Stories of Chinese Cuisine - Chinese Sauces! Dip & Tricks

CHINESE CUISINE IS FILLED WITH A HUGE VARIETY OF APPETIZERS, SNACK AND BITE-SIZED GOODIES, SO IT’S NO WONDER DIPPING SAUCES PLAY A HUGE ROLE IN JUST ABOUT EVERY EATING EXPERIENCE. LET’S GO THROUGH A FEW OF THE MOST POPULAR SAUCES AND DIPS!

SOY SAUCED BASED DIPS
Soy sauce is a non-negotiable staple when it comes to Chinese cooking. When you’re sitting down to eat at most Chinese restaurants, you may have wondered why the soy sauce is served on its own, with a few other condiments and empty bowls. Soy is the ultimate umami base on which to build! It’s a confident start for adding garlic, chilli, vinegar, or all of the above!

When you’re making a soy-based sauce, you can find the right balance of sweet, salty, sour and umami that matches you. When combining soy sauce and ginger, try adding rice wine vinegar and some brown or white sugar. These sauces pack so much flavour, they’re perfect to add to something like rice, white meats or noodles. Have you tried our amazing range of  Soy Sauces? Click through to find out more.

SWEET & SOUR DIPS
Sweet and sour sauce is one of the most famous Chinese sauces. It’s not just for dipping either! There are so many Chinese recipes that are built around this flavour profile - like the classic sweet and sour pork, it’s also excellent on a stir-fry! Once again, it’s all about balance. It’s distinctive flavour comes from combining vinegar with sugar, tomato sauce and soy sauce for colour and that extra layer of umami. Traditional sweet and sour sauce gets its thickness from the use cornstarch mixed with water – aka water starch. Once again, it pairs as a dipping sauce so well with most deep-fried entrées, but the absolute classic is Chinese spring rolls. Have you tried our  Sweet & Sour sauce? Click through to find out more.

PLUM SAUCE
Plum sauce is made from plums, giving it a rich, yellowish colour. Plum sauce is often used as a dipping sauce for roasted duck! It certainly isn’t limited to duck though, this jammy deliciousness is perfect to use in a stir fry, or use as a dipping sauce for dumplings and spring rolls. Have you tried our  Plum sauce? Click through to find out more.

HOISIN BASED SAUCE
Classically served with Peking duck and Mu Shu pork, hoisin-based sauces are often confused with plum sauce, because of the dark, thick nature and that they’re both paired with duck. As a dipping sauce though, hoisin will be paired with garlic, chilli, ginger and vinegar but in order to make the dip a little thinner it is also combined with a little sesame oil.

It’s a delicious and flavourful dipping sauce for most appetizers but especially for buns and meats! It’s probably our favourite, but shhhhh, don’t tell the soy sauce lovers!  Have you tried our  Hoisin sauce? Click through to find out more.

HOT CHILLI OIL
It doesn’t take much of this stuff to totally change a dish – for the better! Though Hot Chilli Oil is most often used sparingly while preparing a meal, it’s not unusual to find a bowl of hot chilli oil served with any Chinese entrée like spring rolls, dim-sims and dumplings. You can add it to other sauces and ingredients: ginger, garlic or hoisin based is amazing, but anything goes! Dip your dumpling in every sauce available or just drown it in chilli! It all depends on your palate, but we recommend starting with a few drops. Try our  Chiu Chow Chilli Oil! Click through for more information.

DUMPLING DIPPING SAUCE
Here’s the trick with dumpling sauce, while there are many exquisite recipes, you can make it perfectly suited to your taste for the right balance of spicy and sour. Usually, dumpling sauce is made up of garlic, soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, sesame oil, and as much chilli oil as you like!

They say variety is the spice of life and you know we LOVE spice. So, if you’re looking to mix up your dumpling experience, you can try any of the sauces in this list and find your favourite… or serve all of them! And we have our very own Soy Sauce for dumplings that is - To. Die. For! So keep that one up your sleeve (or in the pantry). Have you tried our  Seasoned Soy Sauce for Dumplings sauce? Click through to find out more.

Want to make cooking simple, delicious and fun? Just visit our  recipe pages!