Easy Garlic Stir-Fry Sauce

I forgot to take a picture.

When I was in high school, and I was regularly preparing myself tofu stir-fries because I didn't want to eat whatever meat dish that my family was having, I used to just throw every Asian-themed sauce from the fridge into a pan and it would taste pretty good. My tastes have become a little bit more refined, so I've been searching for an actual recipe for a brown stir-fry sauce that doesn't require broth (which I don't usually have on hand in small quantities).

I found this one, toned down the spice, and upped the garlic, and it's good! I generally have all of the ingredients on hand, and it only takes a minute to throw it together. I can make it in advance and keep it in the fridge until I'm ready to stir-fry. And right now, over an hour after dinner, I still have garlic breath. It's a keeper.

The Recipe (makes the right amount for 1 block of tofu and a corresponding amount of vegetables):
2 tb soy sauce
2 tb water
1 tb mirin
1/2 tsp sesame oil
2+ cloves garlic, minced
sriracha and/or chili/garlic sauce, to taste
1 tb brown sugar
1/4 tsp grated ginger root
3/4 tb cornstarch
1/2 tsp canola oil

Mix all ingredients.
After stir-frying the protein and vegetables, add the sauce to the hot wok. Stir for 1 minute until the cornstarch thickens.
Recommendation: toss fresh thai basil into the stir-fry after adding the sauce.

The Verdict:
Overall grade: B+
Overall reason: Not mind-blowing, but it's good and easy
Time to prepare: 2 minutes
Toddler quote (in response to tofu and vegetables): "WHERE'S THE MEAT?"

Comments

Kitchen renovation!

BEFORE: AFTER: Still to come: a beautiful new induction range and some wood shelving on the left side, above the backsplash. And maybe the shelving unit on the wall facing the cabinets should be green, but we're going to live with a while before making that decision.

Adzuki Beans with Black Rice

I hope I don't turn any readers away by featuring cilantro in my first photo. My current food obsession is black rice. I was first introduced to it at Sushi Pure . It's purple when cooked, and I was completely smitten when purple sushi arrived at our table. I mean, purple sushi! It was like my birthday or something. Actually, it might have been my birthday, because I pretty much always have sushi on my birthday, but anyway. It's kind of sweet and has this great chewy texture. When I learned how healthy it is , my crush evolved to full-out love. Sushi Pure's Spicy Tuna Roll (photo from FoodSpotting.com) In my ongoing research for ingredients that are low in calories but high in nutrition, adzuki (also spelled azuki) beans came up. I learned that these are the sweet red beans used in Japanese desserts, including red bean ice cream, which I've been obsessed with since I was a kid. But since turning them into ice cream probably negates the health benef

Cambodian Lemongrass Stir-Fry

I recommend going heavy on the peanuts I recently finally branched out and tried something new at Angkor Cambodian Restaurant , and now I'll never branch out ever again because my new favorite dish is too good. They call it Cha Krung, though I've seen a lot of other spellings in my attempt to find recipes. It's a lemongrass stir-fry and they do it with green beans, carrot, onion, and jalapeno, with peanuts on top. The peanuts are amazing in this, but I also really love the way they stir-fry the jalapeno as a vegetable, by removing the seeds and veins and slicing it thin. In my version above I used what I had, which was broccoli, eggplant from the garden, thai chilies instead of the jalapeno (but I'm going to grow jalapenos next year for this purpose), and fresh basil since I found a lot of recipes calling for it. And tofu, though it sounds like chicken is most traditional. I was a bit discouraged when researching recipes because I would need to acquire fresh lemongra

Adventures of a healthy-ish pseudo-foodie

Search This Blog