General Tao Sauce

My favourite food has to be Szechuan cuisine. Fried, sweet, spicy, salty... what's not to love??? Ok, so it's not that good for you... but it's soooooooooo delicious!

I have slightly modified a General Tao Sauce from Foodista.com and serve it on baked tofu nuggets that I usually have in my freezer. The sauce can also be used on veggies like broccoli, snow peas and eggplant.

I have tried a whole bunch of General Tao recipes over the years that were much more complicated and time consuming. This one tastes just as good and is super easy to prepare.

Ingredients

• Olive oil for frying
• 3 garlic gloves finely chopped
• 2 tablespoons fresh ginger finely chopped
• 2 teaspoons sesame oil
• 3 tablespoons water
• 1 teaspoon chili sauce like sambal oelek or Sriracha (try to find a brand without preservatives)
• 1/2 teaspoon paprika
• 2 teaspoons cornstarch
• 3 tablespoons gluten-free tamari
• 3 tablespoons rice vinegar
• 3 tablespoons water
• 1/4-1/2 cup maple syrup (depending on how sweet you want it)
• 2 thinly sliced green onions for garnish
• 1/2 thinly sliced organic red pepper (optional)

Preparation

1. In a bowl, whisk the cornstarch, soy sauce, sesame oil, rice vinegar, 3 tablespoons water, fresh ginger, garlic, sambal oelek and paprika. Set aside.
2. In a saucepan, bring 3 tablespoons of water and maple syrup to a boil. Turn heat down to low-medium and pour the prepared mixture into the saucepan. Stir and simmer until it becomes a syrupy consistency.
3. Cover your tofu (or veggies) with the sauce.

   Serve with rice/quinoa and garnish with sliced green onions.

 

Notes

Choose organic tofu/non-GMO. Red pepper is on the Dirty Dozen list so organic is better too.