Shacha sauce (; also spelled sa cha sauce) is a savory, slightly spicy

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...

condiment used in Teochew,

Fujian Fujian (; alternately romanized as Fukien or Hokkien) is a province on the southeastern coast of China. Fujian is bordered by Zhejiang to the north, Jiangxi to the west, Guangdong to the south, and the Taiwan Strait to the east. Its capi ...

, and

Taiwanese cuisine Taiwanese cuisine (, Bopomofo:ㄊㄞˊㄨㄢˉㄌㄧㄠˋㄌㄧˇ, or , Bopomofo:ㄊㄞˊㄨㄢˉㄘㄞˋ) has several variations. The earliest known cuisines of Taiwan are that of the Taiwanese indigenous peoples. Over hundred years of histor ...

s. It is made from soybean oil, garlic,

shallot The shallot is a botanical variety (a cultivar) of the onion. Until 2010, the (French red) shallot was classified as a separate species, ''Allium ascalonicum''. The taxon was synonymized with ''Allium cepa'' (the common onion) in 2010, as the d ...

s, chilies, Chinese brill, and dried shrimp. It is also sometimes sold as "Chinese barbeque sauce". Shacha sauce is used many different ways; as a soup base, a barbeque meat rub, a dipping sauce (for hot pot), or a seasoning for stir-fries. It is also included with instant noodles manufactured in Vietnam, in their own packet alongside packets of soup base, dried vegetables, or other seasonings.

Origin

Shacha sauce is also known as ''sa-te'' in the Teochew and

Hokkien The Hokkien () variety of Chinese is a Southern Min language native to and originating from the Minnan region, where it is widely spoken in the south-eastern part of Fujian in southeastern mainland China. It is one of the national languages in ...

dialects, reflecting its origin in the satay sauce introduced by expatriate

Min Nan Southern Min (), Minnan ( Mandarin pronunciation: ) or Banlam (), is a group of linguistically similar and historically related Sinitic languages that form a branch of Min Chinese spoken in Fujian (especially the Minnan region), most of Taiwan ...

people returning to China from

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, south-eastern region of Asia, consistin ...

. During the 20th century, Chinese labourers from the Chaoshan region who worked in Southeast Asian countries (e.g., modern-day Malaysia and Indonesia) adapted satay sauce to local tastes, including the introduction of dried seafood. Shacha is now quite different from the peanut-based satay sauce popular in Malaysia and Indonesia. Following the

Chinese Civil War The Chinese Civil War was fought between the Kuomintang-led government of the Republic of China and forces of the Chinese Communist Party, continuing intermittently since 1 August 1927 until 7 December 1949 with a Communist victory on m ...

, Chaoshan immigrants resettled in Taiwan and introduced shacha sauce to the Taiwanese culinary repertoire. One in particular, Liu Lai-chin, a

Tainan Tainan (), officially Tainan City, is a Special municipality (Taiwan), special municipality in southern Taiwan facing the Taiwan Strait on its western coast. Tainan is the oldest city on the island and also commonly known as the "Capital City" ...

-based noodle shop owner originally from Chaoshan, created the iconic Bullhead brand (牛頭牌) of shacha sauce in 1958. In the 1960s and 1970s, as beef consumption slowly gained cultural acceptance in Taiwan, shacha sauce became more popular among locals.

References

Chinese condiments Fujian cuisine Teochew cuisine Taiwanese cuisine Chinese sauces Barbecue sauces {{China-cuisine-stub

Origin

See also

References