As with a lot of people, we have a selection of recipes which we cook regularly and this works for us, but you have to be careful or it can become repetitive and menu fatigue sets in! One way of switching things up is to alternate sauces to change flavours of the basic meals, to keep things fresh. It is even better if the sauces are easy to make, are made from pantry staples and the odd fresh ingredient, and quick to prepare. The following four sauces, which we make and use on a regular basis, fit these criteria well. They can be combined with a number of meals (including ones in our recipe section) so that things are always fresh and you don’t ever have to worry about menu fatigue.
Sate Sauce
2 hugely over heaped dessertspoons of peanut butter
270ml light coconut cream
2 teaspoons soy sauce
¾ teaspoon of chopped chillies (I use de-tuned stuff from a jar, because we don’t use much chilli but always have a jar of this stuff around. You could always make you own.)
Directions
Place the peanut butter, coconut cream and soy sauce into a saucepan and heat with stirring to disperse the peanut butter.
Once the peanut butter and coconut cream are homogenous, add in the soy sauce and chilli and stir well. Heat to simmering temperature and serve.
Works well with a stir fry, veggie patties or beans and rice.
Curry Sauce
1 small onion (diced)
1 Teaspoon garlic (crushed)
1 tablespoon butter
2 heaped tablespoons plain flour
3 level teaspoons curry powder
1 cup of water
1 chicken stock cube (or two teaspoons homemade stock powder)
Directions
Melt butter in a saucepan, add onion, garlic and chicken stock cube, sauté for couple of minutes.
Add flour, curry powder and stir to combine, add 1 cup water, extra if a thinner consistency is required. Stir until the mix boils and thickens. Serve.
Works well over veggies or beans and rice
Mushroom Sauce
1 tablespoon butter
200g mushrooms, diced (can be fresh, dried the rehydrated or canned)
Cup of water
Teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons of corn flour
Directions
Melt the butter in a saucepan, add mushrooms and sauté for 5 minutes or until reduced down to approximately half the volume. Add salt.
Pour in the water and bring to the boil, predisperse the cornflour in a very small amount of water and add to the sauce while stirring until the sauce boils and thickens.
The water and cornflour can be varied depending on the desired thickness of the sauce,
Then serve
Works well over veggies.
Cheese Sauce
1 tablespoon butter
3 heaped tablespoons plain flour
1 cup of water
I cup grated cheese (we find a mild cheese like cheddar works well)
Directions
Melt the butter in a saucepan and add the flour, mix and cook for I minute.
Add the milk and mix until homogenous, a whisk works very well for this.
Add the cheese and melt, the finished thickness of the sauce can be adjusted by adding more milk.
Works well over veggies.
Stir Fry Sauce
I have been looking for a stir fry sauce for a while that wasn’t disgusting! We have found this one to work well!
2 tablespoons Oyster sauce (we use a mushroom based vegetarian one)
2 tablespoons sweet chilli sauce
1 tablespoon Soy sauce (we use Kikkoman)
1 tablespoon brown sugar
Directions
measure the ingredients into a small bowl, stir to combine and it is ready to go!
We use all of these sauces regularly to add colour to our meals, and you can too!
