Saucy Sunday Ep. 1: Teriyaki
Ready to sauce up your week?
Welcome to Saucy Sunday! Starting today, I will share a recipe for a sauce that you can make and use a couple different ways through the week. Why, you ask? Because life’s too boring already, we don’t need to eat boring food too. And why should you make sauce when you can just buy it? Tell you what—try making this one and then tell me if that bottle of Teriyaki you got in the fridge tastes better.
I have 2 rules for this series:
the sauce must be BANGER, and
must not take more than 20 minutes to put together
That’s it. Without further ado, presenting this Teriyaki style sauce that I love and throw on everything.
Teriyaki-style Sauce Recipe
My introduction to teriyaki was a teriyaki noodle salad I’d order at least once a week for lunch from my favourite take-away joint—a cold noodle salad with poached chicken, a few veggies, and a zesty teriyaki dressing. When they took it off the menu, I was heartbroken; but that did make me go look for a recipe and when I saw how easy it was to make, I was kicking myself for not looking it up earlier.
The word teriyaki combines two Japanese words: teri that refers to the luster or shine from the sugar in the sauce, and yaki that refers to grilling. While teriyaki technically refers to the technique of grilling protein, it is now used interchangeably to refer to the sweet-salty sauce that usually goes with this style of cooking.
If you enjoy the sweet-and-saltiness of teriyaki, here’s how you can make it at home.
Combine the following ingredients in a small saucepan over low heat:
1/4 cup soy sauce (I use dark soy sauce for this because it gives a lovely colour. If you’re using light, you may need to reduce the quantity a bit since it tends to be saltier.)
3/4 cup water
1 inch fresh ginger - grated
4-6 cloves garlic - minced
1/4 tsp black pepper powder
2 tbsp brown sugar (Please don’t ask me if you can make this without sugar. Teriyaki is sweet. If you don’t use sugar, it’s not teriyaki. You can however use a different sweetener if you want - white sugar is fine, but use only 1 tsp since it’s sweeter, honey works too, use jaggery only if you must—I wouldn’t, I hate jaggery, but you do you.)
1 tbsp cashews - toasted & roughly chopped up (If you’re too lazy to toast, it’s fine just break them up in your hands and throw them in. Toasting just gives them a slightly nicer crunchier texture.)
1 tbsp sesame seeds - lightly toasted (Throw in raw if you aren’t in the mood, it’s fine.)
1 tbsp toasted sesame oil (If you have it. I just need some way to finish that bottle I bought ages ago for no good reason.)
Make a slurry out of 1 tsp cornflour and 1 tbsp water. (I misread my own recipe the other day and used 1 tbsp of cornflour. Long story short—my sauce clumped up like a cake in the fridge and was totally unusable the next day. When it comes to cornflour, less is more.)
Once the mixture comes to a boil, add the slurry and let it simmer for a couple of minutes. You’ll see it thicken. Don’t try to take it too far, it will continue to thicken a bit as it cools and in the fridge.
Let it cool completely. Transfer to an airtight jar. You can store this in the fridge all week. Make sure to shake it well before use so you get the cashews and sesame seeds that may have settled on the bottom.
How to use this sauce:
As a salad dressing - Chop veggies, throw sauce over, toss and eat. Doesn’t get simpler than this.
As a marinade - Pour over raw chicken, prawns, or paneer, let it sit for some time and then cook as you would.
For a quick meal - Toss cooked noodles or rice in the sauce, add some veggies and protein and enjoy!
I hope you’ve enjoyed episode 1 of Saucy Sunday. Try this sauce recipe out and tell me what you think. I have it on good authority that this sauce is ^&*(#@! bomb!