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Sauce recipe

Gyoza Dipping Sauce

The little dish of sauce that makes dumplings worth eating. Thirty seconds to mix.

Makes
About 100ml, enough for two
Ready in (mins)
5
Keeps
Best fresh; 3 days in the fridge without the spring onion
Gyoza Dipping Sauce

Dumpling shops guard this ratio like a secret and it is three things in roughly equal measure. Soy for salt, vinegar for lift, chilli oil for everything else.

The one rule is to go heavier on the vinegar than feels correct. Gyoza are rich and fried; the sauce is there to cut through them, not to agree with them.

How to make it
  1. Stir the soy sauce, rice vinegar and sugar together until the sugar dissolves.
  2. Add the sesame oil and chilli crisp, taking some of the crunchy sediment from the bottom of the jar rather than just the oil.
  3. Scatter over the spring onion and sesame seeds.
  4. Let it sit for five minutes before serving so the spring onion softens slightly.
  5. Stir again just before it hits the table — it separates fast.
The ratio
  • 3 partsSoy sauce
  • 3 partsRice vinegar
  • 1 partChilli crisp
What you need
  • 3 tbsp soy sauce
  • 3 tbsp rice vinegar
  • 1 tbsp chilli crisp, or 2 tsp chilli oil
  • 1 tsp sesame oil
  • 1 spring onion, very finely sliced
  • 1 tsp toasted sesame seeds
  • ½ tsp caster sugar, optional
What to put it on

Gyoza and any other dumpling, spring rolls, cold noodles, blanched greens, and as a dressing for a smashed cucumber salad.