Easy (Cheat's!) Black Bean Sauce

Easy, tasty black bean sauce recipe - save yourself an absolute fortune on those tiny packets of stir fry sauces you get from the supermarket!

No need to buy those over-priced sachets from the chiller cabinet every again - all you need to do is slice up two chillies and grate some ginger, add a few more ingredients and you've got yourself over a litre of sauce that you can freeze which will make around twenty portions or so!

Not only that, if you buy yourself a six pack of Lee Kum Kee black bean garlic sauce (see here for where I get mine, affiliate link which won't cost you any extra), that's twelve lots of the below recipe, which is...erm...  around 240 portions, and it currently costs £12.60 for a six pack. So, if you do the maths, supermarket sachets or jars cost around £1 for a two portion serving (so that would be £120 for 240 portions), so for the price of a few chillies and some ginger root, and a few store cupboard ingredients, you are genuinely saving over £100 overall by making your own - I've even shocked myself working that out!!!

Anyway, without further ado, here's the recipe - oh, and I tried to take a photo of just the black bean sauce, but it just looked like a pan of black stuff (!), so I've used one of my photos of beef in black bean sauce that I've taken previously. I hope you enjoy it!

Ingredients

• 100g black bean garlic sauce (I use Lee Kum Kee see here, so it's half a jar)
• 1 tbsp neutral oil (e.g. groundnut / vegetable / sunflower)
• 2 large red chillies, finely sliced
• 4-5 inches fresh root ginger, grated (about 4-5 tbsp)
• 1 litre freshly boiled water
• 50g palm sugar or soft brown sugar
• 1 chicken stock cube 
• 30g dried fermented black beans, roughly chopped (optional, to boost the black bean flavour)
• 25-30g cornflour
• Light soy sauce to taste

Method

1.  In a large non-stick pan, heat the oil then add the sliced chillies and sautee for a couple of minutes (you could do this in a large, seasoned wok).

2. Add the grated ginger, and briefly stirr in, then add the hot water.

3. Add the black bean garlic sauce, sugar and chicken stock cube, and additional black beans if using, and stir until incorporated. Simmer for 10 or 15 minutes.

4. Mix the cornflour with cold water (approximately 80-100ml/g) until it is the consistency of single cream and there are no lumps left, then, whilst stiring the sauce (a whisk is good for this part), slowly pour the cornflour mix in until thoroughly mixed, and allow to cook for a minute or two or until thickened.

5. Taste the sauce for seasoning, and if you feel it needs more saltiness, add a little light soy sauce until you're happy with the flavour. If you feel it's a little too salty for you, then you can add more hot water, and/or a little more sugar to balance the flavours. 

6. It's ready to use in your stir fries - stir fry your protein of choice, with your favourite vegetables, then add the sauce when they're almost cooked. If your pan is very hot, the sauce may reduce / bubble down, and you may need to add a little hot water to loosen it up. My favourite is beef with green peppers, onions, mushrooms, water chestnuts and spring onion lengths - see here for quantities from my earlier recipe which serves two, but you won't need to marinade the meat, and only need to use the beef and vegetables, as the chillies and ginger etc. are already in the sauce! This will freeze really well - you can either freeze in a really large food bag, then break off as much as you want, or in individual portions.