Black bean sauce is one of my favourite sauces from a Chinese restaurant in the UK. Who knew you could make such a good version so quickly from scratch?! This is a revelation!
One of my favourite vegetables to go with black bean sauce are green peppers. Their bitterness is perfectly complemented by the savoury beans. I love stir fried lotus root as well. It’s sometimes hard to find even in good Chinese supermarkets, but if you find it, it is worth buying! If fresh is hard to come by – look for it preserved in tins or in the freezer section. It is mild in flavour but distinctly floral. If cooked in stews it can soften to the texture of potato, but in stir fries it maintains a good crunch – similar to that of celery. There is a picture of fresh lotus below. You can add any veg though – baby corn, sugar snap peas, mushrooms etc – it’s all down to personal preference.
If you have spare lotus root left, it is really good in soups and stews. Try this Vietnamese hot, sweet and sour tamarind soup if you have some excess. If you have excess black beans, try some mapo tofu.
Stir fried vegetables with home made black bean sauce
Equipment
- wok
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil
- 2 tbsp garlic crushed
- 2 tbsp ginger grated
- 2 spring onions
- 3 tbsp fermented black beans roughly chopped
- 125 ml stock
- 2 tbsp Shaoxing wine
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tsp sugar
- ½ tsp rice vinegar
- 2 tsp cornstarch dissolved in 1 tbsp water
- stir fried vegetables of choice
- 1 green pepper
- 1 red pepper
- 1 lotus root
Instructions
- Heat the vegetable oil in a wok on a high heat.
- Add garlic and ginger and stir fry for 2 minutes. Then add the spring onions and heat for a further 1 minute. Add the black beans and stir for 30 seconds.
- Add the stock, wine, sugar, soy sauce, and rice vinegar and bring to a simmer. Reduce the liquid by half (about 10 minutes) and add the cornstarch and stir until it thickens. Once it has thickened its ready to coat your favourit stir fried vegetatbles. Stir fry the vegetables until they are cooked the way you like them and add the sauce and stir. Serve with rice or noodles
