Want to know how you’ll devour a whole platter of lettuce by yourself? Just drizzle it with an intense, Creamy Sesame Sauce. This is a copycat of a lettuce salad at an authentic Sichuan restaurant called “Spicy Joint” in Sydney that I’m completely mad for!
Welcome to Day 8 of the inaugural Holiday Salad Marathon, where I’m sharing 30 salads in a row through to Christmas Eve – just for something different to the usual sugar-loaded baking countdowns!!
I’ve got a rather unique salad for you today! A SICHUAN one (but no, it’s not spicy, it’s to cool your mouth between fiery mains!):
Creamy Sesame Sauce Lettuce Salad
We (the RecipeTin Family) believe this salad and sauce originates from around the Sichuan and Chongqing areas of China (if any readers can confirm that’d be great!) It’s popped up on the menus of some of our favourite Sydney Sichuan restaurants like Spicy Joint (it’s actually a popular chain restaurant from China, so you know it’s legit!), and Chongqing Street Noodle.
And ever since we’ve tried it, we’ve been dying to replicate the recipe because it is insanely addictive.
A little salty, a little sweet, and packed with intense sesame flavour, this sauce – and it’s really more of a sauce than a dressing in consistency – punches well, well, well above its weight for such a short list of basic ingredients. One mouthful and you’ll be forever hooked!
You need this sauce in your life. Trust me.
Creamy Sesame Sauce (Chinese/Sichuan)
Here’s what you need to make the sauce:
Chinese Sesame Paste – This is ground sesame paste, and essentially a Chinese version of tahini. It’s a common pantry staple in Sichuan cuisine (eg. used in Dan Dan Noodles). It’s darker in colour and has a deeper, more intense flavour because the seeds are roasted, unlike tahini. You’ll find it in Asian stores, and it’s even cheaper than tahini! Sub: Tahini, of course. TIP: Like tahini, the oil separates from the paste when it’s sitting in the pantry, so give it a good stir before using. I find a chopstick or butter knife works better than a spoon.
Peanut butter (smooth) – Natural, pure peanut butter is best here, for the most intense peanut flavour. But any regular smooth peanut butter spread will do just fine. It’s more a background player in this sauce; sesame is the dominant flavour;
Sesame oil – Toasted, which is brown and has a stronger sesame flavour, rather than untoasted (which is yellow, lighter sesame flavour);
Oyster sauce – For a hit of umami, this is what gives the sauce depth of flavour despite the few ingredients called for!
Dark soy – For darkening the sauce a tad and adding a touch of seasoning;
Sugar and salt – This sauce should have a specific sweet and savoury flavour profile. It’s quite intense because the idea is that you use small amounts drizzled over the lettuce (too much and the salad will be overly rich and cloying);
Water – For thinning the sauce.
As for the making part? Just mix together until it comes together, and use water to adjust so it becomes “drizzle-able”.
My sauce looks split … help!
When it first comes together and is thick, before you add enough water, it can look like it’s split. However, the thinner it gets, the more it comes together and the more stable it is. But this sauce does split again if it’s sitting around for a long time. Just give it a good mix to make it creamy again.
How to serve this Creamy Sesame Sauce
I have been known to eat an entire platter of raw vegetables, just dipped in the sauce. It’s just ridiculously good!
And you don’t even need to dunk vegetables in completely – though out of the gate, I’m always greedy and I use way too much. It’s intensely flavoured and quite rich, so actually, you only need a bit for each piece.
Which brings me to the proper way to serve this sauce – drizzled over a Chinese Lettuce Salad. Normally this means simply piling a platter with crispy small lettuce leaves. Traditionally the lettuce used are the leaves of a Chinese vegetable called youmaicai (yo-MAI-TSAI), also known as celtuce in English. It has good crispy crunch and is slightly nutty, and goes exceptionally well with this dressing.
I used baby cos (aka Romaine) lettuce as I feel it has similar texture, ie. crispy, juicy and crunchy. Full size cos or iceberg lettuce cut or torn will also work fine.
One final important note: The quantity of sauce this recipe makes is twice the amount you’ll need for the quantity of lettuce listed. Use the rest as a dip like suggested, or just keep it for another salad (it will last a long time in the fridge, as it contains no fresh ingredients).
Try it. Especially if you’ve made my Dan Dan Noodles, you’ll already have the Chinese Sesame Paste! – Nagi x
What is the Holiday Salad Marathon?
This is my inaugural Christmas recipe countdown where I am sharing 30 salad recipes in a row until Christmas Eve – something completely different to people’s usual baking countdowns!
These salads are in addition to my regular 3 new recipes a week. Because aren’t you bored of the usual tomato-cucumber-lettuce garden salad routine??
