General Tso's Sauce

Fun Fact: General Tso’s is not native to China. It was invented by an ex-pat Chinese chef and then brought back to China—at least, that what I read. I’ll let the battle begin between those who claim it was first created in NYC and those rooting for its creation in Taiwan, because I’m more concerned about avoiding processed sugar. Every recipe I’ve found is loaded with sugar, and the few that aren’t don’t have that nice kick I’ve become accustomed to. So I turned to my friend, brown rice syrup. 

Here’s what I came up with:

Combine and mix:

5 TBS brown rice vinegar

6 TBS Port wine

2 TBS sesame oil

½ cup soy sauce

½ cup brown rice syrup

a piece of ginger root (chopped)

a garlic clove (chopped)

add hot oil to taste (a few teaspoons?)

Heat this on low and keep stirring until it’s hot.  

Mix maybe a TBS or two of organic cornstarch mixed with a little water (to eliminate lumps).  Add to sauce until you like the thickness.

Sauté pieces of tofu in a little sesame oil, garlic, & ginger until the tofu is brown.

Set aside & sauté your vegetables.

In the dish pictured, I used kale, spinach, parsley, red pepper, leek, carrot. Then, I added the tofu and a little sauce and heated until everything was gloriously piping hot (a minute or so).

Serve on a bed of quinoa or brown rice. Too beautiful for words.