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Regional, seasonal food with original recipes by Susan S. Bradley

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Home/Asian Pantry/Chinese Ten-Spice Marinade & Stir-Fry Sauce

Chinese Ten-Spice Marinade & Stir-Fry Sauce

Immediately after developing LunaCafe Chinese Ten-Spice, I started imagining all the ways I could use it. After all, I had ½ cup of spice blend and only 6 months of optimal storage time.

Chinese Ten-Spice Marinade & Stir-Fry SauceI thought about adding it to my favorite chicken wing marinade and was actually just about to do that when a recipe in Susan Feniger’s excellent cookbook, Susan Feniger’s Street Food: Irresistibly Crispy, Creamy, Crunchy, Spicy, Sticky, Sweet Recipes, caught my eye. What a stellar book; I could eat every page!

Chinese Ten-Spice Marinade & Stir-Fry SauceTitled Five-Spice Marinade, Chef Feniger’s recipe includes lemongrass, palm sugar, oil, rice wine, soy sauce, oyster sauce, garlic, and the five spices typically associated with Chinese Five-Spice (clove, star anise, cinnamon, fennel, and black peppercorn).

So taking that as a starting point, I ran to the kitchen and started building a sauce. The result is sublime.

P.S. Make the marinade, and jump to the amazing Chinese Ten-Spice Chicken Wings recipe.

Chinese Ten-Spice Marinade & Stir-Fry SauceTen-Spice Marinade & Stir-Fry Sauce

Inspired by Susan Feniger’s Five-Spice Marinade (which you can find in her cookbook), I tweaked the original formula to accommodate two pounds of chicken wings (or other meat). My version adds gingerroot, fish sauce, and LunaCafe Chinese Ten-Spice–for one of the most sublime marinades I’ve ever tasted.

Note   To turn this marinade into a stir-fry sauce, add ¼ cup chicken stock.

Note   For a simple noodle stir-fry for two, with 1 pound cooked noodles: Use 2 tablespoons oil in the wok and 2 sliced garlic cloves for the aromatics, 3-4 tablespoons of this sauce after stir-frying the noodles, and 2 tablespoons sliced green onion to finish.

  • 1 stalk lemongrass (½ cup minced)
  • 2 tablespoons peeled, minced gingerroot
  • 1 tablespoon peeled, trimmed, minced garlic (4-6 cloves garlic)
  • ¾ cup packed dark brown sugar
  • ¼ cup canola oil
  • ¼ cup Kikkoman soy sauce
  • 2 tablespoons Chinese rice wine or dry sherry (NOT cooking wine)
  • 2 tablespoons fish sauce
  • 2 tablespoons Chinese Ten-Spice
  • 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
  1. To prepare lemongrass, remove one inch off the root end and one-third off the stalk. With a mallet, tap along the stalk to release the essential oils. Cut stalk in half lengthwise, and then strip and discard the tough outside layers. Thinly slice crosswise and then mince the stalk. You should get ½ cup of minced stalk.
  2.  In a medium mixing bowl, combine lemongrass, gingerroot, garlic, brown sugar, oil, soy sauce, rice wine, fish sauce, ten-spice, and salt.
  3.  Cover and refrigerate until needed.

Makes about 1¼ cup.

Chinese-Ten-Spice-Marinade-CollageMore LunaCafe Asian Inspired Recipes

  • All Asia All Month 2015
  • Almost Luc Lac Vietnamese Dipping Sauce
  • Asian Pancakes (Beijing Pancakes)
  • Asian Pantry: Korean Red Pepper Powder & Threads
  • Asian Potsticker Dough (for Jiaozi & Gyoza Dumplings)
  • Asian Snack Crackers & Other Extraordinary Munchies
  • Asian Tacos with Prawn & Shiitake Filling & Cabbage Slaw
  • Chinese Cracker Jacks
  • Chinese Good Fortune Cookies
  • Eat. Portland. Sen Yai Noodles.
  • General Tso’s Chicken: Crispy, Spicy, Sweet & Tart
  • Golden Fried Garlic Sesame Noodles
  • Home-Style Chinese Fried Rice
  • Phat Thai (Stir-Fried Rice Noodles with Tamarind Sauce, Peanuts & Lime)
  • Pok Pok’s World Famous Vietnamese Chicken Wings
  • Pork & Prawn Potstickers (aka Asian Dumplings)
  • Portland Food Carts: Mama Chow’s Kitchen
  • Spicy Asian Cucumber Salad
  • Spicy Korean Noodle Soup (Jjambbong)
  • Spicy Pork Wonton Soup
  • Spicy Thai Peanut Sauce
  • Spicy Vietnamese Dipping Sauce (Nuoc Cham)
  • Thai Red Curry Paste
  • Thai Red Curry Soup
  • Vietnamese Chicken Salad
  • Vietnamese Crispy Crepes (Banh Xeo)

