Jessica picked up some of the fluffy fish balls with pork centers, as well as cuttlefish balls, during a recent trip to Flushing. She had the idea to eat them with a spicy sauce. I took it upon myself to fulfill that desire. Well, even though there’s a good amount of spice in this sauce, it came out more tangy because the vinegar and sugar really balanced the heat. It is delicious.
While there are lots of ingredients, it’s minimal work. Honestly, if I weren’t writing this recipe, I would’ve made this same sauce without measuring any of it. And, it’s a fast sauce, just think, you’re 15 minutes away from having deliciousness.
Tangy Chinese Sauce
~makes about 1/2 cup
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp. (packed) Finely Shredded Carrot
- 2 cloves Garlic, minced
- 1 tsp. Vegetable Oil
- 1/8 tsp. Sesame Oil
- 2 Scallions, sliced, whites separated
- 1 tsp. Chili-Garlic Sauce
- 1/2 cup Water
- 1/4 cup Soy Sauce
- 0.6oz Rock Candy
- 1 tsp. White Vinegar
- 1/4 tsp. Ginger Powder
- 1/4 tsp. Star Anise
- 1/4 tsp. Szechuan Red Peppercorns
- White Pepper to taste
Instructions
- In small sauce pot, saute carrots and garlic in oil over low heat. Cook about two minutes until soft. Add scallion whites and chili-garlic sauce. Cook another two minutes until scallions soften.
- Add remaining ingredients (except scallion greens), stir to combine. Simmer, covered about 10 minutes until slightly reduced.
- Remove from heat, stir in scallion greens. Serve with your favorite Chinese snacks: fish balls, dumplings, tofu, edamame, etc.
That sauce looks so good. I am curious to try fish/pork balls. How were they? Also, how are the Szechuan red peppercorns different in taste than other peppercorns?
Yum! We don’t have a lot of Chinese down here…mostly Mexican!
Mm…fish balls -=D my bf makes a gagging face when I eat or even just mention fish balls lols
Sophia – We LOVE those fish balls. I like all types of fish cakes (even since I was a kid and my served me gefilte fish). Jessica is not usually a fan though, but she loves these. These fish balls are fluffy and have a small center of pork. The flavor is not overwhelming, just a light fish flavor, and then a bit of minced pork in the middle. They easily take on whatever flavor they’re with, so perfect for this or hot pot.
For a full answer about Szechuan red peppercorn and other pepper, check out the post we wrote.
Ducky – You’ve got to bring the Chinese… You can make it easily. Dang, now I want Mexican.
i used to love those fishballs!
I have some treats that would benefit from the flavors you have listed, but do you have any subs for rock sugar? And what do you think of apple cider vinegar instead of white?
EMC- You can definitely use white sugar instead of of rock sugar. I’m not sure of the amount off the top of my head, but I’d probably guess about 1 or 2 tsp. Just taste for sweetness.
As for vinegar, I wouldn’t sub apple cider vinegar, except as a last resort. Actually, I think black or red vinegar would be best, white was my substitute, since we don’t have either of the others.
If you have sushi vinegar that might be ok, just cut back on the sugar, since sushi vinegar is a bit sweet. You could also try white wine vinegar.
Great pics.
This sound delicious!
Yum yum yum! This is a perfect recipe to dip anything in!
That sauce sounds really tasty!
THis sauce looks amazing but now I need the fishball recipe. I have been looking for a good fishball recipe for some time (non fried kind).
Lori, I’ll ask my mom for one but she’s been really busy…