This, above, is the basic sauce. It’s not very photogenic, I’m afraid, but it is a simple and tasty way to pep up soy sauce with aromatics. Chopped garlic is fried until fragrant. The soy sauce is added to the hot pan and quickly “fried” to bring out the flavors.
In Hong Kong, a popular dipping sauce is done exactly the same way except shallot is used instead of garlic.
My family and friends love this over fried fish or Broiled Salmon but it also goes with cold, steamed or boiled prawn or shrimp and deep fried tofu. Sauce may be poured over food or served as a dipping sauce.
My short cut for parties: Serve this with ready-made cocktail prawn. See Banquet Presentation below.
Add chopped spring onion, sesame seeds, and cilantro for different flavors and the Basic Recipe looks much better.
Master Garlic Soy Dipping Sauce
Basic Recipe
Makes ½ cup
Preparation time: 5 minutes
Cooking time: 5 minutes
2 tablespoons soy sauce
½ teaspoon sugar
3 tablespoons water
1 tablespoons oil
2 cloves garlic, sliced or chopped
In a small bowl, blend soy sauce with sugar and water and set aside. In a 1-quart saucepan, heat oil. When oil is shimmering, add garlic and fry until almost golden. Immediately add in the soy sauce mixture. It will sputter. Immediately remove from heat and swish the liquid around in the pan so the sauce is “well fried.” Easy peasy.
Variations
Different ingredients
Soy Sauce With Shallots Dipping Sauce: This popular Hong Kong dipping sauce is made exactly following the above recipe except for this change below.
–Replace garlic with 2 tablespoons shallot, finely sliced. Fry shallots until they are soft and almost golden, then add soy sauce mixture.
To the basic recipe, add any/or all of the ingredients below:
–2 tablespoons spring onion, chopped. Add after sauce is taken off heat.
–½ tablespoon roasted sesame seed. Add after cooking.
–A few springs cilantro chopped. Add after cooking.
–Half a chili, sliced, tossed in when garlic is golden and before adding soy sauce mixture.
–1 teaspoon finely julienne ginger. Add after garlic has been fried golden.
Different seasoning
To the basic recipe, add any of the ingredients below:
–1 tablespoon dark soy sauce.
–1 tablespoon vinegar to the soy sauce mixture.
–1 tablespoon Shaoxing wine to soy sauce mixture.
Thickened basic sauce
–To thicken the sauce, double the amount of soy sauce, water and sugar in Basic Recipe.
Combine 2 teaspoons cornstarch with 1 teaspoon water. When soy sauce is boiling, quickly add thickening sauce, stir quickly and bring to boil. Immediately remove from heat.
Banquet Presentation
Buy pre-packaged prawn cocktail from Costco. Re-arrange prawns beautifully on a nice platter. This is my short cut for an easy starter dish.
–Offer a selection of dipping sauces–cocktail sauce that comes with the pack, as well as this one, or two with different variations.
