Chinese Barbeque Sauce is a flavour-rich condiment, typical of Chinese cuisine, that may fulfill the dual purposes of use as both
- a cooking or marinating agent as well as
- a serving sauce for barbequed Chinese foods.
There are a number of different Chinese Barbeque Sauces such as Siu Haau, Sha Cha sauce and the Satay Sauce each with their own distinctive characteristic qualities that determine their use in specific Chinese Style barbeque recipes.
The basic Chinese Barbeque Sauce is an extremely flavourful sauce prepared in keeping with traditional Chinese culinary practices and is typically used to flavour grilled, roasted and barbecued meats. This thick smooth textured sauce works perfectly on any smoked or grilled food items. However, like most other barbecue sauces, it has a tendency to burn due to the sugar content. Therefore it is best used only towards the end of the cooking process.
Ingredients
Sherry, Hoisin sauce, soy sauce, sugar, minced garlic cloves, minced ginger, black bean paste, Chinese 5-spice powder and salt.
Preparation
In a simple procedure, all the ingredients are combined together in a saucepan that is placed within a double boiler and left to simmer for about 10 minutes or until the sauce begins to thicken and is slightly reduced. Once it is sufficiently cooled, it may be stored in the refrigerator.
Uses
This Chinese Barbeque Sauce is the exact sauce that may be used to create authentic Chinese ribs to deliver the real taste. Also this sauce can be useful as a marinade for boneless pork, which works perfectly in roasted pork fried rice. Not only is the sauce used in meat marination but may also be served alongside while presenting roasted meat dishes. Vegetarians can use this as a dipping sauce with grilled tofu, mushrooms or cottage cheese with grilled and seasoned vegetables.
When using the barbeque sauce for marination, the meat (chicken/pork or whatever major ingredient one might choose) needs to be marinated in the sauce for between 4-24 hours, turning it over once every few hours. Then the meat is either grilled or broiled until it is fully cooked through, and also slightly charred at the edges as this augments the flavour.
Nutrition Information
Approximately 225 g of the Chinese Barbeque Sauce provides-
• 389 calories with 19 calories from fat
• 2.2 g total fat with 0.3 g saturated fat
• 1.7 mg cholesterol
• 3052.6 mg sodium
• 60.4 g of total carbohydrates with 44.1 g of sugar and 2.1 g of dietary fibre
• 6.2 g of protein
Nutritional Improvement
Owing to the high sugar content it may be appropriate to add some cinnamon powder to the sauce or use some cinnamon sticks during its preparation. This would not only lend its sweet aroma to the sauce but cinnamon is valued for the positive effect it exerts on blood sugar and cholesterol levels.
Cinnamon works by enhancing the body's ability to utilise the insulin it produces, especially in highly active muscular tissues. Cinnamon has demonstrated a significantly beneficial impact on lipid profile. Specifically, it has been studied to lower LDL, the "bad cholesterol."
Chinese Barbeque Sauce Variants
Siu haau sauce is primarily a barbecue sauce quite often used in Chinese and particularly Cantonese cuisine. This sauce is used during the process of barbecuing the meat, while the meat is cooking and not as flavouring sauce after the food is made unlike some other sauces.
Shacha sauce or sa cha sauce / paste is a typical Chinese condiment mainly used in Chiuchow, Fujian, as well as Taiwanese cuisines. The ingredients in this sauce are soybean oil, shallots, minced garlic, chopped chillies and tiny pieces of brill fish, and dried shrimp for flavour. It has a characteristic savoury and mildly spicy taste.
The Shacha sauce is in fact an ingredient which has multiple uses such as-
- it forms a base for soups
- it acts as a rub or coating for meats to be barbecued
- it may be used as a seasoning for certain stir fried dishes
- it can be used as a component for dipping sauces
Shacha sauce is known as "Sa-Te" sauce in the Hokkien dialect. Sa-Te is totally different from peanut-based Satay sauce quite popular in Asian countries like Malaysia, Indonesia, and Singapore.
Another Chinese Barbeque sauce is-
The Satay Sauce – which is essentially a peanut-based sauce of Southeast Asian origin. It is unofficially referred to as a Chinese barbecue sauce. Apart from ground peanuts, or peanut butter, garlic, onions and soy sauce, many flavourful ingredients like galangal, lemon grass, chillies and some spices are used in making this sauce. In Chinese culinary practice, this sauce is commonly used to grill different varieties of meat. Other uses could be to prepare the sauce for main dishes consisting of noodles.
