaspoons dark rice vinegar
1 tablespoon sugar
Cook chilis and black beans in oil over medium-low heat for 1
minute. Add rice wine and vinegar and simmer for another 3 minutes.
Stir in sugar. Remove from heat and let cool before
transfering to storage container. Sauce and be stored in the fridge for
up to 3 weeks.
Wow! I’ve definitely bookmarked this. I have made enchilada sauce using various chilies, but not this. We always use the old stand-by Sriracha.
Oooh I now have another use for my fermented black beans!! Thank you – both the sauces look good!
Your sauce looks so vibrant and fresh!
I like to make my own chili sauces too. They always turn out a little different each time. It usually depends on what I have on hand or feel like adding, like garlic, dried shrimp, fish sauce, lemongrass, or lime leaves. I’ll have to try it with the black beans now.
Oh man, my husband would love this. My nose is running just looking at it though.
Don’t buy into the corporate spin doctoring, MSG actually is as bad as you think… and worse. Just do a quick google and you will see it has links to many health problems, and not just for those of us especially sensitive to it’s excitotoxins*.
http://www.curezone.com/art/read.asp?ID=52&db=6&C0=17
I have been looking for chile recipes as my habanero plants produced a mother load of chiles which I harvested last night. I had not thought of Chinese condiments. Thanks much!!
Cooking classes in a hutong sound amazing.
I LOVE your favicon!
che che
KyotoFoodieć®Peko
I rarely cook overly spicy foods, but after seeing this page, I took the plunge. I do like spicy but my better half doesn’t. Guess what??? She loved it also! Be assured that the Chili Black Bean Sauce is simply splendid. Thanks!
wow i never know there are different rice wines
i read that yellow & dark rice wine is made in shaoxing. what’s the difference in taste & color in yellow , dark & shaoxing rice wine
what’s brand are you using
There used to be a restaurant that served rice flour coated flashed fried catfish with this wonderful black bean chili sauce. Thanks for posting the recipe. I can’t wait to try it
I need light soya sauce and dark soya sauce recipes to be made at home.Pls if you can help me out.
Thanks
Waqar Hussain
Diana,
Thanks for the awesome recipes …Btw what is the brand name of the rice wine and the rice vinegar you use ….Can you pl suggest ?
Dan – I use the Pagoda brand for Shaoxing rice wine (Shaoxing is the type of rice wine) and Marukan rice vinegar.
The Pagoda brand might be a little hard to pick out among the many red- and gold- bottles imitating it at Chinese markets, but here is what you should look for:
http://www.asiandumplingtips.com/2010/02/shaoxing-rice-wine-a-buying-guide.html
Hope that helps!