My mum makes her own XO sauce. Many mothers might have their own recipe too. The ladies at her Ladies Fellowship always 'demo' their recipes to each other and this is her recipe.
She decided to make XO sauce for us because she was 'clearing' our fridge when she came over. She knew the ingredients we have in the fridge have been 'around' for some time. We usually buy her the same things when we go on holidays. We have a supply of dried scallops that we bought in Hong Kong. That's the end product above!
It's a lot of preparation work if you decide to make your own. Some of you might think it's easier to buy a bottle or two from the shelves instead.
Ingredients:
1 cup of scallots
10 cloves of garlic
3 cili padi (optional)
3-4 tablespoons of oyster sauce
1 tablespoon of sesame oil
2 tablespoons of soya sauce
1/2 teaspoon of salt
Pre-soak:
1 cup of dried scallops
1 cup of dried shrimps (hae bee)
10-20 stalks of dried chilli
3-4 pieces of dried mushrooms
Here's the photo journey of the whole process:
Pre-soak 1 cup of scallops, more if you want more in your XO sauce.
After that, you have to slowly peel them into strips, just like how you find in bottled XO sauce that you buy from shelves.
1 cup of scallots, 10 cloves of garlic, 2-3 cili padi. Cili padi is optional, some might not like it.
You can use a food processor to slice it or you can slowly cut it by hand. The shallots is for making shallot crisp first then use the oil to cook the XO Sauce.
A container of shallots ready for deep frying.
The garlic and the optional cili padi.
After pre-soaking the dried shrimps (hae bee), chop them into smaller pieces.
Mushrooms that has been soaked and cut into small pieces too.
The amount of dried chilli is up to you. Use between 5 to 10. Depending on your preference.
You can blend it or you can pound it like what I did.
After pounding, it's not a lot!
Method:
Step 1: Preparing the fried shallot crisps.
In a pot, fill enough oil to cover the shallots and deep fry it till it's almost golden brown.
This is around 1 1/2 cups of oil. If you use more ingredients, you might need up to 2 cups of oil.
Remember to remove the shallots when it's turning brown, after removing it, it will still cook and turn even more brown. If you don't want bitter shallot crisps, remove it when it turns golden.
Step 2: Transfer some of the remaining oil to a big pan and fry the garlic and cili padi.
Step 3: Add in the chopped dried shrimps and fry till it's fragrant.
Step 4: Add in the scallops and mushrooms. Continue to fry till it becomes very very fragrant.
Step 5: Pour in the remaining oil from frying the shallots and keep stirring it.
Mum says it's best for first timers to use medium heat. If you use high heat, you must be very careful so that you don't burn all your ingredients. You can see that the oil is bubbling so it's very very hot. Look at the photo above and below. Hot hot hot!
At home, we use a Bosch Gas Hob that has a 6 KW power level. That day when we were cooking it, we used quite a high heat, so I was constantly stirring and stirring. Back breaking! Our cooking time was shorter because we used a slightly higher heat.
Step 6: Add in the seasoning.
3-4 tablespoons of oyster sauce
1 tablespoon of sesame oil
2 tablespoons of soya sauce.
1/2 teaspoon of salt.
You can adjust a tablespoon more or a bit less depending on your taste buds. Some family eat saltier food, some less salty.
The 3 sauces and oil that we used to season it.
If you wonder what's the First Draw Soy Sauce that you see above, it's what it says it is, First Draw Soy Sauce. We find it extra fragrant when you cook with it and the taste of food does taste better. It's more aromatic than the regular range. You should buy a bottle and try it and see the difference. It's more expensive than the usual soy sauce.
You can find it in super markets, but sometimes it runs out of stock. So grab it when you see it. If you want to look for it, it's usually on the bottom shelve because it's a glass bottle compared to other sauces nowadays which are plastic.
Step 7: You have to keep stirring and stirring it. I was the stirrer for the day. See the bubbles. Be extra careful. Use a super long metal spatula!
It's almost done when it's about this colour and it's very fragrant. Your nose will tell you. Mum says when it's fragrant and it's lighter colour, it's ok. Your preference.
Step 8: Add in the fried shallots and that's it! Turn off the fire and let it cool!
It's very very hot, so let it cool thoroughly.
You can leave it in the pan to cool or on a bowl if you want to take photos and instagram it!
When it's cooled, fill it up in glass bottles and store in the fridge. You need the oil to cover it so that it last longer.
Enjoy it with a simple bowl of mee suah or add a teaspoon or two of it when you stir fry vegetables.
This post is for those who have been asking me for the recipe.
She decided to make XO sauce for us because she was 'clearing' our fridge when she came over. She knew the ingredients we have in the fridge have been 'around' for some time. We usually buy her the same things when we go on holidays. We have a supply of dried scallops that we bought in Hong Kong. That's the end product above!
