Szechwan sauce

This is a sauce which, taken to excess will give you paint stripper breath and perhaps a strong urge to stick your mouth under the cold tap. However, as a spice to special fried rice it has become a household favourite. Other recipes stipulate sugar. I don’t eat much sugar so I leave it out.

You will need;
A small frying pan
A heat source
One cooking onion
Half a teaspoon of chili flakes
One heaped teaspoon of crushed or chopped Ginger (Not powdered, only the real thing will do)
One heaped teaspoon of crushed or chopped Garlic (As with the Ginger)
Half a teaspoon of ground black pepper
A quarter teaspoon of Chinese five spice
Soy sauce to taste
A little water

Fine chop the onion and sweat until translucent in your frying pan over a low heat.
When onion is soft and translucent, add chili flakes, Ginger and Garlic. Stir in until the garlic and ginger begin to cook. Add pepper and a tablespoon of Soy sauce. Stir, add Chinese five spice and a little water, just enough to wet, but not drown the cooking mixture. Add a teaspoon of Soy sauce if need be.

Turn up heat slightly so the mixture bubbles and cook until brown and the onion has mostly broken up. The consistency you’re after is thick and sticky. The above recipe will make enough for about two modest serving spoonfuls (About two thirds of a cup)

Take pan off the heat. Add half of the mixture to enough fried rice for two if you like spicy. A quarter if you’re not feeling brave. All of it if you’re a masochist or have some paint (or an annoying house guest) to get rid of. Trust me, this is the McCoy. Not quite Chongqing, but hot enough.