More LunaCafe Chinese Five-Spice Recipes

  • Blackberry Lime Syrup with Star Anise
  • Chinese Cracker Jacks
  • Heavenly Hot Chocolate Mix–with Seven Variations
  • Silver Bells (Chinese Five Spice Butter Cookies)

Copyright 2015 Susan S. Bradley. All rights reserved.

Written by:
Susan S. Bradley
Published on:
January 28, 2015

Categories: Asian Pantry, Asian Spices | Sauces | Marinades, Asian-Inspired

About Susan S. Bradley

Intrepid cook, food writer, culinary instructor, creator of the LunaCafe blog, author of Pacific Northwest Palate: Four Seasons of Great Cooking, and former director of the Northwest Culinary Academy.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Angela {Mind Over Batter}

    January 29, 2015 at 6:54 pm

    I think my eyes just popped out of my head. I need this in my life. And I happen to have all of the ingredients.The flavors must be like, whoa!!

    • Susan S. Bradley

      January 30, 2015 at 9:16 am

      Angela, now that’s what I’m talkin’ about. You have lemongrass in the fridge? I’m impressed. 🙂

  2. Alana

    January 29, 2015 at 6:19 pm

    Sounding so delicious and intense with all of those flavors! Can’t wait to try it. The likelihood of buying goes up when one wants to eat all the pages of a cook book too ;0)

    • Susan S. Bradley

      January 30, 2015 at 9:24 am

      Alana, thank you. I’m a cookbook addict and have plenty of goo–but rather ho hum–cookbooks. Street Food knocks it out of the park. Every page is inspired. Susan Feniger is all about FLAVOR, and she knows her stuff.

  3. Des

    January 29, 2015 at 2:51 pm

    Loving all of the flavors in this!

    • Susan S. Bradley

      January 29, 2015 at 6:05 pm

      Des, thank you! Try it, it’s sooo delicious.

  4. Alisa

    January 29, 2015 at 9:53 am

    What a comforting blend! I love pretty much all Asian food and get super excited when a marinade has lemongrass!

  5. kristy

    January 29, 2015 at 5:54 am

    When I saw you post about your new stir-fry sauces on Facebook, I couldn’t wait until you rolled out the recipes. This looks fantastic, Susan!! Such a great thing to make in advance so you can walk in the door and whip up a delicious meal in no time. Thanks for the great recipes!

    • Susan S. Bradley

      January 29, 2015 at 6:02 pm

      Kristy, thanks so much! 🙂 I just posted Chinese Ten-Spice Chicken Wings made with this wonderful marinade. So easy and a great crowd pleaser.

  6. Dorothy at Shockingly Delicious

    January 29, 2015 at 2:50 am

    Wow, you might have to rename that Umami Sauce!

    • Susan S. Bradley

      January 29, 2015 at 6:04 pm

      Dorothy, great idea, but I already have a recipe with that title. LOL!

  7. Rick Rosenzweig

    January 28, 2015 at 8:54 pm

    You are really on a roll, Susan. I love your dry sense of humor!

    • Susan S. Bradley

      January 28, 2015 at 11:30 pm

      Thanks Rick. 🙂

Trackbacks

  1. Chinese Spicy Orange Sauce (for Cold Noodles & Stir-Frys) says:
    January 31, 2015 at 8:00 pm

    […] this process of discovery, I came up with four distinctive sauces that I think you will love: Chinese Ten-Spice Marinade & Stir-Fry Sauce, Chinese Spicy Orange Sauce (below),  Spicy Black Bean Stir-Fry Sauce (coming in soon), and […]

  2. Chinese Ten-Spice Chicken Wings says:
    January 30, 2015 at 9:10 am

    […] chicken wing drumettes (or wingettes, or combination) (about 2 pounds) Chinese Ten Spice Marinade & Stir-Fry Sauce 1-2 teaspoons Sriracha Hot Chili Sauce, or to taste, […]

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Susan S. Bradley

Intrepid cook, food writer, culinary instructor, creator of the LunaCafe blog, author of Pacific Northwest Palate: Four Seasons of Great Cooking, and former director of the Northwest Culinary Academy. Read More…

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