Chinese new year is coming, I should get ready for the holiday. So last night I started doing some early preparation: making sauce.

Dried scallop 1 cup

Dried shrimp ½ cup

Jin Hua salty ham 5 oz.

Garlic Minced 50g

Shallot minced 100g

Oil 2 cups

Light soy sauce 1 tbsp

Oyster sauce 2 tbsps

Chicken bouillon 1tsp

Sugar 1tbsp

Cooking wine 2 tbsps

White pepper ½ tsp

Black pepper ½ tsp

Fresh red chili pepper (thin sliced) 2 pieces

• Soak dried scallop and dried shrimp separately in 2 cups water and 1 tbsp cooking wine for 2 hours
• Drain the water from shrimp and scallop (water can be used for cooking something else later) steam shrimp, scallop and salty ham in separated containers for 15 minutes with high heat.
• Use a food processor to finely chop garlic, shallot, ham and shrimp separately.
• Tear the scallop into thin threads.
• Heat up oil in a cook pan, use a chop stick to test the oil, if you see small bubbles when you stick the chop stick into the oil, then temperature is ready. (Oil doesn’t need to be too hot).
• Cook shallot in the oil with medium low heat for about 8 minutes or until lightly golden brown. Set aside.
• Cook garlic in the oil with medium low heat for about 4 minutes or until lightly golden brown. Set aside.
• Cook shrimp and salty ham in the oil with medium low heat for about 4-5 minutes. Set aside
• Cook scallop in the oil with medium low heat for about 8 minutes.
• Add all the ingredients just finish cooking back to the oil; continue to cook for 2 minutes.
• Then add the rest of spices and sauces, turn the heat off. Continue to stir make sure everything combine well.

It is very important to cook with medium low heat because we don’t want to burn anything. While cooking make sure keep stirring too for the same reason.  Some people can cook everything together because they already know how long will it take for each ingredient to be dehydrated.  If you not experienced, I would recommend cooking them separately. This sauce is so good for so many things. Fried rice, noodles or stir fry seafood. It is so flavorful, so even though it is a lot of work and kind of expensive, it is totally worth it.

Fried rice with XO sauce

Tofu Chicken with XO sauce

幹貝1杯

幹蝦米½杯

金華火腿5盎司。

蒜茸50克

红蔥头碎100克

油2杯

醬油1湯匙

蠔油2湯匙

雞粉1茶匙

糖1汤匙

料酒2湯匙

白胡椒粉½ 茶匙

黑胡椒粉½ 茶匙

朝天椒 (薄片) 2 个

 

• 干貝和蝦分別浸泡在2杯水和1湯匙料酒中2小時
• 將水從蝦和幹貝中倒出 (水可用於烹調其他東西) 蝦, 幹貝和咸火腿装在不同的容器中高溫蒸15分鐘。
• 用食品加工機將大蒜、蔥、火腿、蝦分別切碎。
• 把扇貝撕成細絲。
• 在鍋里加熱油, 用一根筷子來測試油, 如果你看到筷子在油里有小氣泡, , 那麼溫度就好了。(油不需要太熱)。
• 在油中用中低火炸红蔥头大約8分鐘或直到淡金黃色。捞出备用。
• 在油中用中低火炸大蒜約4分鐘, 或直到淡金黄色。捞出备用。
• 在油中用中低火炸蝦和咸火腿約4-5 分鐘。捞出备用。
• 在油中用中低火炸干貝約8分鐘。
• 把刚刚炸好的其他东西都倒回到油里繼續煮2分鐘。
• 加入其餘的香料和調味料, 把火關掉。繼續攪拌確保所有的东西都搅拌均匀。

这个酱用中低火煮是非常重要的, 因為我們不想把东西炸糊了。同樣的道理烹飪時一定要不停的攪拌。 有些人可以把所有的東西一起炸, 因為他們已經知道每一样材料需要多長時間才能脫水。 如果你沒有經驗, 我建議分開炸。xo酱煮很多東西都很好吃。炒飯, 麵條或炒海鮮。如果你喜欢辣，就可以多放一些朝天椒。 煮完之后的那个味道简直香到不行, 所以即使它很花时间又有点小贵还是很值得的。