Sauces for a Stir-Fry

[Juneboarder]

I have been trying to nail down a stirfry sauce to use for the past few years and have it down to throwing in just about everything I have in my fridge; but wondering what other folks use for their sauces and other fun mixes. Currently I use tamari sauce, soy sauce, vegetable stock, hot sesame oil, ginger, garlic, red chili paste, honey, mirin, Pickapeppa Sauce and this mix of seasonings from my local store called "Oriental Seasonings."

[Warpy]

1. How I sauce it depends on what I'm cooking

and basically, the saucing at the end consists of corn starch in water and a few drops of toasted sesame oil. That doesn't sound like much, but all the aromatics that flavor the sauce have gone into the wok in the beginning: ginger, garlic, scallions, red pepper, and soy sauce has been added to the stir fry with a little wine and water just before the lid is closed and the mixture is left to steam for a minute or two to finish cooking the veg.

Other things for specialized dishes can include hoisin sauce, chili paste with garlic, hot chili oil, soy vinegar, or peanut butter.

[Juneboarder]

2. Oh, I never though of

Vinegar and peanut butter... that adds a whole new twist. I usually am stirfrying up vegetables with tofu, as I'm the only meat eater in the house. Thanks for the input :)

[yellowdogintexas]

3. I stir fry the garlic, ginger, fresh chiles, onions with the ingredients

sometimes I mix hoisin, soy sauce and a bit of sesame oil w/the cornstarch & water @ the end.

or I use hot Vietnamese chile sauce.

I stir fry the vegetables very crispy, then set aside
then the meat , then make the sauce then combine all.

[grasswire]

4. I don't usually make a sauce anymore

I prefer just the glistening bit of oil that was "perfumed" with the ginger and garlic before the frying began. I do add toasted sesame oil at the end, and a good sprinkling of sesame seeds. Another trick is to add a shot of sherry toward the end of the cooking time, for a nutty good taste.

I used to make a sauce with a slurry of flour and water and soy sauce at the end, and still might do that -- it's just not what I do currently.

We like to use that Thai sweet chili sauce on our rice, or a bottled ginger sauce that Safeway sells. So I'm not aiming for a saucy stir fry.

My household really likes ramen noodles mixed in with the stir fry, too, so I boil several packages of the roast chicken flavor, drain and mix it all up at the end before adding the sesame oil.