Vietnamese Lemongrass Sate Sauce (Sốt Sa tế)
This Vietnamese Sate Sauce is versatile and can be used in different ways. Add to your noodles, noodle soup or marinade your meats with it. The lemongrass and garlic will add much flavor to anything you add this sauce to. Help elevate your dishes by adding a teaspoon and letting it absorb all that goodness. Let's jump into this recipe.
Equipment
Ingredients
- ½ cup oil neutral
- 3 shallots finely minced
- ½ cup lemongrass finely chopped (Roughly 3 small stalks)
- 5 garlic cloves finely minced
- 3 Thai chili peppers
- 1 tbsp Korean chili flakes gochugaru
- 1 tsp soy sauce
- 1 tsp fish sauce
- 2 tsp sugar
- 1 tsp salt
Instructions
- Wash and dry the garlic, shallot, Thai chili peppers and lemongrass. Finely minced all either in a food processor or hand chop.
- In a medium saucepan heat up the oil. Once hot add the garlic and shallot and fry for 5 minutes or until lightly golden brown.
- Add the lemongrass and cook for 5 minutes or until lightly crispy.
- Add the Thai chili and gochugaru and cook for 5 minutes.
- Lastly, lower the heat to medium-low and add the soy sauce, fish sauce, sugar and salt and cook for 5 minutes.
Notes
Use fresh ingredients. Fresh ingredients mean the flavor will come out more so than buying frozen or prepackaged.
Avoid using high heat. Making the sate sauce requires a bit pf patience and a watchful eye. Turning it up to high heat in hopes of cooking this faster is going to make a lower-quality sauce. You want to cook the aromatics so it infuses into the oil. This is where all the flavor will be when you add this to your dish or marinade.
Don’t burn the aromatics. Burnt aromatics will make the oil taste burnt. What you are aiming for is a light golden-brown color when frying in the oil.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!