Chinese Curry Sauce - Chip Chop Style! (2024)

Published on September 6, 2017 by Helen Best-Shaw 105 Comments
Last Updated on January 25, 2021

This homemade takeaway Chinese curry sauce – served British chip shop style on fat chips is never going to be Instagram worthy – but is so so good. Thick, gloopy with no added nasties. A great fakeaway treat. Naturally vegan and gluten free.

Chinese Curry Sauce

Yes, it’s possible to exist on a diet high in virtuousness and low in sin, all steamed vegetables and righteousness. But sometimes the urge to shun all that’s healthy and indulge in of a wicked treat is strong. And this Chinese curry sauce is the perfect example; it will never be a staple, but every now and then I’m going to really enjoy going full trashy with Chinese curry sauce, especially on chips. It’s the perfect sauce for enjoying a fakeaway home-made takeaway treat.

There is nothing authentic about this Chinese curry sauce. Britain might have a proud maritime history, with a melting pot of food cultures incorporating all sorts of dishes from East and West, but sometimes they are adapted into something unrecognizably different from the original. This is one example; there is nothing Chinese or Indian about it. Doesn’t mean it’s not good, though.

I have to briefly touch on the way this takeaway curry sauce looks. There’s no way of dressing it up to look good, and there are so many rather unsavoury possible points of comparison that I’m not even going to start listing them. The only thing to do is ignore it, and get stuck in.

The perfect way to serve this Chinese takeaway curry sauce is on proper thick cut chips, eating them while walking home from the pub. Short of that, you can use a helping of chip shop chips, or even ones you’ve cooked yourself (they could even be oven chips). The advantage of eating our sauce rather than that from the shop is that ours contains no chemical flavours or preservatives. It’s also both vegan and gluten free. And it’s not just for chips: there are plenty of other ways of using this sauce.

I’ve got leftover Chinese Curry Sauce – Can I freeze it?

Absolutely you can freeze this easy curry sauce. Pour into a small plastic tub and freeze. Allow to defrost and reheat a small quantity in the microwave. It will keep in the fridge for a few days too, giving you an excuse for more chips to use it up!

3 more ways to serve Chinese curry sauce

• Noodles. Cook some Asian noodles according to the packet instructions. Drizzle over some sauce for that indulgent treat without the hassle of chips.
• Stir fry sauce. Fry some small pieces of chicken. Add vegetables. Then pour over the Chinese curry sauce and cook for a few minutes.
• Rice. Like noodles, cook some rice according to your favourite method. Stir fry some vegetables, add the rice and curry sauce and heat through. Or drizzle it over my Instant Pot Chinese Rice.

This recipe relies on cornflour to give it the right thick and slightly sticky consistency. Follow these guidelines for cornflower success.

How to thicken a sauce with cornflour (cornstarch)

Cornflour is an excellent thickener for sauces, soups and stews. Unlike regular flour it does not need cooking with fat into a roux to stop it tasting floury.
Just a little cornflour will thicken most liquids to a glossy coating sauce. It also has the advantage of being gluten free.

Simply place 1-2 tsp per litre of liquid you would like thickening into a small bowl, add a couple of table spoons of liquid, mix well and then stir through the dish, allow to cook for a few minutes to thicken, and repeat as needed. A little goes a long way, and it will get thicker as it cooks, so it is better to do it in stages than add too much.

The important thing to remember is always add the liquid to the cornflour rather than the other way round. Dishes thickened with cornflour can be slightly gelatinous, especially if you want to make a really thick sauce, which makes it perfect for Asian and Chinese style sauces.

This recipe is quite straightforward. Mix some of the cornflour and spices give them a quick fry, then slowly add the stock, thicken, then simmer until it is nicely thick and gloopy! Delicious and cheaper than chips!

Mop up any leftovers with a slice of no yeast bread or a homemade tortilla chip.

If you love this try some of my other takeaway sauces or recipes using chips!

• Masala Chips
• Fully loaded chips
• Garlic fries
• Cheesy Chips

If after all that spice you need cooling off a lemon posset is perfect.

If you like this recipe, why not try my Chinese Chicken Curry Fakeaway recipe? Or for another recipe using chips, make my Fully Loaded Dirty Chips!