This was too tasty and too easy not to share.  My memory lapse on forgetting to buy teriyaki sauce at the store last time I went may have been a good thing!  I skipped the weekly grocery run last night because I was too exhausted and opted to rummage around the cupboards all week instead.  I set out to make teriyaki chicken and rice for dinner but quickly realized we had no sauce.  I briefly thought about going to the store but didn’t feel up to it.  So I read a few recipes, most called for mirin  (sweet Japanese cooking wine), which I didn’t have.  But I did have four common ingredients and felt brave, so I combined all I had read and started out to make some sauce, this is roughly what I did:

2 cups shoyu (just because I’d bought a bottle of it at a local specialty store a while back)
1 cup brown sugar (because I’m almost out of honey)
2 inches of fresh ginger, peeled
5 large fresh garlic cloves

I decided to blend first then cook.  So I tossed the sugar and shoyu (Japanese soy sauce) in the blender.  I pushed the garlic through a crusher, grated the ginger both straight into my blender.  I let it go on high for maybe 30 seconds then poured it into a saucepan on medium heat.  I simmered for a few minutes, then tasted.  Crazy salty.  Too strong for my kids.  But incredible flavor.  And not thick.  So I mixed 3 heaping TBS of cornstarch in at least another cup of water.  Poured that in and let it bubble and thicken to the perfect consistency.  It was still a little sharp on flavor so I added the last little bit of honey I had, maybe 1/3 cup I’d say.

I imagine the quality and kind of soy sauce you use would radically alter the taste, saltiness and flavor.  Tamari would maybe have been even better, because it is even more robust in flavor.  What I used was certainly nicer brand that I usually have and it was close to going to waste in my pantry!

After making dinner I had about two thirds of a quart jar left, a couple more meals worth for certain.  I’m not sure how long it will last in the fridge  but after watching the kids inhale the rice sprinkled with the sauce and the chicken cooked in it….it won’t be a problem!  I’m not sure how the cost compares to buying sauce at the store but there are no preservatives which is certainly great, and at least in my opinion the flavor is beyond comparison.

And yes, for the record I know I spelled it wrong.  But I’m pretty darn stingy with my label maker tape so I wasn’t about to reprint it.