XO Sauce

Add a dash of smoky spiciness to a Cantonese meal with this chunky, homemade XO sauce.

Recipe by Wong Wing-keung, Chinese executive chef at Yee Tung Heen.

Prep Time and Cook Time
1 hour 15 minutes; 1 hour 5 minutes

Ingredients
(Makes 1.5kg)
• Dried scallops (20 taels)
• Shallots (5 taels)
• Garlic (5 taels)
• Dried shrimps (8 taels)
• Chinese ham (6 taels)
• Salted fish (1.5 taels)
• Dried chillies, chopped (0.5 taels)
• Fresh chillies (1 tael)
• Peanut oil (2.5 jin)s
Seasoning
• Chilli powder (1 tael)
• Chicken powder (1 tael)
• Sugar (1 tael)
• Chilli oil (4 taels)
• Sesame oil (4 taels)
• Dried shrimp roe (1 tael)
• Bean paste (4 taels)

Steps

1. Soak scallops
   • Soak the dried scallops in cold water for 20 minutes.
2. Steam scallops
   • Steam the scallops for 45 minutes.
   • Cool at room temperature until dry.
3. Prepare ingredients
   • Shred the dried scallops.
   • Finely dice the shallots and garlic, Chinese ham, dried shrimps, salted fish and chillies.
4. Cook ingredients
   • Heat a wok, add oil, garlic and shallots, mixing well and cooking until golden brown.
   • After 15 minutes, add shrimp and cook for three minutes, add salted fish and cook for two minutes, then add ham. Cook for 30 minutes.
   • Add scallops and cook for another 30 minutes over low heat.
5. Season
   • Add the seasoning ingredients to the mixture, stirring continuously.
   • Bring to the boil and cook for three minutes.
6. Cool and serve
   • Set aside to cool.
   • Spoon into a jar or serve immediately.