Need recipe for Chinese dipping sauce.

[Phil]

Many Chinese restaruants have a sweet red dipping sauce, fairly thin
with a strong citrus taste. I'm trying to find a recipe for such a
sauce.

My guess is the recipe is going to be something like:
Boil some cut up lemons and oranges in sugared water for a long time.
Strain, add red food coloring.

The sauce is slightly thicker than water; possibly a small amount of
cornstarch is used to get the consistency, but maybe just boiling down
the sugar water gets it there.

The sauce has no other obvious ingredients; it's very clear except for
the red color. The red color is definitely not the result of any
tomato based addition; it appears to be red food coloring.

If anyone knows of a recipe like this, I'd appreciate it if they would
share it. Thanks
Phil

[Steve Wertz]

pcun...@email.com (Phil) wrote in message news:<b1ab95a5.0202...@posting.google.com>...

> Many Chinese restaruants have a sweet red dipping sauce, fairly thin
> with a strong citrus taste. I'm trying to find a recipe for such a
> sauce.
>
> My guess is the recipe is going to be something like:
> Boil some cut up lemons and oranges in sugared water for a long time.
> Strain, add red food coloring.

There are several drastically different versions of 'plum sauce', and
this is one of them. Search for plum sauce recipes.

-sw

[RSMcC III]

"Phil" <pcun...@email.com> wrote in message
news:b1ab95a5.0202...@posting.google.com...

Do you mean duck sauce?

[livehuman]

Try http://asiarecipe.com/chisauce.html
They have recipes for about 30 different sauces. One of my favorite websites...

James G.

swe...@austin.rr.com (Steve Wertz) wrote in message news:<d625cb9e.02021...@posting.google.com>...

[Arsenio Oloroso Jr.]

There's this ingredient that I read about in a Chinese cookbook I just
purchased but haven't yet tried out. The name of the cookbook is: The New
Classic Chinese Cookbood, by Mai Leung. I think it has the answer to your
question.

The ingredient is called shan zha bing or san jan cakes. It's used in
making a clear sweet-and-sour sauce with a red tinge.

Mai Leung's description is as follows: "Also labeled as preserved plums,
shan zha bing, or san jan cakes; made from sugar, plums, or apples,
pressed into quarter-sized thin wafers. Red in color, sweet and sour in
taste. Believed to enhance appetite; therefore many old Chinese prefer
children to eat shan zhan bing rather than candies. Used in making
sweet-and-sour sauce before ketchup became popular. STORING: in a covered
jar, will keep indefinitely."

This is now on my list of things to try.