MONDAY RECIPE POST - CHINESE BROWN SAUCE

                                   (photo from pixabay.com)

I forgot to take a photo of the meal I made with this sauce, so borrowed the photo from Pixababy.  It is very close.  

I was looking for an Asian stir-fry sauce for a vegetable dish we were putting together.  I found this recipe on The Spruce Eats.  It was written by Liv Wan.  This is a very fast recipe and can be ready to use in 15 minutes.  I always recommend you taking a look at the original recipe for the great tips given, and for the photos, plus other delicious recipes to try.  

We mixed our sauce into a simple pork, green onion and bok-choy stir-fry.

Chinese Brown Sauce - serves 2 

3/4 cup beef broth

1 1/4 tablespoon oyster sauce

1 teaspoon dark soy sauce (look for the dark as it adds a rich flavor)

1/2 teaspoon sugar

1 tablespoon cornstarch (corn flour, or potato starch)

 

Add the broth, oyster sauce, dark soy sauce, sugar, and cornstarch to a saucepan.

Mix evenly and make sure there are no lumps of cornstarch.

Bring it to a boil while stirring and simmer until the sauce reaches the desired thickness. 

Use immediately in your favorite stir-fry or other dish.

 

Recipe Variations

Chicken broth version: Combine 1 cup chicken broth (or chicken stock), 1 1/2 tablespoons oyster sauce, 2 teaspoons dark soy sauce, 1/2 teaspoon brown sugar, and 1 tablespoon cornstarch (or potato starch) in a saucepan.

Mix evenly and make sure there are no lumps. Bring to a boil and keep stirring during cooking. Simmer until the sauce reaches the thickness you like.

Add 1 finely chopped garlic clove

Add 1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger

Add chili sauce or chili oil if you'd like your brown sauce spicy

Liv Wan's comments:

"Is Chinese Brown Sauce Healthy?

Chinese brown sauce is low calorie, making it a decently healthy choice when saucing your stir-fries. 

It does not contain much in the ways of vitamins or nutrients. 

To reduce the sodium, use low-sodium beef broth and soy sauce.

Because brown sauce contains cornstarch it is not appropriate for a keto diet.

Is Hoisin Sauce the Same as Brown Sauce?

Hoisin sauce is a flavorful condiment made of a variety of ingredients depending on the maker. Hoisin is often made with soybeans, garlic, chili, sugar, and spices. Brown sauce is a slightly thinner, simpler sauce that is broth-based. It has a less complex flavor than hoisin sauce."

What we did think?  This is a good brown sauce and was just what we needed for our stir-fry.  We found it a bit bland to our food tastes.  If you like it relatively bland then it would be perfect.  We thought we would add the garlic and ginger next time, also some hot Chile paste to give it a bit of a kick.

The address below will take you straight to the recipe.  

Here is the link in case the one above doesn't work.

https://www.thespruceeats.com/chinese-brown-sauce-4065294

Thanks for stopping by and enjoy your week.

MONDAY RECIPE POST - THAI -STYLE PEANUT DRESSING

Thai Peanut Dressing - Closet Cooking

As you may know by now if you have been following this blog, we have been fans of Thai Cuisine ever since we moved to Virginia over 30 years ago.  However, we have only started making these dishes ourselves for about five of those years.  Before that and through a work colleague of Gregg, we were introduced to a restaurant in Arlington shortly after we moved to our present home.  It was the greatest place and we could not have chosen a better one to introduce us to Thai Cuisine.    The owners and staff were wonderful, and treated us like family every time we walked through the door.  After several years and much to everyone’s great loss, the restaurant was finally closed. 

Two years went by and we were delighted when a Thai restaurant opened up in one of the shopping complexes we used to frequent.  This became another favorite and we loved their food also, and the people who owned that one were as warm and friendly.   Once again, after being regulars for another dozen years, it also closed.  

The time seemed to be right to try and create our favorite dishes, and we began the experiment,  could we make Thai dishes that we knew and loved in our own kitchen.  They may not have been up to the expertise of the places we knew and loved, but they were darned close and we haven’t looked back.  

The recipe I am sharing today is a simple yet delicious peanut sauce.   There is no picture, but you can see photos if you click on the link above.  There are also several dishes that use this sauce.  

Described as “a quick and easy, pantry, Thai style peanut dressing that is so irresistibly delicious”, we can highly recommend this recipe if you are a fan of Thai Cuisine.  I also highly recommend you read the original recipe.  

 

Thai Peanut Dressing

Preparation time: 10 minutes 

Total Time: 10 minutes 

Servings: 16 (1 cup or 16 1 tablespoon servings)

A quick and easy, pantry, Thai style peanut dressing that is so irresistibly delicious!

 

1/4 cup peanut butter

1/2+ cup water (or coconut milk)

2 tablespoons soy sauce (or fish sauce)

2 tablespoons rice vinegar (or cider vinegar or lime juice)

2 tablespoons brown sugar (or honey or palm sugar)

1 tablespoon chili sauce (or to taste)

2 teaspoons garlic, grated

2 teaspoons ginger, grated

2 tablespoons peanuts roasted and chopped

1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil (optional)

1 tablespoon cilantro (optional)

 

Puree everything in a blender or food processor.

Option: Replace the chili sauce with birds eye chilies.

Note: Add enough water (or coconut milk) to get the consistency to that of a pourable dressing.

Nutrition Facts: Calories 39, Fat 2g (Saturated 0.5g, Trans 0), Cholesterol 0, Sodium 125mg, Carbs 2g (Fiber 0.4g, Sugars 1g), Protein 1g

We used this sauce in a simple vegetable stir-fry using what we had in the fridge, and mixed with Ramen noodles cooked to the package directions first.  We tweaked it a little to suit our own taste, not much. We added more chile sauce for a little extra heat, and a smidgen of water as we chose the option of coconut milk.  You can do this to your own taste, and a little at a time would be recommended.  

We are also going to try it with Jasmine Rice next time  

Thanks for looking and have a great week.