Strange Flavor Sauce
This is the sauce that is served with Strange Flavor Chicken Salad, a popular Szechuan restaurant dish. Traditionally, the sauce includes freshly ground roasted Szechuan peppercorns — feel free to add ½ teaspoon if desired. If Szechuan peppercorns are unavailable, you could substitute a small amount of freshly ground white pepper.
INGREDIENTS | YIELDS ¼ cup
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon rice vinegar
- 2 tablespoons peanut butter
- 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons chile sauce
- 2 teaspoons Asian sesame oil
- Additional water, if needed
Whisk all the ingredients together. The mixture will be quite thick at first but will become runny — add a small amount of water if needed.
If not using immediately, store in a sealed container in the refrigerator. (Use the sauce within 3 to 4 days.) Stir the sauce before using.
Chicken with a Strange Flavor
The Chinese take on chicken salad, Strange Flavor Chicken, gets it name from the intriguing combination of sweet, sour, salty, nutty, and spicy flavors in the sauce. Strange Flavor Chicken is also called Bang Bang Chicken, due to the fact that the chicken was traditionally pounded to make it more tender and the meat easier to shred by hand.
