Spicy Teriyaki Sauce

Instead of buying mass-produced teriyaki sauce at the grocery store, you can make it at home and end up with a much better-tasting, natural product that's full of flavor. Here's my hot and spicy version of homemade teriyaki sauce for marinating all sorts of meat (including venison and other game), poultry, seafood, vegetables and tofu, or for using in stir-fry and noodle dishes. This recipe makes about 1 1/2 cups, and you can store it covered in your refrigerator.

Ingredients
2 Tbs peanut or vegetable oil
1 Tbs minced garlic (I use Hot Pickled Garlic for added heat and tang)
1 Tbs fresh grated or minced ginger root
Pinch to 1/8 tsp dried red pepper flakes OR 1 to 2 dried Asian hot pepper pods
1/2 cup tamari sauce or reduced-sodium soy sauce
3 Tbs rice wine vinegar or rice vinegar
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 green onions, chopped (including the green part)
2 tsp good-quality chicken stock (or vegetable stock for a vegetarian version)
1/8 cup dry sherry
1/8 cup spicy pepper sherry (I use Busha Browne's Spicy Hot Pepper Sherry)

Heat the oil in a small saucepan over medium heat and saute the garlic, ginger and pepper for 1 minute. Remove pan from heat and whisk in the tamari or soy sauce, vinegar and sugar, whisking until the sugar is dissolved. Stir in the green onions and sherry. At this point I store the sauce (covered) in a glass jar or bowl in the refrigerator for a few hours or overnight to allow the flavors to marry, but you can certainly use the sauce right away. If you do let it sit in the fridge, make sure you stir well before you use it.

Zestfully yours,
Gloria

PS: If you prefer a teriyaki sauce that's mild on the heat scale but nevertheless packed with rich and interesting flavors, I highly recommend Olio & Spices Pomegranate Teriyaki Sauce and Bone Suckin' Yaki, both of which are all-natural and delicious. Or for a homemade mild teriyaki sauce you can modify my recipe above by omitting the hot peppers and hot pepper sherry, and using 1/4 cup dry sherry.