Teriyaki and YumYum Sauce

The handy little widget at the top of the page here reminded me that squash is in season. That reminded me that at Kroger this week, zucchini and yellow squash are on sale for $1 per pound. Take the opportunity to turn fall's squash harvest into the culinary deliciousness of my version of Teriyaki. I usually use chicken breast but you can use any other quick cooking type of tender meat you like or even leave the meat out altogether if that's what you wanna do. I've made this dish with shrimp, chicken and diced up boneless pork chops. Everyone loves it all the same. The secret is in the sauce. Use this sauce on anything and your diners will think the sun rises and sets according to your will. Fact. 




The Sun Rises & Sets Per My Will Teriyaki Sauce
Enough sauce to make food for six or so. Easily doubled if you'd like more.


1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 tablespoon cold water

1/2 cup white sugar

1/2 cup soy sauce

1/4 cup cider vinegar

1 clove garlic, minced

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

• Dissolve cornstarch in cold water. Use COLD water or it won't dissolve properly. The end result will be a lumpy sauce. We don't want that. 
• Add the dissolved cornstarch mix and everything else to a sauce pot. Stir frequently while simmering over medium high heat until sugar dissolves and mixture thickens. It won't take long for it to come to a boil. Once it does, it's thickened. Cornstarch works wonders for sauces!
• Set aside for use with the rest of the ingredients.

The rest of the ingredients:

• Diced raw chicken breast, raw or frozen medium shrimp, diced boneless pork chops, diced tofu, strips of stir fry beef. Allow 4-5 ounces per person.
• 4-5 zucchini, cut into 2" thick pieces. Quarter them while whole and then slice into pieces. 
• A couple medium onions, roughly chopped
• Mushrooms, halved
• Large green bell pepper, roughly chopped
• Head of broccoli, florets cut apart

Feel free to add more, omit or add different veggies. Often the restaurants that serve teriyaki use carrots in the mix, too. If you like carrots, add em. Just be sure they're sliced thinly so they will cook quickly. Want more color with a diced red or orange bell pepper? Sure! Want mushrooms but not broccoli? That's fine, too. Want a veggie dish of nothing but squash and onions with sauce? Have at it! Make it your own by tinkering with your favorite tastes. The list above is a representation of what I use when I make this dish. 

Now what to do with all this stuff you've prepped:

• Heat a bit of oil in a frying pan on medium high heat. Have the pan's lid handy to speed up cooking time. If using chicken, cook until juices run clear or the pieces are white throughout. If using shrimp, cook 2-3 minutes. Pork needs to be cooked until pieces are white throughout. Tofu cooked until browned. Beef until desired doneness. 
• A couple minutes or so before meat is finished cooking, add enough sauce to lightly coat all the pieces. Continue cooking on medium high heat until sauce really sticks to the meat. This takes 3-4 minutes or so. Transfer the meat to a large serving dish. I find that a large casserole dish works well for this recipe. 
• Saute the veggies in the same fashion, starting with the onions. Cook the onions until translucent (five minutes or so), then douse with a bit of sauce. I like to start with the onions because they impart such a wonderful flavor to everything else that comes after them. Too, the pieces are thin. Once your frying pan has had a bit of the sauce introduced to it, it tends to get a little sticky due to the sugar. We don't want our onions sticking to the pan, so doing them first is a good way to avoid that problem. 
• Saute the rest of the veggies separately and just dump them in the casserole dish with everything else. This order works best for me: Onions, bell pepper, broccoli, zucchini, mushrooms. We'll mix it all up when we're done so don't worry about that at the moment. Just concern your lil' ol' self with making sure you don't cook the crisp out of the veggies. Broccoli is GREEN. Zucchini is also GREEN. Don't cook either of them til they lose their color! This is where the lid comes in very handy. It will trap the steam for ya and keep the broccoli and zucchini from sitting in the pan for too long. Keeping the beautiful color of the veggies will entice your eyes while the crisp but tender texture will keep your mouth interested. Do the mushrooms last. They have a lot of water and will cause the other veggies to boil rather than saute. We don't want that :( 
• Now mix up all those layers you just cooked. Serve with simple plain white steamed rice. If you prefer a healthier option, have it with brown rice. For people watching their carb intake, this is really good just on its own too. 

And what's teriyaki without the classic YumYum sauce? You know, the thick light pink-peach colored dressing the chef pours out for you in the individual containers at your place setting? The stuff you probably ask for refills as you're eating? :) Yeah, we've got a recipe for that too. 

You're Gonna Ask For Refills YumYum Sauce (aka Japanese Steakhouse White Sauce)

1-1/4 cup	Quality brand mayonnaise
1/4 cup	water
1 teaspoon	tomato paste
1 tablespoon	melted butter
1/2 teaspoon	garlic powder
1 teaspoon	sugar
1/4 teaspoon	paprika
dash	cayenne pepper

• Using a fork or a whisk, blend all ingredients together thoroughly until well mixed and the sauce is smooth. Refrigerate overnight to allow flavors to blend. Bring to room temperature before serving

• I mentioned a quality brand of mayo because of what I wrote about in yesterday's entry. Use quality brands when the ingredients of your dish are minimal and only a few ingredients are competing for top taste billing. We want our sauce to taste like Japanese steak house white sauce, not bad mayonnaise, right? Preparing it the day before to allow proper blending of the flavors will also keep it tasting like YumYum sauce instead of mayo.

Your Americanized Japanese Teriyaki dinner is ready to go at this point. Call me when it's time to eat! I'll even bring my own chopsticks :)