XO Sauce

Ingredients:

Dried Scallops x 1 catty (see preparation below)

Garlic x 1 catty - minced

Shallots x 1 catty - minced

Chinese Ham x 1 catty - minced (see preparation below)

Chilli x 400g approx.
3 bottles of corn oil (approx 900ml x 3)

Preparation of the Dried Scallops:
1. The night before you plan to make XO sauce, wash the dried scallops a few times, drain the water and then soak in a big bowl of filtered water and cover the bowl.

2. On the day you are cooking the XO sauce, drain the water from the scallops and put all scallops in a big plate and steam with some ginger sauce and chinese wine for 2 hours. 

3. After steaming, tear all the dried scallops into thread-like pieces, and discarding any hard parts. (this step takes at least 30 to 45 min. So better ask someone to help in this process to save time and back bone pain!)

* the water you drain from scallops can be used to make turnip cake, fried vegetables, etc. So, dont throw it away.
* the ginger sauce and chinese wine can eliminate some "seafood" smell of the dried scallop.

Preparation of the Chinese Ham:
1. On the day you make the XO sauce or the night before, wash the chinese ham, then boil in hot water with some puer tea leaves for 10 min. Then drain the water.

2. Cut the ham into smaller pieces, then minced in a food processor.

3. Put the minced ham into a bowl.

How to make the XO Sauce:
1. Peel all garlic and minced them in a food processor, then place them in  a bowl.

2. Peel all shallots and minced them in a food processor, then place them in a bowl (discard all juice from the food processor).

3. For the chilli, wash and pat dry and minced them. As the chilli is hot,remember not to use your finger to rub your eyes or face afterwards (even if you have washed your hands afterwards!). Better to wear gloves during cutting! Depending on how spicy you would like the XO sauce to be, for mild spiciness, I suggest mincing 2/3 of the chilli without seeds and 1/2 with seeds. 

4. Heat up a big wok. Add oil, then stir fried all the minced shallots using high heat. When the shallots are pretty fragrant, then add the minced garlic. Mix and stir-fried them until all soft and fragrant using high to medium heat. Please add enough oil from time to time to keep the garlic and shallots moist.

5. Then add the minced ham and mix them well with the minced garlic and shallots, then add the dried scallops using high to medium heat. Remember to top up with oil from time to time.

6. At first the scallops' color in the wok is beige-like, you need to keep mixing and stir-frying at medium to medium high heat with the rest of the ingredients until deeper in color. The total stir-fried time for the whole thing is approx 60-90 min! Ensure the fire is not too big to prevent the scallops becoming overcooked and dried but at the same time ensure the heat is not too low or else the flavour will not come out...

7. When the dried scallops and the rest of the ingredients are pretty well mixed and color getting nice, then add the minced chilli (those without seeds) and continue stir-fry for 5-10 min. The longer the time you cook the chilli, the hotter the sauce will become. So beware! So check taste and adjust cooking time depending on how spicy you prefer. Usually if just chilli without seeds, cooking them for 5-10 minutes will give a mild spiciness already. You can scoop up some of these mild spicy XO to certain jars first. Then you can add those minced chillis with seeds and cook for another 5-10 minutes. This is for sure hot and spicy!

8. Scoop them into various glass bottles (which has been disinfected in advance) and once cool down, then put them into fridge.

Enjoy~