On Tuesday, October 23, 2018 at 6:06:40 PM UTC-10, Julie Bove wrote:
> When you make stir fries, do you use sauce? If so, what kind? I've tried a
> variety of purchased sauces, including one just called "Stir Fry Sauce".
> Just not sure what the good ones are as I don't like stir fries for the most
> part. I do sometimes eat stir fried vegetables with salt and pepper but no
> sauce.
>
> Do you use sauce? If so... Is it a purchases sauce or do you make your own?
>
> Thanks.

I have two main sauces that I use. 1) Garlic chili sauce 2) black bean garlic sauce. Both are made by Lee Kum Kee. I also have a bottle of Lee Kum Kee chopped garlic. With these jars I can do practically any dish. I also have a couple of tubs of Mae Ploy curry paste - yellow and red. Using these preparations, I can cook up tasty foods very fast.

Asian cooks have an advantage over Western cooks because they make most of their dishes with the idea of maximizing umami. I don't know how much Western cooks are able to utilize this basic taste. It might be that umami is an abstract concept to most cooks.