It's a lot of preparation work if you decide to make your own. Some of you might think it's easier to buy a bottle or two from the shelves instead.
Ingredients:
1 cup of scallots
10 cloves of garlic
3 cili padi (optional)
3-4 tablespoons of oyster sauce
1 tablespoon of sesame oil
2 tablespoons of soya sauce
1/2 teaspoon of salt
Pre-soak:
1 cup of dried scallops
1 cup of dried shrimps (hae bee)
10-20 stalks of dried chilli
3-4 pieces of dried mushrooms
Here's the photo journey of the whole process:
Pre-soak 1 cup of scallops, more if you want more in your XO sauce.
After that, you have to slowly peel them into strips, just like how you find in bottled XO sauce that you buy from shelves.
1 cup of scallots, 10 cloves of garlic, 2-3 cili padi. Cili padi is optional, some might not like it.
You can use a food processor to slice it or you can slowly cut it by hand. The shallots is for making shallot crisp first then use the oil to cook the XO Sauce.
A container of shallots ready for deep frying.
The garlic and the optional cili padi.
After pre-soaking the dried shrimps (hae bee), chop them into smaller pieces.
Mushrooms that has been soaked and cut into small pieces too.
The amount of dried chilli is up to you. Use between 5 to 10. Depending on your preference.
You can blend it or you can pound it like what I did.
After pounding, it's not a lot!
Method:
Step 1: Preparing the fried shallot crisps.
In a pot, fill enough oil to cover the shallots and deep fry it till it's almost golden brown.
This is around 1 1/2 cups of oil. If you use more ingredients, you might need up to 2 cups of oil.
Remember to remove the shallots when it's turning brown, after removing it, it will still cook and turn even more brown. If you don't want bitter shallot crisps, remove it when it turns golden.
Step 2: Transfer some of the remaining oil to a big pan and fry the garlic and cili padi.
Step 3: Add in the chopped dried shrimps and fry till it's fragrant.
Step 4: Add in the scallops and mushrooms. Continue to fry till it becomes very very fragrant.
Step 5: Pour in the remaining oil from frying the shallots and keep stirring it.
Mum says it's best for first timers to use medium heat. If you use high heat, you must be very careful so that you don't burn all your ingredients. You can see that the oil is bubbling so it's very very hot. Look at the photo above and below. Hot hot hot!
At home, we use a Bosch Gas Hob that has a 6 KW power level. That day when we were cooking it, we used quite a high heat, so I was constantly stirring and stirring. Back breaking! Our cooking time was shorter because we used a slightly higher heat.
Step 6: Add in the seasoning.
3-4 tablespoons of oyster sauce
1 tablespoon of sesame oil
2 tablespoons of soya sauce.
1/2 teaspoon of salt.
You can adjust a tablespoon more or a bit less depending on your taste buds. Some family eat saltier food, some less salty.
The 3 sauces and oil that we used to season it.
If you wonder what's the First Draw Soy Sauce that you see above, it's what it says it is, First Draw Soy Sauce. We find it extra fragrant when you cook with it and the taste of food does taste better. It's more aromatic than the regular range. You should buy a bottle and try it and see the difference. It's more expensive than the usual soy sauce.
You can find it in super markets, but sometimes it runs out of stock. So grab it when you see it. If you want to look for it, it's usually on the bottom shelve because it's a glass bottle compared to other sauces nowadays which are plastic.
Step 7: You have to keep stirring and stirring it. I was the stirrer for the day. See the bubbles. Be extra careful. Use a super long metal spatula!
It's almost done when it's about this colour and it's very fragrant. Your nose will tell you. Mum says when it's fragrant and it's lighter colour, it's ok. Your preference.
Step 8: Add in the fried shallots and that's it! Turn off the fire and let it cool!
It's very very hot, so let it cool thoroughly.
You can leave it in the pan to cool or on a bowl if you want to take photos and instagram it!
When it's cooled, fill it up in glass bottles and store in the fridge. You need the oil to cover it so that it last longer.
Enjoy it with a simple bowl of mee suah or add a teaspoon or two of it when you stir fry vegetables.
This post is for those who have been asking me for the recipe.
7 comments:
What a lot of effort!
When do you add in the chili flakes?
Thank you so much for putting up this recipe. I love XO sauce. One question though. If I wanted to make this with dried anchovies instead of scallops, would I rehydrate the anchovies overnight or fry them with the dried shrimp?
Thank you so much for posting this recipe... I have been searching all day for an XO sauce recipe that does not contain ham!
Hi, can I ask if the frying pot that you are using to fry the XO sauce is not a Teflon coated pot? May I know where did u bought it from?
kchugitall: One or two hours should be ok. If you have time, you can do it overnight as well.
Anonymous (31 Jan 2015): The pan is from Tangs Basement. The other department stalls also have it. The folks there are always demo-ing those pans. I think it's anodized something...
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