Stir-Fry Sauce for Chicken or Pork Recipe

Mix all ingredients except for cold water and cornstarch. Add the combined ingredients to stir-fried meat and vegetable mixture. Simmer for a few minutes, until vegetables are tender-crisp. Meanwhile, blend cornstarch with cold water. When vegetables are done to your taste, blend in cornstarch-water mixture and simmer, stirring, just until sauce thickens slightly and turns clear. Serve.

Additional notes and variations:

Stir-fry dishes like Moo Goo Gai Pan, Chicken Almond Gai Ding, American-style Chow Mein, etc., are basically made pretty much the same way. The meat is cut up and marinated; the assortment of veggies are cut into same-size pieces. The meat is stir-fried first and removed from the pan. Then the veggies are stir-fried a few minutes, until the colors turn brighter. Meat is put back in the pan, the sauce added, everything simmers briefly, then the sauce is thickened. You don't really need to follow a recipe, unless you're making a specific dish; that's the beauty of it. You can use whatever meat or veggie combination you like and have a different dish each time. Just make sure you don't over-cook the veggies so they're limp--the simmering time should only be a few minutes.

Variations:

Substitute beef broth/bouillon for beef dishes.

Add 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger.

Add a couple tablespoons of oyster sauce. (Available in pretty much any grocery store that has even a small Oriental section. No, it doesn't really taste like oysters, if you don't like them. g It's used in a lot of stir-fry dishes and adds a delicious flavor.)

For a hotter sauce, use anywhere from a few drops to a teaspoon or so of Tabasco sauce.

For sweet and sour, use pineapple or apricot juice to replace part or all of the broth. Replace the wine with white vinegar. Increase the brown sugar to 1/4 cup or to taste. Leave out the garlic--or leave it in if you like. Add pineapple chunks/strips of green or red pepper if desired. If you want it spicy and sweet, again, add Tabasco sauce to taste.

Add a few tablespoons of Hoisin sauce. It's one of the ingredients used in making Chinese BBQ Pork. It's a thick, red sauce with a subtly sweet/spicy flavor and adds zing without being really hot, as well as extra flavor.

Try adding black bean sauce for another flavor. (Both Hoisin and black bean sauce usually come in jars; don't cost all that much when you consider how little you use per dish; and last a long time stored in the fridge after opening. Great seasonings to buy when you're on a budget.)

Garnishes don't have to cost much - you don't need more than 1/4 cup or so - and can add more variety. Cashews, almonds, and unsalted peanuts can be added whole with the sauce and simmered, or chopped fine and sprinkled on top when the dish is served. Chopped green onions are usually added after cooking. Plus you can buy all of these on sale and freeze them. (yes, nuts are freezable; good idea if you find a bunch on sale, as shelled nuts can go rancid if you don't use them up fairly soon.) Toasted sesame seeds sprinkled on top are good, too.