Black Bean & Garlic Sauce, 350g · Poon Chun

Black Bean and Garlic Sauce is one of those little ingredients that adds great depth to a dish with almost no effort. The combination of salty black beans and garlic creates a classic Chinese flavor: deep, slightly fermented, rich, salty, and full of umami. It's a sauce that pairs excellently with quick stir-frying in a wok, especially when you need to turn chicken, beef, tofu, or vegetables into a dish with a clear, more restaurant-like character.

It's suitable for stir-fries with noodles or rice, for marinades before grilling, for seasoning thick sauces, for stir-frying with broccoli, peppers, mushrooms, green onions, or green beans, and also for boosting homemade dishes that need another layer of flavor. Because it's concentrated and potent, a relatively small amount is usually enough to elevate the entire dish.

At Umami, we love such sauces because they shorten the path to authentic Asian flavor at home: open a jar, add to a wok, mix with good ingredients, and within a few minutes, you have a dish with the depth, aroma, and taste of a hot Chinese kitchen.

Tips
To start, it's recommended to add one teaspoon to one tablespoon to a stir-fry and adjust to taste. Works great with a little soy sauce, sesame oil, fresh ginger, and green onions. For a quick dish: stir-fry vegetables or chicken, add black bean and garlic sauce, a little water or broth, stir until the sauce coats everything, and serve over white rice.