(no subject)

[podling]

Yesterday I was really tired. And the theme song from the Gummi Bears cartoon kept running through my head.

My coworker has told me that the sauce I made for my stir fry had too many ingredients and was in fact many sauces mashed together. I disagree. Here's the listing, answer the poll after reading...

Soy sauce
Water
Lemon vinegar
Sugar
Sesame oil
Grated ginger
Wasabi powder

[Poll #752218]

Comments

[crowyhead.livejournal.com]

That sounds yummy! Yummy, I tell you!

[podling]

I can recreate it for you the next time you visit if you'd like. I used tofu, water chestnuts, bamboo shoots, bean sprouts, and zucchini as the other stir fry stuff. Tasty! And reheats well.

[ellyssian.livejournal.com]

I was expecting a long list of ingredients... nothing resembling multiple sauces there!

I'm not a fan of wasabi, so I'd leave that out. I probably wouldn't use sugar (carmelizing and all that,) but that's a matter of taste. Maybe it balances out the wasabi?

I use tamari, rice vinegar, ginger, garlic, and onion, generally with canola oil, although I've used sesame oil at times.

A soy/tamari, a vinegar, and an oil are must-haves. The ginger is also a must, but the other two - garlic and onion vs. wasabi and sugar - are spice and flavor. Those are things I might vary from time to time, to come up with different tastes; they are relatively minor and certainly don't turn it into another sauce.

The water is the only thing I'd truly consider extraneous in that - generally, you get (more than) enough water from the veggies themselves - but water on its own isn't enough to count as another sauce.

I'll have to remember to bring a selection of real, actual sauces and spices to add flavor to what must be a very bland menu if I ever eat at their restaurant! (Hmmm, I bet they'd make you pay extra to have two salad dressings... oil and vinegar... =)

[melintur.livejournal.com]

Your co-worker is a retard.

[podling]

Ming the Merciless is not a retard! He just has a different way of seeing the world than the rest of us, owing to his chinese upbringing... ;)

[betra.livejournal.com]

It sounds yummy but it might be redundant to put in sugar and vinegar as well as soy.

[cissa.livejournal.com]

The lemon vinegar and wasabi sound a bit eccentric, but not bad.

But where's the garlic??????

[podling]

I've started to adopt an either/or thing with garlic and ginger. I'm not entirely sure why.

Besides, I only have the precrushed garlic at home, no fresh stuff, because, well, I buy it and it grows.

[cissa.livejournal.com]

Interesting! The classic Chinese aromatics are ginger, garlic, and scallions/onions, so I always think of them together for stir-fries. But I bet it would be good without!

[perditaxnit.livejournal.com]

personally, i'd probably leave out the sugar and vinegar (not a fan of the sweet/sour combo) and add garlic. Wasabi powder is unusual for a stirfry sauce though probably tasty. i'm more used to the more typical chinese ingredients. Except for hating scallions. What kind of self-respecting asian am i if i hate scallions? Oh, I'd also add cornstarch for thickening the sauce. Here's my usual stir-fry sauce - a cornstarch/water slurry, a splash of soy sauce, sesame oil, and blackbean garlic sauce (comes in a jar from the AFC), chopped ginger if i have it.

[podling]

It doesn't really end up tasting sweet and sour, just kind of... tasty. I hate scallions too, but it's okay, because I'm an all too white person.

I've had mixed feelings about cornstarch... once or twice it's kind of overthickened, and other times it hasn't done much at all (could this be the concentration? No! never, I'm perfect when I'm cooking! ;) ). But also I used the sauce to marinate the tofu in, so thickening it would've had to take place after that, and I'm never sure when.

Your's sounds good, if you were nice, you would cook for me (hint, very very veiled hint there) or something...

[cappyhead.livejournal.com]

I would go with some black pepper too.

[podling]

You know, I hadn't even thought to put it in! I'll try that next time. Thanks!