All-Purpose Stir-Fry Sauce (Brown Garlic Sauce)

"Adapted from Martin Yan's Chinese Cooking for Dummies. This is my favorite stir-fry sauce. It makes enough for two meals. Having extra on hand makes for a quick meal. My son will actually eat vegetables he can dip in the sauce! WARNING about the amount of soy sauce. When I used Kikkoman soy sauce, I found this sauce far too salty. I now use Angostura, which is much lower in salt. When adding soy sauce, start with less than half the amount and slowly add more to taste. Using vegetable broth makes this vegetarian. Yield: 1 3/4 cups (couldn't get that amount entered)"
 
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photo by Jonathan Melendez photo by Jonathan Melendez
photo by Jonathan Melendez
photo by Elizabeth H. photo by Elizabeth H.
photo by AndreainQueens photo by AndreainQueens
photo by Elizabeth H. photo by Elizabeth H.
photo by Tabatha S. photo by Tabatha S.
Ready In:
20mins
Ingredients:
11
Serves:
4
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ingredients

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directions

  • In a bowl, combine soy sauce, broth, rice wine, sugar, sesame oil and white pepper. (See note in intro about the soy sauce).
  • Dissolve the cornstarch in 1/4 cup water.
  • Heat a pan over high heat; add the cooking oil, swirling to coat; add the garlic and ginger; cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 15 seconds.
  • Add the soy sauce mixture; bring to a boil.
  • Reduce heat to medium and cook for 1 minute.
  • Add the cornstarch solution and cook, stirring, until the sauce boils and thickens.

Questions & Replies

  1. How long can left over sauce be kept in the refrigerator ??
     
  2. Ok i did some reasearch thank goodness. NO.... Rice wine and rice wine vinegar/rice vinegar are NOT the same thing. However, I can sub dry white wine for rice wine. and THAT I have. Good thing I researched or I'd have ruined my first batch of garlic sauce.
     
  3. Can I use this sauce on noodles?
     
  4. For those that DID make this recipe was it spicy? I know most places make spicy and I did see the ginger..making for my family which consists Of the hubby and toddlers, who don't do spice. Wondering if I should cut out the ginger or if it was fine with it?
     
  5. If I double the recipe how long can I leave the leftover sauce in the refrigerator
     
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Reviews

  1. Voted down for the sheer annoyance of making the recipe, finding it extremely saltly then seeing in the "comments" to not use the specified amount of soy sauce listed. Edit the recipe.
     
  2. Excellent! This is a keeper, definitely. Since my hubby likes pineapple in his fried rice, I used the pineapplejuice instead of the water and broth, and added Sriracha Hot Chili Sauce since we like foods on the hot side. His compliments were this was the best fried rice he has had (even from our favorite take-out). Thanks for sharing.
     
  3. Although I've not tried this yet, it definitely has all of the ingredients that I've come up with that would be in a brown garlic sauce.<br/><br/>One thing I would suggest. Do NOT use soy sauces that are U.S. sauces. They are always way too salty and have an acrid taste to them (you'll notice if you use an import). Go to an Asian food market and purchase an imported soy sauce. We always use one called Golden Mountain, but most of them will do. It's just that we've found this brand is not so salty and has a great flavor!
     
  4. Easy to make, very delicious! I substituted water for half the soy sauce and found the salt content just about right. I'm glad I doubled the recipe as now I have some to keep in the fridge for another meal this week.
     
  5. Finally a great stir-fry sauce. Delicious and what a great way to add the cornstarch. For those of you who don't like alcohol (or keep forgetting to by rice wine) you can substitute orange juice without compromising flavor or texture. Also used the low-sodium Kikkoman and it was fine. Thanks!
     
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Tweaks

  1. I made garlic chicken with the garlic sauce, it was the best I've ever had! Never ordering takeout again! I paired with a simple fried rice recipe, wish I knew how to find the recipe number for you. Only thing I tweaked was, I cut the soy sauce in half and added an extra tablespoon of garlic. For the chicken I cut up breasts in about 2-3 inch strips, then dredged lightly in flour. I find cutting them in strips or chunks is easiest because you only steaming for 10-15 minutes. Add 1-2 tbsp Of butter, 1 tbsp Of oil to a frying pan. Fry for about 1-2 minutes on one side. Flip chicken, cover with tinfoil or lid and shut burner off. Let steam for 10-15 minutes. Do not open lid! Chicken will be so moist you can barely pick it up with a fork! Then I add the garlic sauce recipe to the chicken, heat for a maybe a minute or so just to get sauce warm again. Amazing recipe!! Definitely must try!!
     
    • Review photo by Elizabeth H.
  2. Made this sauce to pair with microwave steamed broccoli. Perfect dressing! Tweaks: ---------1. I used 1/3 cup of soy sauce instead of 2/3, and added an extra 1/3 of chicken stock. ----------2. I didn't have rice wine so I didn't add it. I only found out about the rice vinegar later so I will try that out. ----------3. If you are afraid of overcooking the garlic, add the ginger first. While I was frying the ginger, I prepared the soy mixture and cornstarch. Once that's prepared, I added the garlic and waited for 30 sec lol. Ginger withstands heat well. ---------4. I used medium heat to saute the ginger and garlic with my cast iron pan. ---------- 5. I used 1 tbs of oil to fry it instead of 2 tbsp. I think 1 tsp might be enough. -----------6. Since I don't have sugar at hand, I used sweet soy sauce instead. ----------Verdict: Tastes great! Makes about 1 cup for me.
     
  3. Yum! Definitely a keeper....and not too salty for my family. (Your mileage may vary.) We'll definitely be making this again. Used 2 tbsp rice vinegar instead of the wine.
     
  4. I don't use the rice wine, minced garlic or ginger but use garlic powder, I keep forgetting to get the rice wine and ginger but it is still super good!
     
  5. This recipe was as good as the Chinese restaurant I go to regularly! I used low sodium soy sauce. I accidentally bought rice vinegar instead of rice wine so I used Bombay Sapphire Distilled Dry Gin instead. I also didn't have fresh ginger so used 1/4 tsp of dried. t am bad about directions and just put everything in the bowl and stirred with a whisk, then poured in a sauce pan and brought to a boil on the stove. I let it simmer about 5 minutes. My stir fry turned out fantastic. Looking forward to left overs tomorrow.
     

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