Cheng Chi shallot sauce is not only for dressing greens, tossing with noodles or seasoning a soup — it is the starting point for a great many things. This time we are making it into a sauce with even fewer ingredients, so good food comes together faster.

This is boiled aubergine: cook, drain, plate and spoon over the sauce. About as simple as it gets.

And here the sauce goes straight over chilled tofu, finished with shredded raw Thai basil. If you would rather not eat it cold, warm the tofu through first.


Ingredients:
Water 150 g
Soy sauce 30 g
Rock sugar 8 g
Potato starch 1 tsp
Cheng Chi shallot sauce 2 tbsp

Heat the water, soy sauce and rock sugar gently until dissolved.

Mix the potato starch with a little water and stir in to thicken, then add the shallot sauce and cook until it comes together.

That is the whole trick to a quick, deeply aromatic sauce.

This is boiled aubergine: cook, drain, plate and spoon over the sauce. About as simple as it gets.

And here the sauce goes straight over chilled tofu, finished with shredded raw Thai basil. If you would rather not eat it cold, warm the tofu through first.


Ingredients:
Water 150 g
Soy sauce 30 g
Rock sugar 8 g
Potato starch 1 tsp
Cheng Chi shallot sauce 2 tbsp

Heat the water, soy sauce and rock sugar gently until dissolved.

Mix the potato starch with a little water and stir in to thicken, then add the shallot sauce and cook until it comes together.

That is the whole trick to a quick, deeply aromatic sauce.