Caramelized-Scallion Sauce

The article talks about scallion-ginger sauce, but this recipe is for plain scallion sauce. It's missing a whole world of flavor without the ginger, and since you're using a food processor, it's nothing to add about 2 inches of ginger root to the puree. You will not regret it. It goes on everything -rice, noodles, chicken, pork, fish, dumplings. etc.

Read the full article in the link to understand the reason that the sauce does not have ginger in the recipe. Nothing says that you cannot add it however, but one should recognize that Francis Lam knows what he is doing by leaving it out of this particular prep.

I thought the listed proportions would be too oily for my taste and I wasn't prepared to babysit it. So, I pureed 5oz scallions and 1/8c olive oil with enough water to make a slurry and lotsa salt. Poured it into a Pyrex dish, loosely covered w/foil and cooked it in the Instant Pot on Manual for 30 min, NR. I'm not sure if it's 'correct' but it's army green, sweet, mellow and so good. Put over pasta with melty cheese and peas. Curl-up-on-the-couch, face-in-the-bowl, leave-me-be meal.

This recipe is delicious when you FOLLOW THE LITTLE DETAILS--the oil needs to be WARM, not hot, so you can regulate the cooking and prevent it from becoming a scummy mess. Using peanut oil this time but it was delicious with olive oil, too. Left out the ginger until I knew with what I wanted to serve it. BTW, you can be lazy/efficient: pulse all the 1" pieces together, add salt and remove 1/3 of the scallions to a bowl, then proceed with pureeing the 2/3 left in processor. Yummm!

Original Ginger Scallion Recipe 2oz ginger 6oz scallions 2t sea salt 1C peanut oil 1. Place the ginger in the bowl of a food processor and process until the ginger is finely minced but not mushy. Scrape it into a large, tall, heatproof bowl 2. Mince scallions in processor. Add to bowl with the ginger. 3. Add salt, should be too salty 4. Heat oil to smoking and pour over ginger/scallions. Stir lightly. Let cool to room temperature

I made two consequential changes: 1. I used leeks instead of scallions 2. I chopped them with a 'wand processor'. It wasn't working with the traditional food processor. The result is sweet and tasty, and I have quite a few dishes I will be experimenting on with it. For one, onion soup. Wish me luck!

As others have noted, this is a fantastic, terrible-looking sauce that also makes a great condiment for eggs, fish, steamed veggies, etc. However, 2 points that are important to note: - It really does take a solid hour of gentle cooking to bring out the truly rich umami, so plan ahead. - I'm skeptical of a 2-week lifespan when refrigerated - even covered in oil, my batch smelled/tasted off after a week in a 37-degree fridge.

I followed the quantities carefully and it ended up yummy but too oily. I'll used 3/4 cup of oil next time. It does freeze well in my opinion.

Best tips: - reduce oil to 3/4 cup - add about 2 inches of ginger root to the puree. - I used leeks instead of scallions - delicious with olive oil, too - you can be lazy/efficient: pulse all the 1" pieces together, add salt and remove 1/3 of the scallions to a bowl, then proceed with pureeing the 2/3 left in processor. Yummm! - freezes well

Try spooning it onto plastic wrap and freezing a few blobs. It will keep better at freezing point. Or put into ice cube tray, pop the frozen cubes and keep in a zip lock bag in the freezer. Then can make up a mug of noodles in microwave with added sauce.....yum.

Add soy sauce while making this sauce will produce the key ingredient of my favorite Shanghainese comfort food- " Scallion Oil Tossed noodle". Just toss the sauce with boiled Chinese dry noodle. To get a better and less oily texture, I finished the noodle in a hot pan ( or wok) with the sauce. Meat and vegetables are optional.

I've been making this for several years now. I find the recipe strange that it omits ginger. I also find it weird that they insist on using a food processor. I slice the scallions very thin. And I add maybe 1/2 volume of grated (with a microplane) ginger. I personally use olive oil because that tends to be what I have, and it doesn't offend me - as someone who grew up eating this. I generously add salt. For me, that is sea salt, but I could see why kosher salt is used in the recipe.

Lam's original recipe for the classic Cantonese ginger scallion sauce is here: https://www.salon.com/2010/06/19/ginger_scallion_sauce_recipe/

Best tips: - reduce oil to 3/4 cup - add about 2 inches of ginger root to the puree. - I used leeks instead of scallions - delicious with olive oil, too - you can be lazy/efficient: pulse all the 1" pieces together, add salt and remove 1/3 of the scallions to a bowl, then proceed with pureeing the 2/3 left in processor. Yummm! - freezes well

Execellent! I added some garlic and ginger with the green onions at the end, then made dumplings with it. For a vegetarian version, I sautéed mushrooms in the sauce, added soy sauce, cilantro, cabbage and toasted sesame oil. For pork dumplings, I sautéed the cabbage in the sauce and soy sauce, then added that mixture when cooled to ground pork and cilantro. I’ll definitely be making the sauce again, although I might reduce oil slightly for my purposes.