Vietnamese Sate Sauce - Chili Oil with Shallots, Garlic & Lemongrass (Ớt Sa Tế)

Have an abundance of red chili peppers in the garden? Couldn’t use them up quickly and they are drying out on the plant? No worries. Make Vietnamese sate sauce! This recipe is great with either fresh or sun-dried chili peppers.

Vietnamese sate sauce is a spicy and flavorful condiment of garlic, lemongrass, and shallots. These aromatics are coarsely chopped, fried in oil, then seasoned with fish sauce, salt, sugar, and the mother of all seasonings, MSG. You can omit the MSG if you’re not one of the cool kids but it’s highly recommended for that umami flavor.

The result is a ready-to-go spicy, sweet, and savory sauce that you can throw in noodle soups, such as Vietnamese egg noodle soup with wontons (Mi Hoanh Thanh), stir-fries, or in a marinade for grilled meats.

Don’t confuse Vietnamese sate sauce for satay. Sate sauce is a condiment. Satay is a dish of grilled meats on skewers, usually paired with a peanut sauce dipping sauce. We are not talking about that here.

Sate sauce is commonly found on restaurants tabletops for customers to give their food an immediate spicy boost of Southeast Asian flavors.

Recipe below. Enjoy!

Vietnamese Sate Sauce - Chili Oil with Shallots, Garlic & Lemongrass (Ớt Sa Tế)

PRINTABLE RECIPE

Vietnamese Sate Sauce - Chili Oil with Shallots, Garlic & Lemongrass (Ot Sa Te)

Makes 3/4 cup

Ingredients

1/4 cup chili peppers
3 shallots (peel; leave whole)
4 stalks lemongrass (only use the bottom tender white/light green ends; thinly slice crosswise)
6 garlic cloves (peel; leave whole)
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 tablespoon Korean red pepper powder Gochugaru (you can also use ground paprika or cayenne)
1 teaspoon sea salt
2 teaspoons fish sauce
3 teaspoons sugar
1 teaspoon MSG (optional)

Instructions

In a food processor, combine chili peppers, shallots, sliced lemongrass, and garlic cloves. Chop coarsely. You can alternatively, chop everything by hand.
In a medium-size saucepan, heat up vegetable oil.
Add chopped chili peppers, shallot, lemongrass, garlic mixture
Fry until on medium-low heat for 5 minutes. Stir continuously to prevent burning.
Add red pepper powder and season to taste with salt, fish sauce and MSG.
Store in an air-tight container and keep in the fridge. Sate will last for 3-4 months in the fridge.

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