Chinese Ginger Scallion Sauce

Ginger scallion sauce is one of those go-to sauces you see at every Chinese restaurant. It's especially popular in the Chinese barbecue shops that serve char siu, roasted duck and chicken -- you know, the ones that hang their meat right at the window for everyone to see. You can always ask for a side of ginger scallion sauce to take home with your bbq-ed meats.

I did a video (coming up) accompanying this recipe as well and in there, I used a rotisserie chicken I bought from the supermarket. It is much easier and saves a lot of time, but the sauce does work best with a poached chicken that has less seasoning sicne the sauce is already salty. This sauce is also a good way to use up chicken you used to make homemade chicken stock, if you do that kind of stuff. I always thought it was such a waste that people threw whole chickens out. Well, this sauce is the perfect condiment to that chicken...and really any bland meat you're looking to pick up.

Tips

• There's nothing too hard about the recipe. Grating the ginger does take a while, but you can try smashing the ginger pieces and then chopping it up to save time.
• Warming the oil just a bit before pouring it into the ginger and scallions will help all the flavors release, creating a better sauce.

Directions

1. Peel and grate ginger into a small bowl.

2. Cut scallions into small pieces omitting the very green tops. Put into bowl with ginger.

3. Add in lemon juice, salt, sugar and soy sauce.

4. Heat oil in a small saucepan over medium to medium-high heat until just warmed. Once heated, carefully pour oil into your ginger scallion mixture.

5. Serve over chicken.

Ingredients

(makes 1/3 cup)

• 2 inches ginger
• 4 stalks of scallion
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• dash of salt
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1/4 cup oil