Recipe: Rich Sweet-And-Sour Stir-Fry Sauce and Universal Marinade

RICH SWEET-AND-SOUR STIR-FRY SAUCE

"This mixture is really great with chicken thighs, duck or pork. It also makes a nice counterpoint to broccoli."

1/2 cup Chiankiang Vinegar (dark brown rice vinegar)
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup oyster sauce
1 tsp crushed garlic
1/2 tsp five-spice powder
1 cup chicken stock (or water)
2 tsp cornstarch
water (to mix with cornstarch)

Combine the vinegar and sugar in a sauce pan and bring to a boil. Simmer for 2 minutes.

Add the oyster sauce, garlic, 5-spice powder and stock. Simmer for 5 minutes.

Mix the cornstarch with a little water and then stir it into the sauce. Boil again until clear. Pour into a glass bottle or jar. Refrigerate for up to 5 days.

TO USE THIS SAUCE:
First marinate 1 pound of cubed boneless chicken thigh or pork in the Universal Marinade (recipe follows) and then stir fry, adding the vegetables of your choice. Finish with 1/2 to 3/4 cup of this sauce.

UNIVERSAL MARINADE

For one pound meat, poultry or seafood:
2 tsp. cornstarch
1 tbsp. rice wine or dry sherry
1/2 tsp. sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tbsp. water.

Mix ingredients for the marinade together. You can also add (but at the end, not in the marinade) chopped ginger, soy sauce, Sichuan pepper, oyster sauce, 5 spice powder, or hot bean paste. - Joyce Piotrowski to The Washington Post.

Makes 2 1/2 cups
Source: Washington Post, March 4, 1998