Plums Concasse

My friend, Dan, brought over some plums from his Mom’s house and asked if there was anything I could do with them. It took about .3245 seconds for me to say, “PLUM SAUCE”. I love plum sauce, it goes great in most Asian foods, pork, chicken, and any type of clear soup. The taste I was going for was sweet, with a touch of sour and spicy.

The plums in the picture are after I have blanched them and removed the skin (concasse, click here for additional information). I recommend using this tecninque because it will make it easier to remove the skins from the plums and it will lock in the color of the plums so you don’t too dark of a plum sauce; the final product should have a nice caramel color.

Equipment:

• Stock pot with soft boiling salty water
• Bowl with ice water
• Blender or immersion blender
• Fine mesh strainer

Ingredients:

• 1 lb. plums, concasse them and remove seeds and skins. Reserve skin from 2 plums for later use
• 1 tsp. sichuan pepper
• 1 star anise
• 1 tbsp. ginger powder, you can use fresh ginger…..if you do at it towards the end of cooking
• 4 whole dried japones peppers
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 3/4 cup soy sauce
• 3 tbsp. distilled white vinegar

Procedure:

1. Toast the sichuan pepper, ginger powder, star anise
2. Stir in soy sauce, vinegar, and sugar
3. Cover and simmer on very low heat for an hour stirring occasionally. Adjust the seasonings and taste towards the end of cooking if needed.
4. Remove from heat, place in blender, and strain

Enjoy,

Eric