XO Sauce

Sometimes, in the depths of Winter, we need some spice to warm us inside as well as out. Today I’m veering from the warm comfort food of the weekend’s Not-Chicken Soup to the spicy and lush XO sauce. It was developed as late as the 1980′s in Hong Kong, and apparently the name is derived from XO (extra old) Cognac – to denote rareness and quality. I’ve been wanting to make it for a long time, but was stymied by the lack of ingredients available here in regional Australia. Dried scallops anyone?
I was nearly tempted to try an adapted version when I picked up Neil Perry’s wonderful Balance & Harmony: The Secrets of Asian Cooking a few years ago, but just… didn’t get around to it. So, I was thrilled to find his own adaption (without the impossible to find scallops!) in last weekend’s Good Weekend section of The Age newspaper. It is now available here at Good Food. I still didn’t have the right ingredients to make it on the spot (ahem, 750g of chillies? Ouch), but I figured I could manage a happy enough adaption with ingredients in my pantry. I didn’t have the green shallots, so used red onion, and also dialled down the salt and sugar a little. I also added some some sherry as a bit of inspiration from the sauce’s namesake. Yes I do have dried shrimp in my pantry, but only because I spotted them at an asian grocer and thought of making this sauce (one day!). I’m thrilled that ‘one day’ is now!

I imagine this is a much milder version than intended (call me a wimp if you like), so feel free to add more chillies if you like it HOT. Without the enormous pile of fresh chillies, it is also far from the deep mahogany red that that original sauce should be, but I’m still calling it good enough. If not downright fantastic. Thanks Neil, I’ll be making this again.

XO Sauce

1 heaped Tbs (12g) dried shrimp
Small knob (15g) ginger, peeled
7 cloves garlic
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp sugar
1/2 small onion
1 Tbs dried chilli flakes
1Tbs dry sherry
3/4 cup rice bran (or vegetable) oil

Pour boiling water over the shrimp and soak for an hour, then drain. Add all ingredients except oil to a blender or food processor, and blend until finely chopped. Slowly add oil. At this point it will look a little like speckled mayonnaise. Pour into a medium saucepan and cook over a low heat for about an hour. It will slowly turn transparent, then darken as the fresh ingredients cook in the oil. Magic.

Store in the fridge. Use as a marinade or sauce for meat, fish or vegetables, or in stir fries. It will add flavour and depth to fried rice, and is great as a dipping sauce.