best Black Bean sauce? (non powdery..)

[vannah]

Ive tried a few, and they all have a horrible artificial powdery taste to them. Like sharwoods.
Can anyone recommend a really genuinely good one - perhaps from a chinese supermarket (I go occasionally)?

There must be one thats better than those you get at local supermarkets...

thankyou

Have you tried the Crushed Black Bean Stir Fry Sensations one which you can find in most supermarkets?

Sainsburys used to do one in a sachet that was delicious. Not sure if they do it anymore.

i like that ont too norksdrift. also fresh one from sainsb fridge -near the stirfry veg packets

thankyou all - going to write these down and try them both out.

Tesco Finest is quite good

Or, if you go to Chinese supermarkets, you can get the ingredients to make your own:

2 tbsp peanut oil
2 tbsp fermented black beans -- rinsed and drained
1 tbsp garlic minced
100mls chicken broth
1 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp rice wine
1 tsp sugar
1 1/2 tsp cornstarch

Heat a wok or heavy skillet over medium-high heat. Add the oil, the black beans and garlic. Stir-fry about 10 seconds. Add the rest of the ingredients and stir-fry about 1 minute or until sauce thickens.

I love black bean sauce from the Chinese but have never found a "bought" one that matches it unfortunately.

Most recently I bought some dried black beans from the Chinese supermarket and have added them to a stir fry which was nice but haven't tried making a proper sauce from them

oooh, just seen Cara's recipe -will have to give that a go

The best thing is that you get to add more garlic than you normally get in the shop bought ones!

Olive oil works instead of peanut oil, but seasame oil makes it taste really weird. Try to use dark soy sauce if you can. You can use water or veg stock rather than the chicken stock, and sherry or vermouth instead of rice wine. Basically you play around with it while its cooking to get what you want