Click here to see all the Holiday Salad Marathon recipes to date, or sign up for instant updates and you’ll receive a free email alert whenever I publish a new salad! 🙂
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Spicy Joint’s Creamy Sesame Sauce with Lettuce Salad
Ingredients
Creamy Sesame Sauce:
- 2 tbsp Chinese sesame paste (Note 1)
- 1/2 tbsp peanut butter (Note 2)
- 1/2 tsp white sugar
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 tbsp oyster sauce (Note 3)
- 1 tbsp sesame oil , toasted (ie brown, not yellow)
- 1/4 tsp dark soy sauce (Note 4)
- 3-4 tbsp water (or more)
Lettuce Salad:
- 2 baby cos lettuce or for authentic, equivalent amount of Chinese lettuce (celtuce) , trimmed (Note 5 for subs)
- sesame seeds for garnish (black, ideally for the colour, but white or roasted are fine)
Instructions
- Separate, wash, trim and dry lettuce leaves. Slice any large ones in half vertically. Leave smaller leaves whole.
- Sauce: Mix all ingredients except water together in a bowl. Start by mixing in 3 tbsp water, a tablespoon at a time. Let the sauce sit for one minute. If the sauce starts to split, or the sauce is too thick, add another tablespoon of water. Keep doing this until you have a pourable / drizzle-able sauce that is emulsified (ie. oil is not separated).
- Arrange leaves on platter, drizzle around half of the dressing over or so. You will NOT need all the dressing; keep the rest for something else. Garnish with sesame seeds. (Alternative: just use to dip in raw veg. It is SO good!)
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
Life of Dozer
Currently – post swim dry off:
This salad dressing completes me.
Hi Nagi. I’ve made boat loads of your recipes for years. But I’m very bad at leaving comments. I’ve made everything from Salisbury Steak through General Tso’s. Everything is restaurant quality and absolutely 5 star delicious. It took this salad dressing/dip/everything sauce for me to get on here and bow at your greatness. OH…MY…GOODNESS!!! This is the everything sauce of my dreams!!! Just like our Frank’s Red Hot Sauce saying, “I’m going put this s**t on everything!” It’s absolutely deliciously amazing!! Thanks so much for posting this recipe. I’m going to make it forever. Love to you and Dozer from the Jersey Shore!!!
This is my go to dressing now, it’s incredibly morish and delicious and only takes a few minutes to whip up!
Hi Nagi
Absolutely love your work. This sauce makes me want to drag a big fat juicy prawn through it.
What do you think?
This sauce looks awesome – just wondering if I could use Wombok instead of lettuce
Oh Nagi, I’ve never left a comment but I have to say this is like stupid-good! Who even needs the lettuce? 🙂 Thank you for your great recipes, for being such a great mom to Dozer, and for sharing a bit of your life with us!
Oh I know… That sauce would be great on anything!!! N x
OMG Nagi , this sesame seed sauce is amazing…….at this rate there’ll be none left for dinner, thankyou for my new favourite dressing .
Hi Nagi. I love your recipes! The last one I am curious about though is the Sichuan salad.
In the 8 years I was teaching in China I only saw uncooked lettuce in dong bei cusine in the north or part of a course for Beijing duck. A few Chinese friends warned me all vegetabl s were cooked due to pesticides this not helped by the fact that human poo used to be the main fertilizer! Spent a year in Chengdu too and never saw salad there either so maybe it’s just a Chong Ching speciality? Dan Dan noodle however was a favorite! Yum. Cheers and thanks for the recipes;)
Quick note on Dozer, you’re a fantastic mom for Dozer. No need to apologize for missing a recipe to take care of him. Love him as much as your recipes!
Thanks so much Linda! N x
Love those sesame flavours!! I wondered if this would work as a dressing for your Asian Slaw? Best wishes to Dozer for a quick recovery 🙂
Yes definitely Dara! (It will be amazing over anything to be honest… I’d drink it from the jug if I could…) N x
Made your wonderful pomegranate salad yesterday for Thanksgiving…what a hit. EVERYONE loved it and I love the tip on how to get the pomegranate seeds out! Thank you!!!
That’s great to hear Angela, thanks so much!! N x
Could you add cooked Chicken to this?
Thank you ☺️
Yes 100% Meg! N x
Is the peanut butter really necessary? We have allergies to peanuts, tree nuts, and sunflower, so the usual alternatives are out for us also. Thank you!
It really adds to the sauce – you can omit if you like (it just won’t be quite the same) – N x
Thank you, Nagi!
What a beautiful picture of Dozer. His sweet face in the warm sun…just love his camera ready ears😊 I never noticed the “crimped” style he was gifted with before you pointed it out.
This will be a must recipe for me. I’m looking for this Asian sesame paste on my nest trip to Asian market soon.
Happy Thanksgiving Nagi and Dozer. Thank you for blessing us.
Oh you won’t look back once you make it Macy – the sesame paste is a must so I hope you can find it (if not, just use tahini)!
Will you please go back to including nutritional information? Thank you!
Hi Mary – yes it’s all there at the end of the recipe. N x
It is there, Mary. Please look again. Nagi is very good about that.