Does anyone have a good home made stir fry sauce. I dont like the ones in jars. I find them too gloopy.
It has to be mainly for chicken and /or veg stir frys.
So that I don't have to add garlic to it, I use stirfry oil which has a very slight hint of garlic and other chinesey flavours.
If you have time, marinade the chicken in lemon juice aswell as a hint of a sweeter juice such as apple of mango, I normally use apple. and some light soy sauce.
When you add the chicken, bung in all these juices, any germs from the chicken in them will be cooked off. also add a few (depending on how hot you like it) chilli flakes, and a couple of drops of worcester sauce. If you find there isn't enough sauce add some more lemon juice, soy and apple etc, to taste.
Agree that oyster sauce is a good stand-by for the base of a lot of stir-fries. I buy a large bottle from Chinese supermarket and keep in 'fridge. Thicken with cornflour in water.
Should have added that, although fresh is better, those jars of minced garlic, minced ginger and minced chilli are also good to have in the 'fridge. With those and the oyster sauce, you can ALWAYS do a quick stir-fry with the simplest ingredients.
Like Indian cooking-there's a lot of regional differences regarding flavours used in Chinese cooking. Google either Chinese cookery,or look at the recipes of Ken Hom....his books are full of information on flavours. Learn how to make a few authentic recipes-then devise your own.
Marinade chicken strips in soy sauce, oil and chinese 5 spice for an hour, tip the whole lot into a heated wok, stir fry til chicken is cooked, then add selection of veg ( I cheat and use Asda rainbow stir fry veg, at £1 a bag its not worth chopping your own!)
stir fry for a further 5mins, add 1/2 mug chicken or veg stock, season to taste with black pepper and more soy sauce to your taste, serve with egg noodles.
Very easy, cheap and delicious!