Chinese mild tomato sauce

Ingredients for 4 servings:

• 20 g leek, only the white part
• 30 g fresh ginger
• 1 small chili pepper(s), green, alternatively 1 tsp chipotle chili
• 4 small onions, red
• 4 medium-sized garlic cloves, fresh
• 80 g tomato paste
• 4 tbsp sunflower oil
• 200 g water, lukewarm
• 6 g chicken stock powder, granulated
• 30 g sugar
• 2 tbsp rice vinegar, clear, mild, Chinese, e.g. from Xiamen
• 1 tbsp rice wine (Arak Masak)
• 1 tsp tapioca flour
• Salt and pepper, black, from the mill
• flowers and leaves

Instructions

Working time approx. 15 minutes; Cooking/baking time approx. 10 minutes; Total time approx. 25 minutes

A mildly spicy tomato sauce for dipping and the base sauce for all kinds of Chinese noodle and meat dishes.

Wash the leek, ginger, and chili. Trim 1 cm off the bottom of the leek and cut off the required amount into thin slices. Peel the ginger, quarter it lengthwise, and slice it crosswise into thin slices. Cut the chili crosswise into thin rings, leaving the seeds and discarding the stem. Trim both ends of the small red onions, peel them, and chop them into small pieces. Trim both ends of the garlic cloves and press them dry. Finely chop the prepared vegetables in a food processor (Moulinex or similar) or chop them very finely with a Chinese cleaver. Dissolve all the other ingredients for the broth in lukewarm water. Heat the sunflower oil in a pan, add the contents of the food processor and the tomato paste, mix well, and fry. When it starts to smell, deglaze with the broth and simmer for five minutes. The sauce is ready to use. For a dip, divide between four serving bowls, garnish and serve cold.