YELLOW BEAN SAUCE

Mandarin: HUANG JIANG; Cantonese: MO SHIH JIONG; Thai: TAO JIEW KAOW

Also known as brown bean sauce or ground bean sauce, this Chinese favorite consists of crushed fermented soya beans which have been mixed with salt, wheat flour and sugar to make a paste which is not only useful on its own, but is also the basis of numerous more elaborate sauce, hoisin sauce, chu hou sauce, Guilin chili sauce, Sichuan hot sauce and Peking duck sauce all owe their ancestry to yellow bean sauce.

Aroma and flavor
Regular yellow bean sauce has a wonderfully "beany" aroma with a delectable flavor. It is not as salty as black bean sauce, and cooks in every region of China add their own spices and seasonings to make individual blends.

Culinary used
Yellow bean sauce is very versatile in the kitchen. It adds an extra dimension to most meat, poultry, fish and even some vegetable dishes, whether in stir-fries, braised dishes or roasts. It is also the ideal basis for a marinade, usually with additional ingredients such as garlic, spring onions and rice wine.

Storage
Once a can or jar of yellow bean sauce has been opened, the contents should be transferred to a lidded plastic tub and stored in the fridge. Like black bean sauce, it keeps very well.