Schezwan Chutney: The Best Condiment For Chinese Dishes

I bet most of you reading this have ordered that extra spicy Schezwan chutney while enjoying dishes like Hakka noodles, manchurian and others. Yes! It is that red-orange coloured chutney served as a side and often used as an ingredient in a number of Chinese and Indo-Chinese dishes. Now, that the chutney has become an essential ingredient in almost all indo-chinese dishes eaten in India, its history dates back to the province of Sichuan from where the name of the sauce got an Indian makeover and was called ‘Schezwan’.

Sichuan food is popular for its hot and spicy flavours. Use of spices like the Sichuan pepper, black pepper, chilli, ginger, garlic and broad bean chilli paste are common in the dishes of the region. When the Chinese started settling in Kolkata and restaurants started opening up in streets, Indo-Chinese food became an instant hit. To make Indians like their food, the Chinese started using Indian ingredients in their dishes and that is how the Indianised version of the Sichuan sauce came into existence.

With time, the Indo-Chinese recipes were altered and Chinese recipes with the heat of the Schezwan sauce started becoming a hit. There is no particular day when the schezwan sauce came into existence but the gradual changes led to its discovery. Well, the history of this sauce is as mouthwatering as the sauce itself… Why not try it making at home.

Ingredients:

• 50 gms Kashmiri red chillies
• ½ cup garlic
• 1 tbsp ginger
• ½ tbsp salt
• 1 tbsp black pepper
• ½ tbsp sugar
• 1 and ½ tbsp vinegar
• 1 tbsp soya sauce
• 1 tbsp corn flour

Method:

• Boil 2 cups of water. Take them off the gas. 
• Now, soak the Kashmiri red chillies in the water for around 1- 1.5 hours. 
• Touch them and check if they have softened.
• Put them in a mixer jar and grind them to make a paste. Put it aside.
• In a separate wok or pan, heat around 3 spoons of oil. 
• Add ½ a cup of chopped garlic to it and cook for 2 minutes.
• Now, add ½ tablespoon of ginger and cook for another two minutes.
• Add the red chilli paste to the utensil and cook it for at least 2-3 minutes on medium flame. Stir occasionally.
• Add all the dry spices that are black pepper, sugar and salt and mix it evenly.
• Add 1.5 cups of water to the chutney and mix.
• Cover the utensil and slow cook for around 10 minutes.
• Add 1 spoon of vinegar and ½ tablespoon of soya sauce and stir. 
• Take a small bowl; add 1 tablespoon of corn flour to it and 2 spoons of water.
• Mix it properly without making any lumps. This is corn slurry.
• Add the slurry to the chutney and stir. This will make the chutney thick.
• Cook for 5 minutes, and your Schezwan chutney is ready.