Hey Chef, love the column!
I need assistance with chicken stir fry. I put cubed chicken breast cuts into a hot wok w/peanut oil and once they start to brown, add red and green peppers, mushrooms, and onions. Shortly after I add soy sauce. Tonight I realized that soy sauce just doesn't seem right...how else can I add an authentic Asian taste? I also plan to add cubed pineapple to the wok just as soon as I get some. Ideally I'd like to eat this over brown rice. Any suggestions appreciated.
thank you, glad the column is of service,,,and a good question,,
if you check the index of my column, look for master sauce, it is an ancient recipe for basic chinese sauces and fun to create and give "life" to
in cooking Asian food, peanut oil is good and an OK flavor, but want true asian flavor try sesame oil..you are also lacking garlic and GINGER, a very common ingredient in Asian cooking.
here is a good stir fry sauce you can make and hold in your refer for future use, should last about 6mo with out question, maybe a year if you care for it..
Basic Stir Fry Sauce
Ingredients:
1 1/ 2 tsp. sesame oil
1/ 2 tsp. minced garlic
1/ 2 tsp. minced ginger
1/ 2 cup chicken broth
1 Tbs. soy sauce
1 Tbs. brown sugar
1/ 8 tsp. Tabasco
1/ 2 tsp. salt
1/ 4 tsp. pepper
1 1/ 2 tsp. lemon or lime juice
1 1/ 2 tsp.cornstarch
1 Tbs. rice wine or sherry
Directions:
Heat the sesame oil in a small saucepan. Add the ginger and garlic and stir-fry 15-30 second over medium heat to bring out the flavor.
Add the chicken broth, soy sauce, brown sugar, Tabasco, salt, pepper, and lemon juice. Bring just to a boil, stirring. Dissolve the cornstarch in the wine and whisk into the sauce. Heat until sauce thickens and reaches a full boil. Simmer for 30 seconds. Remove from the heat and set aside.
hope that helps you out,,
CHEF
CHEF!
Well I tried it tonight, kind of. The store I was at didn't have rice wine or sherry so I grabbed a random bottle of sauv blonc.
I also used lime juice. When cooking it, how long should it take to get thick? I had it boiling for several minutes and it didn't get real thick like the sauces you'd see in restaurants. I didn't want to boil it any longer since I was afraid I'd lose flavor. How should I apply it to the food? I put it in the wok with the food and a majority of it burned instantly. Should I put it on the food after the food is transfered to a bowl?ok, wine wont matter much, though the taste wont quite be what your seeking. but not far off.
and you didnt tell us how it tasted????
and
well,
sounds like I made an assumption..or making one now, either way,,your sauce didn't come out correctly.
when adding corn starch as a thickening agent, you have to have a bit of a practiced hand,
you combine the ingredients and bring them to a boil and you then whisk in the corn starch blend. the stock has to be at a rolling boil when whisking in the cornstarch, allowed to bring back to a boil and then remove from heat immediately!
Secondly, in making the cornstach blend, you have to sort of keep it moving after you mix it or the starch just settles to the bottom and doesnt gel correctly when added to the stock.
the sauce should gel slightly thicker than maple syrup,
to test, Dip the bottom of the bowl of a room temp ladle and pull out immediately, it should look freshly shellacked
Allow a moment to cool and then dip it again, and you should get a second "coat", this double coating should be clear and not cloudy at all nor should you see small opaque lumps, pills, or balls, these lumps are improperly broken down cornstarch and if you see them, you need more practice, just strain the sauce, bring it to a boil and try again..bnt only once or twice or you are going to effect the taste..(you can practice on the cheap by thicking boiling water
)I don't know if you ever played with cornstarch,,
you take a tablespoon or so of cornstarch in the palm of your hand, get it a bit wet and begin to try rolling it into a ball with both hands, palm to palm, add a bit more water until you can make it happen, once you have a ball going, STOP and watch it turn into a rather disgusting looking puddle in your palm, and begin to roll again and you will quickly have a ball forming again.
in understanding how cornstarch and water works together, it helps you understand a bit how it works when you are cooking with it.
s long as you keep moving the palms of your hand you will have a solid viable ball, once you stop, phfft, gooey mess
1 bring stock to a rolling boil
2 whisk cornstarch and water/wine together quickly
3 whisk starch blend into boiling stock
4 whip while it thickens lightly then allow it to return to a boil, whisking occasionally
5 turn off and remove from heat immediately..shoudl settle out in about 10 min.
when making Asian food of any kind remember you need to move things very quickly to get the "right" taste/texture of the fresh ingredients.
when adding the sauce to the cooked food, it is the absolute last thing added, stirred in when you have achieved temp for the main ingredients and then transferred to the serving dish immediately.
it is a sugar based sauce and will stick and burn when added to HIGH heat as it is caramelizing and you MAY have to add the sauce after transferring the ingredients to a separate bowl, maybe.
let me know if that does it,,and if you like Asian food and have limited time and knowledge there of, check out Martin Yan;s books, He does a nice job of explaining Asian nuances.
Thank you, hope that gets you there
CHEF
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