XO Sauce

Build the Meal Around XO Sauce

• Steamed fish
• Fried rice
• Plain noodles

How to Make XO Sauce

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1. Soak the dried scallops and shrimp separately in the Shaoxing wine topped up with warm water, in the fridge for 2 hours, until soft. Keep the liquid.

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2. Shred the scallops by hand along their grain into fine threads, and chop the shrimp roughly.

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3. Heat the oil in a wide heavy pan over medium-low heat and fry the shallots 10 minutes, until golden. Lift them out.

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4. Fry the garlic 4 minutes, until pale gold, then lift it out.

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5. Fry the shredded scallop and shrimp together 12 minutes, at a lazy sizzle, until crisp and separated.

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6. Add the ginger and diced ham and cook 5 minutes.

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7. Return the shallots and garlic, add both chillies and fry 5 minutes more.

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8. Add the sugar, soy sauce, oyster sauce, salt and soaking liquid and cook 4 minutes, until the sauce is thick and the oil has separated.

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9. Cool completely and pack into jars with the oil covering the solids.

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Related guide: Prep, cook and total time.

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A Few Notes

Low and slow. Forty minutes at a lazy sizzle, not a stir-fry.

Shred the scallops by hand along the grain.

Keep the solids under the oil in the jar.

Changing the Recipe

• Dried chilli flakes can stand in for the red chillies. Heat varies a great deal between chillies and between jars, so start with a small pinch and add more to taste.
• If you only have ground ginger, a quarter-teaspoon for each tablespoon of fresh is the ratio usually given; it tastes warmer and less bright than the fresh root.
• An eighth of a teaspoon of garlic powder per clove is the stand-in usually given when you are out of fresh garlic; it will not brown the same way, and it burns easily, so add it with the liquid.

Leftovers

Refrigerated under its oil for up to 4 days. Garlic, shallots and seafood held under oil can carry botulism, which cannot be seen, smelled or tasted, and the oil seal does not stop it; for longer keeping, freeze it in small jars.

XO Sauce: Your Questions Answered

The Numbers per Serving

Per serving, an approximate calculation from the ingredient list. Treat it as a rough guide: where a line offers a choice of foods, only one of them is counted; part of the energy comes from foods, or weights per item, with no recorded source. The calories include 1 g of alcohol a serving, which is not part of the protein, carbohydrate or fat. How the figures are worked out.

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