If you can get a hold of authentic Chinese food, you will be eating some of the healthiest food in the world.
Sadly, it is difficult to locate truly excellent and completely authentic Chinese restaurants these days that cook the dish according to tradition without utilizing excessively saturated fats or meat with a high percentage of harmful animal fat.
The same issue plagues me.
We all adore Chinese food, but it takes us a while to get true Chinese food where we live. We become too thrilled (and frequently too hungry) after a one-hour journey, and when we consider having to drive that far back, we stop enjoying the food as much.
How To Make Chinese White Sauce?
For this reason, I have started preparing authentic Chinese meals at my home. It is not always easy to find all the ingredients, but it pays off with the first bite.
I have recently found a great recipe for the Chinese white sauce, which is very easy to make but also very versatile and easy to combine with other Chinese dishes.
Read on, and you will discover how to make Chinese white sauce, but also what to serve it with. I even threw in some fun facts about Chinese cuisine! 🙂
Are you a fan of Asian food as much as I am? Owning a quality rice cooker is a must!
Fun Facts about Chinese Cuisine: Interesting and Good to Know Trivia!
Chinese cuisine is one of the most popular cuisines in the world, and it is therefore very useful to know as much as you can about it.
You will also be able to share knowledge while dining on delicious Chinese food with your friends and family – after all, everyone likes to hear something new and interesting!
- Using knives and forks is considered barbaric in China. Therefore, all the authentic Chinese food is already chopped into bite-size pieces.
- 45 billion chopsticks are spent in a single year in China. For this reason, there is even a tax on disposable chopsticks aimed to reduce the use of chopsticks made from softwood or bamboo and thus protect the environment. (Related: If you do appreciate Chinese/Korean/Japanese on a regular basis, you should have a few sets in your utensils drawer – for a more authentic experience)
- According to Traditional Chinese Medicine, a person should balance five key flavors of Chinese cuisine – sweet, salty, sour, bitter, and spicy.
- Be careful when ordering food in Chinese restaurants, as names can be quite misleading! If you eat a field chicken, you will actually be enjoying frog meat.
- If you wish to honor your guest in China, you need to seat him furthest from the door. Besides that, while serving the food, make sure that the chicken, duck, or fish are positioned in such a manner that the head points are in the way of your important guest.
- Soup is never served at the beginning of the meal like in the west; it is, quite oppositely, served last as it is believed to enhance digestion.
- Different regions in China differ greatly when it comes to food flavor. Northerners prefer salty dishes, while south cuisine focuses on sour dishes.
- Although most people think that eating rice is one common attribute of all Chinese people, it is not so in reality. Namely, people in the north eat a lot of wheat products such as dumplings, wheat noodles, and steamed buns, while people living in the south cannot enjoy a meal without a bowl of rice.
- Chinese people eat double the amount of vegetables in comparison to westerners.
- There are many Chinese vegetables and fruits that cannot be found anywhere else in the world – some of the names have not still been translated into other languages!
- Beijing Roast Duck is definitely the most famous Chinese dish, and although it was long reserved only for the emperors, it is now widely available, and you can enjoy it too!
- Ice cream was first made in China somewhere around 2000 BC. Unfortunately, it had a similar destiny as the roast duck – it was long kept as a royal secret. According to historians, we should thank Marco Polo that this popular frozen dessert made it to the western hemisphere and into our freezers. (I know my boys are very grateful! 🙂 )
Related: Difference Between Lo Mein and Chow Mein
How to Make Chinese white sauce?
Chinese white sauce is one of the most popular sauces offered in most Chinese restaurants worldwide.
It is made out of clear vegetable stock and thickened with cornflour. Its authentic flavor usually comes from Oriental flavorings such as ginger and garlic.
What to use the Chinese white sauce for?
- The Chinese white sauce is very versatile and can be used with a number of Chinese dishes, but I often use it to add flavor to some typical western dishes as well.
- It is tongue-tingling and goes well with almost all stir-fried veggies, especially broccoli.
- If you add some of the Chinese white sauce to baby corn and almonds, you will truly excite your palate! The options are really limited by your personal taste only! For example, my boys love it with fried chicken too!
The best Chinese white sauce recipe
You will need only about fifteen minutes to prepare it and about five minutes more to cook it.
My recipe will provide about three cups of sauce. If you do not use it all at once, keep it refrigerated in a tight-air container for up to two weeks or so.
The List of Ingredients you will need
- Three cups of clear vegetable stock
- Half a cup of finely chopped onions
- Two teaspoons of finely chopped ginger
- Three tablespoons of cornflour
- One tablespoon of oil
- Two teaspoons of finely chopped garlic
- Salt to taste
- A pinch of sugar
The Preparation Process
- Combining the cornflour and vegetable stock: Use a deep mixing bowl to mix the cornflour and the clear vegetable stock well. Set aside.
- Saute onions, ginger, and garlic: Set the stovetop to medium heat and use a broad non-stick pan to heat the oil. Add onion, ginger, and garlic, and sauté on a high flame for a minute.
- Cook the sauce: Add the cornflour-vegetable stock mixture you have previously set aside into the sauteed onions, ginger, and garlic. Add a pinch of sugar and salt to your taste, mix it all well, and cook it all for about five minutes at a high temperature. Do not forget to stir it from time to time!
Related: Finest Non-stick Cookware Set – Reviews
One cup of the Chinese white sauce made according to my recipe will have only 119 calories, which is quite good for a sauce as most others tend to be rather caloric.
The cup will also provide 5.6 grams of fat and 2.3 grams of fiber and no cholesterol at all.
There is also a fair amount of vitamins such as Vitamin A (214.3 mcg), Vitamin C (17.1 mg), Vitamins B (B1, B2, B3), and Folic Acid (39.8 mcg).
As far as minerals are concerned, there is 56.5 mg of Calcium, but also Potassium (87.5 mg), Zinc (0.4 mg), and Iron (1.7 mg).
Conclusion
It is good to know that you can enjoy the alluring Chinese kitchen flavors at your home.
The Chinese white sauce is a good place to start exploring the possibilities as it is easy to make, even for the utmost beginners.
I hope that you will like the Chinese white sauce and leave me some comments and suggestions too! 😉