A friend from work called me up and asked for an alternative for Hoisin sauce. I could have told her to grab a bottle of barbecue sauce but that would be unforgivable. Instead, I told her to mix Oyster sauce, Kikkoman dark soy sauce, sugar, water and cornstarch. I heard silence at the other end. I assumed she just went to get pen and paper to write down the ingredients (though I thought I heard a little snicker here and there. I will never know…). Perhaps it sounded more like a poison sauce rather than Hoisin. If she reports for work today, I can heave a sigh of relief. I just hope that the 2 other people at her place would be as lucky.
The pseudo Hoisin mixture that I have suggested is actually a normal sauce combination for Chinese cooking. I never paid too much attention at culinary school but I know that Chinese cuisine is so obssessed with balancing the sweet, salty, and spicy. Of course, Chinese cooking is also notoriously known for the liberal use of MSG and fat (mostly from chicken skin). Chinese cuisine is perhaps my least favorite, but my family prefers it over the Euro trash that I prepare for them. That’s why I have perfected the Chinese sauce mixture if and when the occasion calls for it.
That occasion is today. There’s a 1 week old dried egg noodles in the fridge and a can of mushroom in the cupboard. With the Chef Yoji magic Chinese sauce, an instant Chinese Mushroom Noodles was born.
Preparation+ Cooking Time: 5 minutes
Eating Time: 1 minute
Washing the dishes: 10 minutes
*Variation – add Lee Kum Kee Chi Chou Chili Sauce if you want tongue-numbing HOTness. Consequently, the eating time becomes 2.5 minutes.
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Ha-ha! Good thing, the local supermarket still had two bottles of Hoisin sauce that night so I was not able to try out the poison err next-best-thing-to-Hoisin sauce… but then again, will try anything Chef Yoji suggests..☺