Fish sauce and oyster sauce

[Liz K]

I have two huge bottles of fish sauce and oyster sauce sitting in my refridgerator. So far I've only made one recipe using them. Does anyone have a tasty recipe that calls for one of these?

[Gail]

CHINESE BROCCOLI WITH OYSTER SAUCE

Makes 4 servings

2 tablespoons oyster-flavored sauce
1 teaspoon sesame oil
3/4 pound Chinese broccoli or regular broccoli
8 cups water
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 teaspoon salt

Preparation:

Combine oyster sauce and sesame oil in a small bowl and set aside.
Wash broccoli and peel off tough skin on stems. Remove flowerets from stems and cut into bite-sized pieces. Cut stems diagonally into thin slices.

Cooking:

Bring water, vegetable oil, and salt to a boil in a large pot. Plunge broccoli into boiling water and cook for 4 minutes or unti crisp-tender. Drain well and place on a platter. Drizzle with oyster sauce mixture.

(From A Wok For All Seasons)

[Gail]

Here's another one I found in the paper this morning. If you hate broccoli, I'm kind of up a creek...

SHRIMP AND BROCCOLI STIR-FRY

Active Work Time: 10 munutes
Total Preparation Time: 25 minutes

1 pound broccoli crowns
2 tablespoons oil
1/2 pound medium shrimp, shelled, deveined and butterflied
1/4 cup oyster sauce
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 to 3 tablespoons minced ginger root
White pepper
Toasted sesame seeds, for garnish

Cut broccoli into florets.

Blanch florets in boiling water 30 seconds; drain well and set aside.

Heat medium-sized skillet over high heat and add oil. Add shrimp and stir-fry until they start to turn pink, 15 seconds. Add broccoli and keep stirring. Add oyster sauce, garlic, ginger and pepper to taste. Stir to incorporate.

Stir-fry, adjusting heat if necessary to avoid burning, until shrimp are cooked through, 2 to 3 minutes. Garnish with toasted sesame seeds.

(From The LA Times)

[lorilei]

Many Thai recipes call for fish sauce. In fact, if you have a jar of Thai Chili Paste (or curry paste) laying around, you might check the back for a recipe.

I've made curries and such without fish sauce many times. But, I'm certain that these dishes benefit from it http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/smile.gif So, hang onto that fish sauce. Its day will come.

[Shirley Panek]

Are you supposed to refrigerate fish or oyster sauce after opening?

[Gail]

Originally posted by Shirley Panek:
Are you supposed to refrigerate fish or oyster sauce after opening?

The bottle I have says to refrigerate after opening.

[Don]

I use oyster sauce all the time to stir-fry vegetables. Just coarsely chop up some green cabbage, bok choy, spinach or other vegetable and stir-fry it until crisp-tender. About a minute or two before the veggies are done, add a tablespoon or two of bottled minced garlic (I admit that we LOVE garlic in my house), and about the same amount of oyster sauce. (I normally stir-fry a medium-sized bok choy or half a head of green cabbage at once.) After you've tried this a few times, you'll figure out exactly how much garlic and oyster sauce that you prefer. This is definitely the favorite way to cook vegetables in my house.

The idea for cooking vegetables this way came from a cookbook called "Great Thai Cooking for My American Friends" by Yupa Holzner. It's an excellent book with lots of easy and extremely tasty recipes. There are a number of recipes that use fish sauce as well. One word of warning though, turn your face away from the wok or frying pan when you add the fish sauce. Most Americans find the smell of it totally repulsive, even if they like the taste of it when cooked. After a while, you may actually find the smell appetizing. I thought I would never reach that point in my lifetime, but I actually like the smell of it now. One other hint, buy fish sauces made in Thailand. Golden Boy is especially good. Thai fish sauces are much smoother (milder?) than those that I have tried from Vietnam or the Philippines.

Good luck!

[Ohioan]

This is a wonderful all-purpose sauce that's great with shrimp, chicken, or pork. You might also use it as a dipping sauce for egg rolls, fried wontons, etc.:

* Exported from MasterCook *

Szechwan Sauce

Serving Size : 4

1 Tbsp peanut oil
2 clove garlic -- crushed
1 Tbsp ginger -- grated
3 Tbsps soy sauce
1 Tbsp hoisin sauce
1 Tbsp oyster sauce
2 Tbsps rice wine
2 Tbsps brown sugar
2 tsps red chili oil
1 1/2 Tbsps rice vinegar
2/3 c stock or water
1 1/2 tsps cornstarch
1/2 tsp sesame oil

Heat the oil in a wok and stir-fry the garlic for 30 seconds. Add the ginger and fry for another 30 seconds. Add the soy sauce, the hoisin and oyster sauces, rice wine, sugar, red chili oil, vinegar, and stock. Bring slowly to the boil, stirring all the time. Boil vigorously for 20 seconds.
Mix the cornstarch with 1-1/2 Tbsp cold water. Stir this into the wok and cook over a fairly high heat for 10 seconds. Add a few drops of sesame oil before removing from the wok.

Source:
"A Taste of the Orient"

Per serving: 113 Calories (kcal); 6g Total Fat; (55% calories from fat); 1g Protein; 11g Carbohydrate; trace Cholesterol; 1220mg Sodium
Food Exchanges: 0 Grain(Starch); 0 Lean Meat; 1/2 Vegetable; 0 Fruit; 1 1/2 Fat; 1/2 Other Carbohydrates

[Ohioan]

Hi again! If you've received your August CL, take a look at page 96: Garden Vegetable Stir-Fry with Tofu and Brown Rice. It uses oyster sauce -- and looks scrumptious. (Nice picture, too.) http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/wink.gif

[This message has been edited by Ohioan (edited 07-23-2000).]