Ginger Sesame Dipping Sauce

Recipe 5 / The Basics

Ginger Sesame Dipping Paste

This is the pale, oily sauce that sits on the table alongside the chilli sauce and is specifically for the chicken rather than the rice ball. A lot of people ignore it because they don’t know what it is or what it’s for. Don’t ignore it. It transforms the steamed chicken in particular, adding a clean brightness that the chilli sauce, for all its virtues, doesn’t provide.

YieldAbout 120ml
Prep Time10 minutes
Cook Time5 minutes
Total Time15 minutes
DifficultyEasy

Ingredients

  • 6cm piece fresh ginger, peeled
  • 3 cloves garlic
  • 3 tbsp neutral oil (sunflower or vegetable)
  • 1 tbsp sesame oil
  • 1/2 tsp fine salt
  • 1/4 tsp sugar
  • 1 tbsp warm water

Method

  1. 1
    Grate the ginger and garlic
    Grate the ginger finely using a microplane or the fine side of a box grater. You want a paste-like texture rather than chunks. Mince the garlic very finely or grate it the same way. Combine in a small heatproof bowl.
  2. 2
    Heat the oil
    Heat the neutral oil in a small pan until it’s very hot but not smoking, about 180°C. You can test it by dropping a tiny bit of ginger in. It should sizzle immediately and vigorously.
  3. 3
    Pour and sizzle
    Pour the hot oil over the ginger and garlic mixture all at once. It will sizzle dramatically and the fragrance will bloom immediately. This is the key step. The hot oil cooks the ginger and garlic just enough to mellow the raw sharpness while preserving the essential fragrance.
  4. 4
    Add remaining ingredients
    Once the sizzling subsides, stir in the sesame oil, salt, sugar, and warm water. Mix well. Taste and adjust salt.
  5. 5
    Cool before serving
    Let the paste cool to room temperature before serving. It should be slightly oily, pale yellow, with a clean ginger fragrance that you can smell from across the table.

Cook’s Tips

  • Fresh ginger is non-negotiable here. Jarred ginger or ground ginger produces a completely different and significantly worse result. The entire point of this sauce is fresh ginger fragrance.
  • Don’t skip the hot oil bloom. This step is what makes the sauce. Without it you have raw ginger paste. With it you have something genuinely delicious.
  • The sauce should be applied to the chicken directly, not to the rice ball. Dip the chicken pieces in it or drizzle a little over the chicken on your plate.
  • Some versions add a small amount of spring onion to the bowl before pouring the hot oil over. This is a nice variation if you want a slightly more complex flavour.
  • The paste keeps in the fridge for up to three days but is significantly better fresh. The ginger fragrance fades noticeably after the first day.

End of Recipe 5