First Bites September 2023 - Spice is Life
There’s an intriguing variety of Asian-style chili oils and sauces to be found on Vancouver shelves. The category is as diverse as the people who make them. If you’re looking for a taste you already know or are wondering where to start, take a look at these three companies as a jumping-off point. They are making chili oils and sauces in unique ways, with regional differences and ingredients, and all have interesting stories to tell.
Community Chili Sauce
Keiko Matsushita started Ogojo Canada not as a food company but as a way to support Japanese women newly immigrated to Canada. Her main focus was running workshops and events to support and encourage Japanese immigrant women and provide networking opportunities. At one of her fundraisers, she sold a chili sauce she had made and was soon inundated with requests. During the COVID-19 pandemic, when her workshops and classes were on hold, she found herself turning back to the sauce.
“I wanted to do something creative but also something that would connect outside of the Japanese community,” says Matsushita.
Ogojo Jan Chili Sauce is plant-based and available in four flavours — a slightly sweet Mild Miso, a versatile Mild Soy, the best selling Hot Soy and the recently added Hot Miso flavour.
Matsushita felt is was important to use local products in her creations and chose locally based Amano soy sauce and Van Koji shio koji (rice fermented with salt). She uses shio koji instead of sea salt and explains that it “gives flavour and umami.”
Traditionally chili sauce is used in Japan as a condiment on plain rice, but Matsushita explains that it is more common now for people to cook with it and recommends mixing it with cucumbers for a salad, or using it as a base for stir-fried vegetables or fried rice.
Ogojo Canada
ogojo.ca | @ogojo.canada
Find it: Harvest Community Foods, South China Seas, Le Marché St. George, Storm City Coffee (Vancouver), Stong’s Market (Vancouver and North Vancouver) and online
Ducking Good
Husband and wife team Louise Pang and Christopher Fung moved to Vancouver from Hong Kong in 2020. During COVID, they found themselves missing the flavours of Hong Kong as they searched for a chili oil that reminded them of home and their time travelling together throughout China, Japan, Taiwan, Indonesia and Thailand. They decided to make their own using duck fat and they called it Holy Duck Chili Oil.
“Duck oil is like butter — it clings to food,” Pang says, explaining how duck fat is the ultimate vehicle for flavour.
The idea of using duck fat comes from Louise’s grandmother who fled China for Hong Kong in the 1950s and worked as a chef, often in Japanese restaurants. While there, she also learned to enhance broth using kombu and bonito flakes. Inspired by Pang’s grandmother, the Pang and Fung have featured these ingredients prominently in Holy Duck Chili Oil. They are responsible for the “smoky umami flavour,” according to Pang.
The sauce also features a blend of Sichuan peppercorns, which have a pleasant numbing effect, as well as spicy seven-star chilis and “facing heaven” chili peppers, which are sweeter and give all the sauces in the range their vibrant red colour.
In addition to OG sauce, an “XX” extra-spicy version and a version with salted egg yolks, Holy Duck recently added a vegan version, made with canola oil and lion’s mane mushrooms from Forij, a farm in Abbotsford.
“Our customers tell us they love it on pizza, steak or pasta,” Pang says before explaining that it’s also suitable for cooking into a stir-fry or as a marinade for grilled foods. “Duck fat’s high smoke point makes it great for standing up to high temperatures.”
Pang says she’s pleased with the customer reactions to their sauces. “I’ve been surprised by how big the spice-loving community here is. While delivering to people’s doorsteps, we’ve made a lot of friends.”
Holy Duck Chili Oil
holyduckchili.shop | @holyduckchili
Find it: Lee’s Market (Fort Langley), The Farm Store at Fraser Valley Specialty Poultry (Chilliwack) and online
Mama’s Babies
MAMAintheKitchen’s Curry Street Food Chili Oil was born after Sharon Chan’s husband asked her to replicate the taste of curry fish balls, a popular street food, from one of their favourite places in Hong Kong. She shared the chili oil she created with friends in small batches and soon her husband suggested she try to sell it. Three other products followed — Chan lovingly calls them her “babies” — Premium XO Sauce, Shrimp Garlic Chili Oil and, this year, the affectionately named “little brother,” Spicy Spicy Red Chili Sauce, which can be used on its own or as a way to add spice to the other versions.
“I consider these like art. It’s like painting and these are your colours that you can mix as you wish,” Chan says.
The sauces can be used as condiments, as marinades or for cooking. She presents versatile ways to use them on her Instagram feed, in short videos. She recommends mixing all four sauces together with warm noodles or mixing the spicy red chili sauce with mayo to garnish fish tacos.
With the XO sauce, Chan recommends using it as a soup base, frying it gently to release the aromas and then adding hot water. Afterwards, meat and vegetables can be added as desired. She’s proud of the taste, comparing the resulting rich flavour achieved quickly in 15 minutes to one that would normally take three to four hours.
“I love working with retailers that have passion,” says Chan, who is not afraid to knock on doors to promote the product and introduce herself.
“People always ask ‘Can I use this for... ’” before they begin listing ways they would like to use the sauce. Chan is happy with all uses and says that there are no rules.
MAMAinthekitchen
mamainthekitchen.ca | @mamainthekitchenc
Find it: City Avenue Market, Stadium Market, The Federal Store, South China Seas (Vancouver), Provisions Market + Gifts (Langley)
