Soy sauce a common condiment that delivers uncommon pleasure

Soy sauce — made from fermented soy beans, wheat flour, water and salt — is ubiquitous but it also adds an unmistakeable, savoury spark to many dishes.

Light touch: This Asian-style marmalade beef dish is enhanced by light soy sauce. Picture: Dannika Bonser

SOY sauce is as common a condiment in many homes as salt and pepper.

Invented by the Chinese several thousand years ago, soy sauce is made from fermented soy beans, wheat flour, water and salt.

The two main types of soy sauce are light and dark. As the name implies, light soy sauce is lighter in colour, and also sweeter than dark soy sauce. In Chinese cooking, it is used more often than dark soy. Always use light soy in a recipe unless dark is specifically called for.

The Japanese learned soy sauce-making skills from the Chinese, including adding more sweeteners. Indonesians added palm sugar and thickeners to soy sauce to make their version which is called kecap manis.

In this recipe the liquid content of the stir-fry is made up of beef stock, soy sauce and sherry. To contrast with the saltiness of the soy, a generous quantity of marmalade imparts a subtle sweet and sour finish to the dish.

As with any stir-fry it’s important to prepare and assemble all the ingredients before you turn on the heat. This stir-fry is a good weekday dinner recipe. It can be made in about the time it takes to make a pot of rice to serve with it. Serves 4

MARMALADE BEEF

2 tbsp vegetable oil

500g beef strips

¼ cup orange peel, thinly sliced

1 clove garlic, finely chopped

½ tsp ground ginger

2 tbsp cornflour

1 cup beef stock

¼ cup light soy sauce

¼ cup sherry

½ cup orange marmalade

½ tsp crushed red pepper flakes

In a wok or frying pan, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Add the beef strips one-third at a time. Stir-fry for 3 minutes or until browned, removing the done pieces to a plate lined with paper towels. Return all the beef to the wok. Stir in the orange peel, garlic and ginger and stir-fry for a minute.

In a medium bowl, combine the cornflour, stock, soy sauce, sherry, marmalade, and red pepper. Pour this mixture into the beef, stirring constantly. Bring to a boil over medium heat and cook for 1 minute. Serve hot with steamed rice.

WHICH SOY SAUCE?

DARK soy is aged much longer than light soy, giving it a brownish-black colour and much thicker texture. As its name suggests, light soy has a lighter colour, plus a saltier flavour. It is used more in cooking, as the rather pungent odour and darker colour of dark soy sauce can ruin the taste or appearance of a dish. Dark soy is used in slow-cooked dishes, and is good for marinating meat.

Kecap manis is a sweetish, thick soy sauce made with palm sugar and seasoned with star anise and garlic. A popular tool of Indonesian cooks, it can be used as a dip, and some people like to substitute it for dark soy sauce in recipes.

BUYING AND STORING SOY SAUCE

QUANTITY is important. Avoid inexpensive and synthetic brands, which will often be poor in taste and too dark in colour. If you have a good brand it will keep indefinitely in dry conditions. It need be refrigerated only in really humid conditions.

Japanese brands, such as Kikkoman, can be substituted for light soy sauce in cooking, although some experts claim tamari, a type of soy sauce made without wheat and using a different fermentation process, is too sweet, working better as dip than as a substitute for Chinese soy sauce in stir-frying.

USE OF SOY SAUCE

USE as a marinade, remembering it has a high salt content, so you need to be mindful to reduce the quantity of salt elsewhere in the ingredient list.

Don’t be too cavalier with the bottle. You can always add more, but too much and the dish will be ruined. Soy sauce will impart a rich and distinctive flavour to braised and steamed dishes. A dash in soups and over rice is also recommended.

MORE FOOD

STICKY RHUBARB MUFFINS RECIPE

SAVORY ROLLS FROM BASIC DOUGH

LIGHT-AS-AIR CHOCOLATE CAKE