Once you try this easy homemade schezwan sauce recipe you’ll never be able to go back to the bottled stuff. It’s ‘extremely’ spicy, pungent with delicious flavor.
25Dried red chilies(20 Kashmiri chilies + 5 Regular medium-hot chilies)
¾cupWaterto make a smooth paste
¼cupSesame oil
7-8 cloves or 3tablespoonsGarlicminced
1 inch or 2tablespoonsGingerminced
1tablespoonCelerychopped finely
¼cupOnionor shallot, chopped finely
Saltto taste
3-4Sichuan peppercornscrushed (skip if you don’t have).
⅛teaspoonBlack pepper powder
2teaspoonsSoy sauce
1tablespoonRice Vinegar
2tablespoonsTomato Ketchup
1tablespoonBrown sugar
Instructions
Break the chilies and remove the seeds.
Take chilies in a bowl and add piping hot boiling water and soak for 30 minutes.
Drain the soaking water, take chilies to the blender, add fresh ¾ cup of water and make a smooth paste.
Heat the oil in a pan on medium heat. Once hot add ginger, garlic, celery and onion. Saute for around 2-3 minutes or until the raw smell of ginger garlic goes away.
Now add prepared chili paste, salt, pepper, soy sauce, vinegar, ketchup, brown sugar and a little more water. Mix really well.
Let it simmer for 5 minutes or until thickens. Also, you’ll notice the oil starts to float and ooze out.
Video
Notes
Adjust the spice/heat level: To make it less spicy, use all kashmiri chilies or byadgi chilies. Or use the combination of both. To make it spicy, use the combination of kashmiri chilies and other medium-hot chilies like I have done here. But don’t you dare to use all regular medium-hot chilies, it will make super extreme spicy which you might not tolerate at all.
Make a double batch: You can double/triple the batch and freeze the smaller portions using ice cube trays or silicone molds.
Celery gives a nice herby flavor to the schezwan sauce. If you don’t have then you can skip it.
Taste the sauce: It is a good idea to taste a tiny morsel of it first and judge the taste of it. Depending on that add more or less in the recipes like fried rice, stir-fry, noodles.
Storage: It stays good for 2-3 weeks in the refrigerator and up to 3 months in the freezer.