Hoisin Sauce

Hoisin Sauce is ridiculously easy to make and I promise you, it is so delicious, you’ll be licking the spoon (I know I did). I do recommend that you make your own Black Bean Paste as well as your own Five Spice Powder, which will make all the difference. Neither is particularly difficult to do and once you have them, both will keep very well for quite a while.

• 75g dark palm sugar
• 30ml hot water
• 90g Black Bean Paste/Sauce (to make your own, click on Project: Aromatic Crispy Duck – Part 3: Black Bean Paste)
• 30ml soy sauce
• 1 Tbsp rice vinegar
• 50g dried plums/prunes, about 4 pieces
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• ½ tsp five spice powder (store bought or homemade Project: Aromatic Crispy Duck – Part 1: Five Spice Powder)

Dissolve the palm sugar in the hot water. Break up the plums or prunes with your fingers and remove the stones if they are not pitted. Put the plums into a blender, add the black bean paste, soy sauce, rice vinegar, sesame oil and five spice powder. Pour the palm sugar and water in and blend until very smooth.

• 

• 

I like to put the blended sauce through a strainer to get a finer texture, but it isn’t absolutely necessary. If you do, you will have to push it through with a spoon. Not difficult, but a little more work. Pour your hoisin sauce into a glass jar and keep it in the chiller, where it will happily survive for a few months.

Use is as a dipping sauce for dumplings and yong tau foo, as a marinade for beef of chicken that you plan to grill. Add it to stir fried vegetables, add a teaspoon to any broth, stock or soup to enrich it, slather it on your burger or mix it with a little black vinegar and stir it into mayonnaise to dip your chips in. And of course, it is perfect spread on a little pancake before you pile the shredded aromatic crispy duck on.