Jewel - your stir fries....what sauce?

[Mousie29]

Jewel,
ON the power veggies thread, I was impressed with your use of stir fries and the "delicious" sauces you use....

Can you tell me which sauce(s) you use?

Homemade or store bought?

I'd love to do this if I had a quick sauce to use.
thanks,

[Jewel]

Oh Mousie, now everyone is gonna laugh at me... :( Once I tell, they're gonna laugh, point fingers, and tell me I'm not a 'real' cook, you just watch!! OK, here goes...

I've tried a lot of bottled sauces and my favorite is a brand called "House of Tsang". Their Classic StirFry Sauce and their Schezuan Spicy are really good, BUT they're expensive and they're very, very heavy. DH and I like more of a glazy sauce instead of a thick gooey stuff, so I kept looking...

About 3 years ago I was browsing in the Asian Aisle at Albertsons and I found the seasoning 'envelopes' section. Brand was 'Sun Luck'. I found 'Kung Pao Chicken', 'Hot & Spicy Schezuan', 'Thai Noodles', 'Hot & Spicy Beef', etc...about $1.25 each. The first one I bought was the Kung Pao Chicken. Tucked the packet deep in the shopping cart so no one who thinks I'm a REAL cook would see what I was buying, and talked to the cashier the whole time she was checking me out so she wouldn't notice what she was scanning (I have a reputation...). I mixed the packet with sugar, soy sauce and water, and when the time came I poured it over my chicken, celery and green peppers in my wok...and it instantly thickened up and turned into the most wonderful glaze! (Has cornstarch in it...) It smelled Heavenly, and when I presented that Nirvana Bowl in front of DH he got a look on his face that I WISH he'd get when he looked at me... :rolleyes:

It was wonderful. Spicy, flavorful, not too salty like I expected, and extremely convenient. I made DH go back and buy more (I have a reputation...) and we LOVE the Hot & Spicy Schezuan and the Thai Noodles too. I've got about 30 of them in my drawer, and at just over a buck a piece, they're my secret weapon...but don't tell anyone! :D

[Mousie29]

Girlfriend, sounds like I may have hit the jackpot!

My one beef with store-bought is that perhaps it has more chemicals.....

But, maybe the packet just contains ingredients that you would have to put together anyway....you know what I mean....like cornstarch.

[AdGirl]

if you're looking for a sauce to use with stirfry that isn't too heavy you might want to try this:

mix about 1 tbsp of cornstarch in a bowl with some water, red pepper flakes, soy and about 1 tbsp (i use more though) of oyster sauce. i like the lee kum kee brand.

the sauce is my favorite and it's quick and easy (takes about 30 secs to throw together). one of my friend's mom (she's chinese) gave me this tip and i've never gone back to packaged sauce!

enjoy :)

[BosunsWife]

I've used both the packaged stuff (which DH hates - too much sodium) and I've used the method that Adgirl uses. We pretty much stick to the cornstarch, water, oyster sauce version and it makes everyone pretty happy.