MAKES: About 1 cup
TIME: 15 minutes
Familiar and widely loved, teriyaki sauce is also fast and simple. You can slather it on broiled or deep-fried tofu, add it to stir-fried vegetables which in turn can be served over rice or noodles or use it as a ketchup replacement on any of the veggie burgers in The Basics of Veggie Burgers, or anywhere else for that matter.
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup mirin or honey
1 tablespoon finely peeled and minced or grated fresh ginger
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 cup minced scallion
Combine the soy sauce and mirin in a small saucepan. Cook over medium-low heat until bubbling, about 2 minutes. Turn off the heat, stir in the remaining ingredients, and use immediately or cool, then refrigerate for up to a day.
Variations
Tropical Teriyaki Sauce. Think of this as Polynesian: Substitute 1/4 cup passion fruit or pineapple juice for half of the mirin.
Mushroom Teriyaki Sauce. A little deeper: Substitute 2 tablespoons mushroom soy sauce for 2 tablespoons of the regular soy sauce and add 1/2 cup finely chopped mushrooms shiitake, cremini, or button are all fine before cooking.
Caramelized Onion Teriyaki Sauce. Put about 1/2 onion, thinly sliced, in a small saucepan over medium heat. Cover and cook, stirring infrequently, until the onion is dry and almost sticking to the pan, 10 to 15 minutes. Add 1 tablespoon corn other neutral oil and cook, stirring occasionally, until the onion browns, another 10 minutes or so. Proceed with the recipe in the same pan used for the onion.
Roasted Garlic Teriyaki Sauce. Rich, delicious, and only a little more work: Increase the garlic (don't bother to peel) to 2 whole cloves, wrap in foil, and roast in a 375 oven for 20 minutes, or until soft. Remove the skin from the garlic, mash the pulp into a paste, and add it to the soy sauce and mirin.
