The Little Foodie: Crunchy, spicy sauce jazzes up range of foods

Finding your new favorite sauce is like finding your favorite song. You can’t stop listening to it over and over again, and you’re sure the lyric resonates with your life. The only trouble is trying not to overdo it.

I have a bit of a challenge with that. I recently discovered chile garlic crunch sauce through an impulsive online purchase and made my way through the jar in a week.

If you’re not familiar, this sauce is a bit of savory heaven. It has a satisfying texture, as the name promises, and it’s a little spicy. After eating it for a week, I could go with hotter.

Where has this been all my life? Maybe it’s unusual to eat a waffle with a spread of chile and fried garlic, but I did it anyway. I may have used it with every meal, and did consider caramelizing pecans with it to eat with ice cream. Apologies to anyone who came in contact with my breath that week.

Now what do I do with the withdrawals? How often can I justify the shipping? I did find another brand locally that I didn’t like quite as much. I’ve yet to try Ethel’s Grill version (it’s on my to-do list). Now that I know about it, I’ve found a hundred versions.

I’m still playing around with my own version. I just learned that I could try adding fried shallots and peanuts.

Use this sauce to top eggs and as a dip for fries. Add it to a quesadilla, spread it on avocado toast, drizzle it on natto and rice.

It’s best when used as a true condiment and not muted by mixing, but I was delighted to find that if you toss a heaping tablespoon of it with raw bean sprouts and a dash of rice vinegar, you have a very flavorful topping for ramen, salad (especially a watercress one), or any meat or tofu main dish.

Making your own offers the added benefit of having extra fried garlic and garlic oil on hand to season other dishes.

FRIED GARLIC

• 1 head garlic
• 1 cup avocado or grapeseed oil

Peel garlic. Tip: Break the head into individual cloves, and throw cloves into a medium metal bowl. Place another bowl over that one. Hold them together and shake as hard as you can for about 30 seconds. Peels will loosen for easy removal.

Mince garlic. Place in small saucepan with oil and cook over medium-high heat. Once it starts bubbling, stir and lower heat to medium (it should still be bubbling). Continue stirring until cloves turn golden, about 5 minutes.

Cover a sheet pan with a layer of paper towels. Put a metal sieve or mesh strainer over a bowl or pot and pour garlic and oil into it. Lay garlic bits on the paper towels to cool and dry.

Use 1/4 cup hot oil and 1/4 cup of the garlic for the sauce in the next recipe. Store remaining oil and garlic separately, for use in other dishes. Makes 1/3 to 1/2 cup.

CHILE GARLIC CRUNCH SAUCE (MILD VERSION)

• 1/2 cup chile-garlic sauce (I use the Lee Kum Kee brand)
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 2 teaspoons mushroom powder (sold at Whole Foods Market)
• 1 teaspoon sesame oil
• 1/4 cup roasted sesame seeds
• 1/4 cup hot avocado or grapeseed oil (from fried garlic recipe)
• 1/4 cup fried minced garlic (from recipe above)

In a bowl, combine sauce, sugar, mushroom powder, sesame oil and sesame seeds. Add the oil (it should still be very hot).

Once garlic is completely cool, add to sauce and stir.

Use right away or store in a jar or covered container in the fridge. Always stir before serving as the contents will settle a bit. Makes about 1-1/2 cups.

>> Note: For a spicier version, add 1/4 cup red pepper flakes and increase the oil to 1/3 cup.

Approximate nutritional information, per 2-tablespoon serving: 130 calories, 10 g fat, 1 g saturated fat, no cholesterol, 250 mg sodium, 6 g carbohydrate, 1 g fiber, 5 g sugar, 1 g protein.

Mariko Jackson blogs about family and food at thelittlefoodie.com. Her column runs on the last Wednesday of the month. Nutritional analysis by Joannie Dobbs, Ph.D., C.N.S.