XO Sauce

To make our own XO sauce, I started by soaking dry scallop overnight. The following day I mashed it up to smaller pieces. For the kick, I used what we had on hand which were red pepper flakes, the kind you put on pizza. I didn't want the seeds in there, so I separated the seeds from the flakes. It wasn't that tedious. I put the crushed red peppers in a bowl and stuck that bowl in a much larger bowl. Then you blow and the lighter flakes fly out of the smaller bowl directly into the larger bowl. I gave myself a fright when I was deep frying the scallops because I didn't dry them enough and you know what happens when there's too much water with hot oil. It was like ooohh sh*!.
Fairly simple, except for the deep frying. Just dried scallop, red pepper flakes, soy bean oil and a bit of salt. I like the taste of this homemade version. It has more scallop flavor vs. the store bought one.