Vegetables in Hot Garlic Sauce

Whenever I prepare Chinese food, be it fried rice or Hakka noodles, I pair it up with either Manchurian sauce or sweet and sour or some other sauce. However, there are times when I have too many things on my plate and can't go into anything elaborate. It is then that I make hot garlic sauce which goes very well with rice and noodles.

Recently when I was in New York City, we went to a Thai restaurant called Jaiya (396 Third Ave and 28th Street). My daughter, having eaten at this place on numerous occasions, had been raving about the food here, so we decided to pay a visit. We started off with starters and soup. I had the Siam spring rolls, which was served with red plum sauce. They were stuffed with noodles, mushrooms and bamboo shoots and were very good and I could feel the taste of the finely chopped cabbage coming through as well. This was followed by Tom Yum soup which was perfectly balanced and did not require any extra seasoning. For the main course I had the Red Curry with steamed rice. The helpings were good and the coconut curry had an authentic Thai flavor. Their Green Curry and Thai Basil were also excellent. I am already craving their Thai Basil – the basil was evident in every scrumptious bite and the mushrooms, baby corn, snow peas and green chillies went perfectly with the spicy sauce.

The Thai basil reminded me of the hot garlic sauce that I would make back home in terms of the consistency and the deep brown color. Except that my dish was prepared Indian-Chinese style with more garlic than basil, and my sauce was sans vegetables. So I decided to tweak my recipe a bit and also added sautéed veggies. The vegetables added body and flavor which upgraded this dish from a side accompaniment to a main course item. I serve it with steamed white rice but it would go just as well with Jasmine rice or sticky rice.

HOT GARLIC SAUCE WITH VEGETABLES

2 tablespoons minced garlic

2 teaspoons red chilli paste (or to taste)

2 teaspoons oil

3 tablespoons ketchup

2 teaspoons dark soya sauce

1/2 teaspoon black pepper powder

1/2 teaspoon sugar

1/2 teaspoon vinegar

Salt to taste

1 tablespoon corn flour

1 cup water

1 cup mushrooms, chopped

3/4 cup baby corn, chopped

1/2 cup capsicum chopped into squares

1/2 cup broccoli cut into bite size florets

1/4 cup french beans chopped into bite sized pieces

I usually put these vegetables but you can add any other if you like.

For the sauce add 1 teaspoon oil in a pan and sauté the minced garlic, then add the chilli paste and stir for a couple of minutes. Lower the heat and add ketchup, soya sauce and vinegar. Stir for a minute, now add the black pepper, sugar and salt .Stir again. Mix the corn flour in water and add to the paste. Keep stirring to avoid any lumps being formed. Let the sauce thicken and not be runny. 

In another pan add the oil, now add all the vegetables except mushrooms Sauté the vegetables for a bit till they start getting nicely roasted.  Now add the mushrooms and sauté .Once done add these vegetables to the sauce. Adjust the seasoning to taste and serve with rice.