Asian sauces - sweet and sour etc

[ReturnofBroccoli]

I saw this today and thought I'd share it if anyone wants to try it

[ReturnofBroccoli]

Also note the ingredient of brown sugar you will find this a lot in many Asian cuisines. Love experimenting with brown sugar *its also the secret ingredient in my chili shhhhh*

[Oldcarpy2]

Great stuff.  About to have a Chinese takeaway, General Tsos, Kung pao and sweet and sour prawns and special rice.

And mixed in black bean sauce.

Yum.

[argentus]

Also note the ingredient of brown sugar you will find this a lot in many Asian cuisines. Love experimenting with brown sugar *its also the secret ingredient in my chili shhhhh*

Thanks much for this!

I also use the traditional velveting techinique, especially when stir-frying tough cuts of beef.    That involves making a thick slurry of corn starch, soy sauce, water, and sesame oil.   It should be thick enough that it's difficult the run your finger through it.    Everybody has their own taste buds, so you have to find your own level.   Then you marinate the beef or chicken in this for at least 1/2 hour.   Longer is often better for tough cuts of meat.    

Let the excess drip off, but don't pat it dry and lay them in the hot oil.   I like avocado oil.    Turn after a bit to brown on both sides.   This makes super tender food out of beef, chicken, pork what have you.  I usually stir-fry the proteins first, set them aside, and do the vegies and then recombine.    My go-to sauce is made of brown sugar, soy sauce, minced garlic and ginger, sesame oil, pepper, a little Cayanne, and some citrus, usually lime juice.

[rickymouse]

Other than the minced ginger, we always have all the other ingredients in stock.  I should write down those recipes.  We have ginger powder and ginger brandy all the time, but we don't buy ginger roots very often.  The pineapple juice we have is canned juice, we usually have a few cans in stock, I kind of like the taste of it on occasion.  With the tarriffs being implemented, we stocked back up on canned water chestnuts, we have six cans in stock which is a couple more than usual, but over ninety percent of water chestnuts come from China.

Have you actually tried to make these sauces yet, some of the recipes or types of store bought sauces are good, others are not our preference when we eat chinese foods.  We usually only buy Kikkoman soy sauce, that is better than the la choy and the other soy sauces around here in stores.

[UltraBudgie]

Other than the minced ginger, we always have all the other ingredients in stock.

Whenever I get out the microplane and mince fresh ginger it turns out awesome. But peeling it is a hassle! Does anyone know if you can mince a whole root at a time and maybe like freeze the leftover? Or put it in a jar in the fridge? How long does it keep?

[rickymouse]

Whenever I get out the microplane and mince fresh ginger it turns out awesome. But peeling it is a hassle! Does anyone know if you can mince a whole root at a time and maybe like freeze the leftover? Or put it in a jar in the fridge? How long does it keep?

We only use a little ginger occasionally, so never buy a root.  My youngest daughter does buy it sometimes and she gives us some occasionally.  Boiling it to get the juice out makes for a good Hot Toddy in the winter instead of using ginger brandy in it.  Two hot toddies will pretty much clear up almost any virus issues we get.  Four of them will make it so your headache the next day keeps you from even realizing you are sick.  There are about four shots of brandy/ginger brandy in each of the hot toddies I make.  They take a lot of honey too, but only a splash of lemon.

[putnam6]

These are so useful, especially in a pinch. The Orange and the Stir Fry I can use on almost every protein, and chilled, they taste great on salads, too. On smoked wings, they are  legendary. 

Thought for sure there would be a fish sauce-based recipe, but I guess those do have a high salt content.

A while back, we had some leftover catering, like a lot of it, from a fantastic Chinese place. We gave away a lot to whoever we could in the building, but it was still too much to trash. 

So long story short, we got the won ton wrappers and made egg rolls filled with General Tso's Chicken and another one filled with Mongolian beef, and they were awesome, plus they froze well. I'll never do it again because it was a pain but they were so good.

[Ray1990]

Ginger keeps well if you freeze it, just grate or chop finely and freeze it in an ice cube tray with a little oil or water. It's a good way to store fresh herbs and the likes.

Left over ginger root can be grown if it has a few eyes on it, just sit it in water for a bit to wash off the stuff they spray commercial ginger with. Ginger syrup for sodas and stuff works really well too and should keep in the fridge, it can probably be frozen also.

A quick way to tenderise meat is by using baking soda, either mixed with water that you'll marinade the meat in for 15 mins or so or directly applied and then washed/patted off. Using this method is the closest I've got to replicating Chinese takeaway meat.

Oh and dry sherry is a good enough replacement for shaoxing wine.

Peeling ginger is easier if you run it under a hot tap for about 30 seconds or so, use the back of a knife or a spoon and the skin should remove pretty easily. That said, organic ginger just needs to be cleaned as the skin is edible.

[ReturnofBroccoli]

These are so useful, especially in a pinch. The Orange and the Stir Fry I can use on almost every protein, and chilled, they taste great on salads, too. On smoked wings, they are  legendary. 

Thought for sure there would be a fish sauce-based recipe, but I guess those do have a high salt content.

A while back, we had some leftover catering, like a lot of it, from a fantastic Chinese place. We gave away a lot to whoever we could in the building, but it was still too much to trash. 

So long story short, we got the won ton wrappers and made egg rolls filled with General Tso's Chicken and another one filled with Mongolian beef, and they were awesome, plus they froze well. I'll never do it again because it was a pain but they were so good.

Fish sauce is usually just oil and salt i believe but I do sometimes add some rice vinegar and sugar to it, then melt it with butter, and pour it over my sticky rice when I am rolling sushi