Szechuan Sauce

Szechuan cuisine is a style of Chinese  cuisine originating from Sichuan province in southwestern China. It has bold flavours, particularly the pungency and spiciness resulting from liberal use of garlic and red chili, as well as the unique flavor of the Sichuan pepper. 

In Szechuan cooking, majority of the recipes require to use the Szechuan sauce as a base. So, here is the homemade sauce which tastes delicious and can be stored upto 2 months in a refrigerator.

Kashmiri red chilies bring the Chinese flavors to the sauce. You can substitute with regular chilies too.

Preparation Time: 10 minutes 

Cook Time: 20 minutes 

Makes : 2 cups of sauce

Ingredients:

Kashmiri dry red chilies: 30 

Garlic: 20 cloves Crushed 

Ginger : 4" piece crushed

Tomato ketchup: 3 tablespoons 

Soy sauce: 1 tablespoon

Fresh ground black pepper: 1 teaspoon 

Sugar : 1 teaspoon 

Vegetable oil: 1/4 cup

Sesame oil: 1/4 cup 

Salt to taste 

Method:

Take the red chilies, take out the tops. Deseed some of the chilies  (if you want a mild sauce, deseed all the chilies).

Soak them in 1 cup of water for 20 minutes.  Heat the pan with chilies and water and bring it to a boil and cook for 3 minutes and turn off the stove.

Let it cool off, strain them and make a paste of chilies using the boiled water.

Heat vegetable oil in a pan, add ginger and garlic and sauté till they are golden. Should take about 4-5 minutes on medium heat. Add the chili paste, tomato ketchup, soy sauce, salt, sugar and pepper, mix well and cook for 3-5 minutes on low flame until the sauce is leaving the sides. Turn off the stove.

Heat sesame oil in a pan, let it heat so it's smoking. Turn off the stove. Add the oil to sauce and mix well.

Let the sauce cool off before storing. It's good for 2 months in the refrigerator.