Asian Dipping Sauce

Makes 2 cups

Active time: 10 minutes

Start to finish: 10 minutes

3/4 cup unsweetened applesauce

1/2 cup hoisin sauce

1/4 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar

6 tablespoons ketchup

2 tablespoons honey

2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar

1 tablespoon soy sauce

1 tablespoon Chinese chili paste with garlic, or to taste (hot red pepper sauce can be substituted)

Combine applesauce, hoisin sauce, brown sugar, ketchup, honey, vinegar, soy sauce, and chili paste in a mixing bowl. Whisk well, and refrigerate until ready to use.

Note: The sauce can be refrigerated up to 1 week.

Certain foods can be stored for months in the pantry before they are opened but should be refrigerated after opening. Although many of them are marked with that instruction, others frequently are not. Refrigerate mustard, maple syrup, barbecue sauce, Asian condiments such as oyster sauce and hoisin sauce, tortillas, and bottled lemon and lime juice after opening. I also refrigerate expensive olive and nut oils after they’ve been opened to retard rancidity.