Stir-fry Sauce From Scratch

Be it dim sums, bok choys or marinated tofu, I love my Chinese food to the hilt and even more if it is stir-fried. My ex-roommate was a rather dedicated chef and believed in making all condiments, pastes and pickles at home rather than buying it from the supermarket. She was and still is someone who believes in staying away from preservatives as much as possible and therefore religiously makes her own stir-fry sauce at home. Over the years, she has instilled some of this anti-preservative attitude in me as well and so I too am a propagator of homemade goodies now. Since Chinese food and chicken adorned my table pretty often back in college, she had taught me a fantastic chicken stir-fry sauce from scratch and over the years I managed to pick up a few more of them. Here are a few of them which you can try at home.

Simple Stir-fry Sauces from Scratch

Soy-Sesame Stir-fry Sauce
This sauce wonders for ginger chicken stir-fry that can be served with rice. You can make a cupful of it in 7 minutes with,

• Soy sauce, ¼ cup
• Chicken broth, ¼ cup
• Toasted sesame oil, 2 tsp.
• Rice wine vinegar, 2 tsp.
• Pepper flakes, 1 tsp. (red, hot variety)
• Sugar, 1 tsp.

Procedure
Put all the ingredients in a mixer and blend for 2 minutes and your stir-fry condiment will be ready. That is what I call making an easy stir-fry sauce from scratch.

Vegan Thai Peanut Tofu Stir-fry Sauce
Use this with teriyaki marinated tofu to be served with noodles. You must have,

• Soy sauce, 3 tbsp.
• Creamy peanut butter, 2 tbsp. (softened)
• Rice wine vinegar, 2 tbsp.
• Peanuts, 1/8 cup
• Brown sugar, 1 tbsp.
• Garlic powder, 1 tsp.
• Honey, ½ tsp.
• Ginger, ⅛ tsp. (ground)
• Cayenne pepper, to taste

Procedure
Simply, put all the things together in a bowl and whisk until you are left with a condiment with a creamy, frothy consistency. When you are stir-frying the tofu, pour this condiment right at the end and toss to cake the tofu well.

Coconut Milk Stir-fry Sauce
To make this simple stir-fry sauce, you must gather,

• Coconut milk, ½ cup
• Soy sauce, 2 tbsp.
• Peanut butter, 2 tbsp.
• Lime juice, 2 tbsp.
• Sesame oil, 1 tbsp.
• Peanuts, 1 tbsp. (chopped)

Procedure
Put together all the ingredients, except peanuts, in a bowl and whip well. When you have a smooth sauce, add the peanuts and mix them in with the sauce.

Hoisin Stir-fry Sauce
This semi-thick, dark brown sweet and spicy condiment can be used as a dip as well. Gather,

• Chinese-style hot sauce, 20 drops
• Soy Sauce, 4 tbsp.
• Black bean paste, 2 tbsp. (peanut butter can also be used instead of this)
• Honey, 1 tbsp.
• White vinegar, 2 tsp.
• Sesame seed oil, 2 tsp.
• Garlic powder, ⅛ tsp.
• Pepper, ⅛ tsp.

Procedure
Put all the items into a spacious bowl and employ your hands to do the mixing together. You have to keep mixing it until you have a smooth brown sauce with a reddish tinge at hand.

Chinese Stir-fry Sauce
To make ⅔ cup of this dark sauce, you need,

• Oyster sauce, ⅓ cup
• Chicken stock, ¼ cup
• Shao hsing wine, 1 tbsp.
• Chinese cooking wine or sweet sherry, 1 tbsp.
• Brown sugar, 2 tsp.
• Sesame oil, 1 tsp.

Procedure
Again, just put everything together and stir until you have a uniform condiment. Even a kid can make this simple stir-fry sauce from the scratch, so there's no reason why you should look like an outsider.

So, now you know 5 different stir-fry sauces that you can make at home and incorporate anytime in easy stir-fry recipes of your choice. One of the biggest reasons for you to learn how to make stir-fry sauces is the fact that most of the ingredients required for these condiments are common larder items. Also, you can adjust the taste of the sauces, make them hotter, sweeter or tangier, as per your palate desires. So, try these sauces soon and let me know how you fared.