Friday, May 31, 2013

Reduced Sodium Honey Garlic Sauce Recipe

Here is the recipe I talked about the other day, since I had some requests to share it.

First, the recipe I "freestyled" off of.....

HONEY GARLIC SAUCE

1/4 cup soy sauce Yikes!
1/4 cup honey
1 TB rice wine vinegar
1 tsp. ginger
1 TB garlic
1/2 tsp. pepper
2 tsp. cornstarch

And here is my Version

LOW SODIUM HONEY GARLIC SAUCE
2 TB reduced sodium soy sauce
1/4 cup honey + 1TB
3 TB rice wine vinegar
1 tsp. fresh grated ginger(powdered is ok)
3 TB garlic(minced)
1/2 tsp. ground pepper
1/8 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
2 tsp cornstarch(or more according to thickness of sauce)

You combine all but the cornstarch in a bowl and mix well.
To marinate your meat/protein, put raw meat into Ziploc bag, pour in marinade and refrigerate at least 30 minutes(an hour is better).
After 30 min.,  remove the meat and grill or pan sauté.  Reserve the liquid.

While meat is cooking, put marinade in small saucepan.  Pour all but 2 TB of marinade into pot.
Take the 2 TB of marinade and add your cornstarch to it, mixing onto no lumps remain.
Heat saucepan of marinade to boiling.  Slowly pour in cornstarch/marinade mixture, whisking or mixing as you add it.
Continue heating marinade mixture until it thickens to a sauce consistency.

Pour over your cooked meat, serve with rice, vegetables and/or other dishes.

Of course, you can monkey around with the proportions of the ingredients.  The sodium in this version is a lot better but still a bit high for me, because, well, reduced sodium soy sauce is an oxymoron.  Soy Sauce should be called Salt Sauce. lol
I cut the soy and added rice wine vinegar.

If you like garlic, add more garlic.....if you like spicy, add more of the red pepper flakes.
Or add more or less honey or vinegar to taste.

Next time I make this I'll sauté eggplant and make Garlic Eggplant.


Sluggy
 

2 comments:

  1. The soy sauce is unacceptable to me because it is soy. I avoid soy. So, the sodium is not my first concern, although it is of high concern. Is there nothing that can substitute for the soy? I was pondering this matter last weekend. I thought maybe you or your readers might be of help.

    I like the way you are taking the effort to help yourself instead of giving up. You seem to have a higher need for "flavor" than I do. I seem to be content with cooking many things and eating without lots of flavorings. I say this, not as a superior trait of mine, just as an observation.

    I laugh at myself as I say this since I ate a pint of dehydrated onions that I dehydrated. Maybe I am just lazy. I do cook some very tasty food, according to people who eat my cooking.

    Do you ever depend on the Holy Trinity--onion, bell pepper, and celery? These along with a dab of real butter are where I get most of my flavor for meats.

    Also, have you ever used savory? When I make a beef/vegetable soup, I use savory instead of salt. The aroma of the dish is heady. The aroma fills the house in a good way, sort of like cinnamon. The eating of it is nothing short of heavenly. I used to be able to distinguish between summer savory and winter savory, but now can only find savory, so I forgot which is which.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Linda,
      How about substituting fish sauce for the soy sauce? Both are salty and brown and used in Asian cooking but fish sauce has no soy. It can be hard to find(outside of an Asian grocery)and more expensive, but it's comparable in taste.

      Delete

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