Thursday, January 22, 2009

Sweet and Sour Showdown

On Tuesday's Dim Sum lunch box I tried out some recipes for Sweet and Sour Dipping Sauce. Then I went to the Chinese restaurant/takeaway Hing Loong on Borough High Street and got their sauce and asked the chef for his recipe. Mark Wu and I tried the sauces with some deep fried crispy squid. I have to say the Hing Loong sauce won out. One of the recipes I tried was from an old Ken Hom book I have, it was basically equal parts orange marmalade, ginger marmalade, sugar, rice vinegar salt and hot water. It was too orangey, perhaps it was the cheap marmalade is I used? Another was sugar, salt, rice vinegar, ketchup and hot water. That was tangy but too tomato tasting.
I think to get the right thickness you need to boil up and simmer down into a syrup.
Sweet and sour sauce is not as easy as it sounds and contains many ingredients. Here's the recipe I got from the chef at Hing Loong, though Mark reckons you need to add some fresh orange too.

  • tomato paste
  • rice vinegar
  • sugar
  • salt
  • lemon
  • celery
  • onion
  • chilli
  • water
  • ginger

Boil up and pour through a sieve when you want to use (so not bits), it's important to serve it warm.
I'll try this recipe at home and let you know how I get on.

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