Mammy’s Stir-Fry Marinade – for Chicken, Pork, Beef, Prawns, Tofu, Veg….

Firstly, that header image is clearly a stock photo – I had meant to take a pic of the finished product but forgot entirely as had a major case of the h’anger.  There are prep pics, however, and that’s the main thing.

OK – you could purchase ready-made stir-fry or Teriyaki sauces for years and blow a small fortune, or you could look in your condiments cupboard and get creative for a fraction of the price.

One afternoon, I’d chopped pork medallions and veg, swung open the cupboard and there was no sachet of Amoy sauce! No Blue Dragon! WTF was I going to do??? Such is my daily aversion to leaving the house, I managed to cobble together a scrap of soy sauce that had been sitting there for an indeterminable amount of time.
That wasn’t going to cut it – so out came the infamous garlic granules, whatever dried herbs were languishing in there, along with the holy grail of Asian ingredients – sesame seed oil (Tesco) and ground ginger. I’ve no idea how the latter even got into the cupboard, perhaps it was purchased with a view to snorting it to get over chronic morning sickness 18 months ago (not advisable).
One more thing… honey.

So, to recap, you will need…
• Honey – just squeeze in a load
• Soy Sauce – a good few dashes (I have, in the past, resorted to half a beef stock cube dissolved in some water in the absence of Soy. Sounds gross but it worked)
• Garlic Granules – not loads, less than half a teaspoon. Obviously, if you have real garlic, that’s much better.
• Ground Ginger – same as the garlic
• Sesame Seed Oil – one dash
• Sweet Chilli Dipping Sauce – just two glugs. It’s not entirely necessary – JHIKA (just had it knocking around. It won’t become a thing, but just can’t be arsed typing it every time)

But before you start squeezing a load of shit into a bowl, it’s better to have your meat prepped and in said bowl.

Then start glugging in your ingredients, before mixing with a spoon to ensure the meat is covered.

I then cover and leave in the fridge ’til ready to use. You could add the veg at this point too, but I generally wait until the meat is almost cooked so there’s still a crunch.

• Put your rice on first as it will take longer to cook
• When there are about seven minutes left on the rice, sautee some chopped shallots or red onion in your pan on a high heat, before adding that dash of water to soften the onions.
• Then I lower the heat slightly and add the meat marinade, along with more soy, more honey and more water. Stir Fries are meant to be on a high heat and stirred continuously, hence the name, but I just the meat sit in the lightly simmering liquid sauce, stirring occasionally (whenever I remember to).
• After five minutes (two minutes to go), the meat should be almost cooked, so taste the sauce – trust your tongue! If you feel it needs more of anything (usually honey, ginger and soy), add more in along with the chopped veg and stir.
• Drain rice and add a small dash of sesame oil and some pepper.
• Serve and scarf the bleedin’ lot.