Four on a journey

Oh boy. What a rollercoaster of a Chinese cooking part 1 was.

This is part 2 of a 4-part series. You can find rest of the series here:
– Stress-free Chinese cooking for beginners part 1: the basics
– Stress-free Chinese cooking part 3: meat dishes
– Stress-free Chinese cooking for beginners part 4: how to season a wok

Picture this: you and your trusty wok, united in a tango of culinary adventures. Your pantry, like a secret treasure trove, brimming with garlic, ginger, soy sauce – both types for those fancy moments – and corn starch (because who doesn’t need a backup plan?). And let’s not forget the colossal stash of jasmine rice that could feed an army of hungry souls! But hold on tight, my friend, because today we’re about to embark on a saucy journey that will have your taste buds doing the happy dance. Get ready to turn your kitchen into a flavor-packed amusement park! Let the sauce-making extravaganza begin!

Yep. Sauces. Here in part 2, we’ll talk about some really simple, stress-free way (why would anyone do it any other way?) of Chinese cooking.

Straight-from-the-bottle

Soy sauce: light and dark

Ah. The proverbial soy sauce . Probably the most often mentioned and ingested Chinese sauce of all time. Totally yummy and versatile and yet it suffers from some form of identity crisis: light vs dark.

Light Soy Sauce	Dark Soy Sauce
Brown in colour	Dark brown, almost black
Thin and salty	Thick and caramel-y
Adding umami, savoury flavour	Adding colour and depth to a dish/sauce

So, when it comes to dipping sauces, soy sauce is a classic choice, right? But sometimes, regular light soy sauce can be a tad too salty for dipping. We’ve all been there!

Oyster sauce

Oh my. Where do I start? Rather, how do I describe it? It’s salty, it’s sweet (and no, it’s not a sweet and sour sauce in a bottle).

Oyster sauce can be used by itself or in combination with other sauces. More on this later.

Sesame oil

For Chinese cooking, you are after the roasted sesame oil. These are a lot darker in colour compared to the cold-pressed types. It’s nutty, fragrant and simply yum in a bottle.

Sweet Chilli Sauce

Yes, it’s Thai. But it’s soooo good I must have it in my cupboard. In fact, I just picked up a bottle to travel with me…. It’s so good I’ve used it with:

• Chicken
• Chips
• Pork
• Make sauces
• In sandwiches
• In wraps
• Drizzle all over kebabs
• Burgers
• And many more…

Make-it-yourself Dipping sauces

Garlic soy dipping sauce

To make a basic (yet yummy) dipping sauce, you’ll need:

Ingredient	Amount
Light soy sauce	3 tablespoons
Dark soy sauce	1 tablespoon
Water	1 tablespoon
Sugar	1 teaspoon
Garlic	1 clove
Sesame oil	1 teaspoon

To make the sauce, mince the garlic (chop with a knife or two, garlic press, sledge hammer…) and throw the rest of the ingredients into a bowl or some form of sauce receptacle, stir and serve.

You can add more or reduce the amount garlic to your taste. Alternatively adding boiling water to the garlic before all the ingredients will mellow it out a bit as well as release the fragrance to make it more irresistible! Want to kick it up a notch? Add freshly chopped chilli peppers. You can even add some rice vinegar for a bit of zing or oyster sauce for extra depth in flavour.

This sauce is so versatile, you can use it for just about anything. I’ve used it on anything from blend roast chicken, blanched broccoli to simply pour it over steaming bowl of rice!

Oyster and ginger

It really is as simple as the title suggests: you thinly slice some ginger and throw it into some oyster sauce. I love it!

Sesame chicken sauce

Ingredient	Amount
Sesame oil (optional)	1 tablespoon
White sesame seeds	1 tablespoon
Garlic	2 cloves, minced/finely chopped
Rice vinegar	1 tablespoon
Honey	2 teaspoon
Sweet chilli sauce	1 tablespoon
Tomato ketchup	3 tablespoon
Brown sugar	2 tablespoon
Light soy sauce	4 teaspoons

Instructions

Add all the above into a hot wok/pan/pot and cook on high heat. Stir regularly until the sauce thickens. Yummy! You can add or reduce the amount of sweet chilli sauce depending your tastebuds.

Dishes

Ray’s Cheating Stress-free Sesame chicken

Ingredients

• 500g chicken nuggets
• Sesame chicken sauce from above
• Lots of rice as you are going to love this!

Instructions

• Cook the rice
• Make the nuggets
• Either mix nugget in sauce or serve separately
• Look for a gym. Because you are going to over eat. I was there. Multiple times.

Wow. Don’t think I could make the recipe any shorter 🙂

Oyster sauce Pak Choi

Ingredient	Amount
Pak choi	1 – 2 pieces person
Oyster sauce	3 – 6 tablespoons
Oil	1 tablespoon
Ginger	1 – 2 cm
Chilli	Optional

Instructions

1. Quarter the pak choi and chop the ginger into thin slices or Julienne
2. Heat up your pan/wok then add oil
3. When the pan is hot, add ginger and chilli pepper, if desired
4. Throw in the quartered pak choi and toss it around the hot oil
5. Add oyster sauce and 1 tablespoon water
6. Stir-fry for a few further minutes and serve

End of part 2

And that concludes Part 2 of our stress-free Chinese cooking series! We’ve covered a range of delicious sauces, from the classics like soy sauce and oyster sauce to homemade dipping sauces. We also shared two mouthwatering recipes: Cheat’s Sesame Chicken and Oyster Sauce Pak Choi.

Whether you’re a beginner in the kitchen or a seasoned cook, we hope these recipes and tips have inspired you to try your hand at Chinese cooking. Remember, the key to stress-free cooking is preparation and having a well-stocked pantry.

Stay tuned for Part 3, where we’ll delve into more essential ingredients, cooking techniques, and exciting Chinese dishes. Until then, happy cooking and enjoy your culinary adventures!