Szechuan sauce with celery

Szechuan sauce is a delicious hot, spicy and sweet sauce that can be used as a dip or can be used to make delicious indo - Chinese recipe like Szechuan noodles, Szechuan fried rice and many more. This Szechuan sauce is different from my other Szechuan sauce as in this sauce I have included chilli oil(homemade), celery, tomato puree other than onion, ginger, garlic and most important red dry chillies which gives good colour like Kashmir chilli and other ingredients, which gives a different taste. The spiciness and sweetness can be adjusted as per your taste.

I want to make it at home personally as per my taste and make various dishes from this delicious Szechuan sauce recipe. This recipe comes for 2 small bottle jars. You can prepare it ahead and freeze it or refrigerate for future use. This Szechuan sauce can be used as a dipping sauce, stir fry noodles, fried rice and for other dishes.

Ingredients

Oil – 1/4 cup or less
Kashmir chillies – 15
Onion – 2/3 cup
Celery – 1/3 cup
Garlic – 1 1/2 tbsp
Ginger – 1 1/2 tbsp
Tomato puree – 1/3 cup
Rice Vinegar – 2 1/2 to 3 tbsp
Dark Soya sauce – 1 tbsp
Chilli oil – 3 tbsp
Tomato ketchup – 4 tbsp
Salt - as per taste
Sugar – 2 tsp
Water – as per requirement

Method

Chilli paste

Soak Kashmir chillies in hot water for 1hr or more.
Add the soaked chillies and 1tbsp water, grind it to a paste. Keep it ready.
Chop onion, garlic, ginger and celery finely and keep it ready.

Szechuan sauce

Preheat the vessel with oil, when hot add garlic and ginger, sauté for 2min on medium flame.

Add onion sauté for 3min and then add celery, chilli paste, sauté for 7min, by adding 1/3 cup water mix well and cook until its rawness disappears and all the water is absorbed and starts leaving oil lightly.

Add tomato puree, mix well, add again 1/3rd cup water, cook for 10 to 15 min on medium flame, by closing the lid, and keep stirring in between. If it starts sputtering, keep the flame low, in between.

You can see, the sauce starts getting thick and starts leaving oil and the colour changes to dark colour.

At this stage add soya sauce and other remaining ingredients except chilli oil, simmer the flame, cook by closing the lid for 8 to 10 min, in between stir the sauce.

Add chilli oil with its chilli flakes but it is optional, cook by closing the lid for 8 to 10 min, until it is as per your consistency and taste.

Allow it to cool, and store in an airtight bottle.

Serve as a dipping sauce or for cooking Szechuan recipes.

Notes

You can add more sugar, rice vinegar and tomato ketchup for more sweetness and to reduce spiciness and prepare the Szechuan sauce as per your consistency.
You can add more water, if the sauce becomes thick in between cooking.
I have prepared the szechuan sauce many times, but the taste is always slightly different every time. You can adjust the ingredients to achieve the taste that you like.