No more oyster sauce

Oyster sauce is a staple condiment in Chinese cooking, especially in stir-fry dishes, because it enhances the natural flavours of meat and vegetables.  Unfortunately, many of us Singaporeans, including myself, have never savoured the prowess of the condiment.  Because the bottled ones you get from the supermarket are mostly fakes.  I daresay, you cannot even find one bottle of genuine oyster sauce.  Traditional oyster sauce is produced from a time-consuming process of boiling oysters until they caramelise and form a thick broth.  Time means money, so manufacturers maximise their profits by adding additives (notably MSG) and colouring, and then call their product 'oyster sauce'.  The French would say, "Voila!" but I scream, "Walau!"*

*'Voila' (pronounced wa la) means 'behold', a word I learnt during my one-month stay in Switzerland.  And 'walau' (pronounced  wa low) is a common Singaporean expression for exasperation and frustration, as was in my case.  

But I was raised on the good ol' traditional Chinese meals consisting of one soup, one stir-fry dish and one bowl of rice.  I can do without rice and soup, but not stir-fry (vegan) dishes.  They are the cooked version of raw salads, with plenty of room for creativity in terms of choosing ingredients and making your own dressing.  Especially when eaten fresh from the wok, they are warm, crunchy and flavourful.  Yum.  Even without commercial oyster sauce, I was determined to make my own stir-fry vegetables on a somewhat cold afternoon today.

Stewed potato and broccoli in mirin

I had recently purchased organic mirin and in my quest to learn how to use mirin, had found and bookmarked this recipe from a random website.  It called for beef, but I replaced it with broccoli because of its dark green colour and hardy crunch.  Strictly speaking, the dish was not a stir-fry, but more of a stew since I had to simmer my vegetables in considerably more water.  It was, nonetheless, stir-fry inspired.
    
Ingredients

• Potato (diced)
• Broccoli (cut into florets)
• Carrot (julienned)
• Small red onion (thinly sliced)
• Garlic (finely chopped/minced)
• Cooking oil (but you know me, I used EVCO)
• 5 tbsp organic mirin (I used organic because it is unadulterated with other stuff like added sugar.  Be sure to check ingredient list if you aren't sure!)
• 1-2 tbsp Grade B maple syrup
• Water

Very simple but satisfying for me

Heat your cooking oil and then add onions and garlic to stir-fry till lightly brown.  Then add your potato dices and some water to allow them to simmer for a while and absorb the essence of onions and garlic.  The main player is really the potatoes so I recommend you lightly steam the potatoes if you are short of time.  I thought my potato dices were small enough to cook fast, but they proved me wrong.  After 3-4 minutes, they were still somewhat hard.  It took them about another 2 more minutes to become satisfactorily soft.  You don't want them to be overcooked, so before they start becoming soft, you have to add your carrot and broccoli to cook them as well.  Pour in your mirin and maple syrup mixture, and allow your vegetables to simmer.  Once you are satisfied with the softness of your vegetables, switch off heat and serve them up in a bowl.

The old me might have selected to use commercial oyster sauce for flavouring of the broth out of convenience and ignorance.  Of course, mirin and maple syrup form a distinctly (but pleasantly) different taste from that of oyster sauce.  However, I am only too glad to give up on oyster sauce - anytime!