Basic stir fry sauce recipe

Stephen_Leak

Try this ...

VEGETABLE STIR FRY

Serves 2

INGREDIENTS

250g of mixed vegetables, such as baby sweet corn, broccoli florets, cabbage leaves, carrots, cauliflower florets, courgettes, green beans, lettuce leaves, mange tout peas, mushrooms (normal, oyster or shitake), peas, spinach and sweet peppers.
½ a bunch of spring onions
1cm (½ inch) piece of fresh ginger
1 teaspoon of corn flour
250ml of water
3 tablespoons of oil
¼ of a teaspoon of ground black pepper
1 teaspoon of salt
1 tablespoon of sesame oil
2 tablespoons of dark soy sauce
1 teaspoon of sugar

METHOD

Wash and/or peel whatever vegetables you are using as required. Cut any carrots into matchstick-sized strips, any green beans into 2cm (1 inch) lengths and anything else into 1cm (½ inch) strips or pieces. Wash the spring onions, cut off the root ends and leaves, peel off and discard any dried up or slimy outer leaves, then chop them into thin slices. Peel the ginger and chop it into tiny pieces.

Put the corn flour into a cup and add the water, a bit at a time. Stir each time to make sure it is smooth.

Put 2 tablespoons of the oil into a frying pan or wok on a medium heat. Add the vegetables. Fry for 2 minutes. Stir frequently to stop them sticking. Remove them and put them on a plate.

Add the remaining tablespoon of oil, ginger and spring onion. Fry for 1 minute. Stir frequently to stop them sticking.

Add the pepper, salt, sesame oil, soy sauce and sugar. Put the vegetables back in. Add the corn flour mixture. Fry for 3 minutes until the sauce thickens, Stir frequently to stop it sticking.

ADDITIONS & ALTERATIONS

You can use or add almost any vegetable that you happen to have around and needs using up.

Use ¼ of a teaspoon of Five Spice Powder or ground Sichuan pepper instead of the black pepper.

Add ½ a tablespoon of dry sherry or rice wine.

For a hot Sichuan-style version, add 1 teaspoon of chilli powder,

Serve as a side dish, or with boiled rice, or with boiled or fried noodles. Rice will take longer to cook than the stir fry, so put it on while you are preparing the ingredients.

TIPS

Dark soy sauce is used for cooking, as its flavour develops with heating. Light soy sauce is used for seasoning.

This cooks very quickly, so get all the ingredients prepared and measured out beforehand, and then put them on plates or in bowls in the order that they go into the pan or wok.

Cat501

Great, thanks babyshoes and Stephen, must get some more Five Spice powder as I love that, have really let my stock of herbs and spices go down over the last year or so:)

I had a bag of stir fry veg with peashoots for 7p, it said to take the peashoots out and add them for the last minute but as I didn't have a clue what they were and it sounded finicky, I just put them all in together! Shiitake mushrooms for 8p (a real treat!), spinach for 7p and some green beans. Value noodles for 11p. Easily enough for 2, but I'm greedy and am eating it all tonight:D

meritaten

The Peashoots would have been the ones with little tendrils on! look like something you need to pinch out in the garden! I wouldnt even have cooked them - they are so delicious raw. they taste like the peas you just picked from the plant and then podded and eaten raw!
That veg sounds so good - I would have just added a little fresh garlic and ginger and a splash of soy sauce and served it up as is - with the peashoots scattered over!

Cat501

that does sound nice meritaten!

Tbh it was sheer laziness, I thought those might be the peashoots, but picking them all out.....:eek:....it was still ok though!:)
I'll put almost any veg in a stir fry, but I do think you need mushrooms if you're not having any meat/poultry, that's my personal preference anyway:)

seehar

i make a "sweet n sour" sauce out of ketchup, white vinegar, brown sugar (one part of each), a bit of soy sauce and a bit of ground ginger powder. Mix it up and heat it a bit. I dont like sweet n sour (take my portion out before adding the sauce) but boyfriend hasnt complained so must be ok...!! Also, 5 spice is awesome

see xx

Cat501

seehar wrote: »

i make a "sweet n sour" sauce out of ketchup, white vinegar, brown sugar (one part of each), a bit of soy sauce and a bit of ground ginger powder. Mix it up and heat it a bit. I dont like sweet n sour (take my portion out before adding the sauce) but boyfriend hasnt complained so must be ok...!! Also, 5 spice is awesome

see xx

Thanks seehar - it is lovely isn't it, I can just sit and sniff it all night! Maybe I have a problem:rotfl:I like sweet and sour and have all those ingredients so will give that a go, I made S&S sauce once, I think it was almost the same as that but had pineapple juice in it as well.

Pink.

Hi Cat,

This is a sauce that I make to add to stir-frys. If I use chilli in the stir fry it makes a delicious sweet chilli sauce:

Stock cube dissolved in ¾ cup of boiling water
2 teaspoons of sugar
2-3 tablespoons of soy sauce
2 teaspoons of vinegar
2 tablespoons of ketchup
a few drops of sesame oil
freshly ground black pepper

Make the sauce by putting all the ingredients into a bowl, mix with a fork and put to one side.

Stir fry your ingredients as normal.

Once, it's almost ready add the sauce ingredients and bring to the boil.

Use a tiny amount of corn flour mixed in a little cold water and added to the pan if you feel you need to thicken the sauce if you find it too thin for your dish....I don't normally.

Hope this helps,

Pink

Cat501

thanks Pink, that sounds really nice!:) Just need to get sesame oil. I don't use peanut/groundnut oil, even though I know refined peanut oil is meant to be ok for people with anaphylaxis, I just wouldn't want to risk it.

3tabbycats

Excuse me for reviving this thread but it saved tonights dinner! We were all set for a stir fry with no sauce & as I only had peppers onion & quorn to go in it, it wasn't looking to win any prizes for flavour! However having had a nosey through the spices etc lurking in the back of the cupboard & reading everyones ideas on here, it actually turned out really tasty & I think I maybe a convert to making my own sauces in future rather than buying a packet! So thanks everyone!:T

lizalloareds

does anyone have a recipe for a stir fry sauce that doesn't use lots of ingredients, got some lo roast chicken that I want to make a stir fry with.
TIA