How to replace soy sauce in a recipe: tips

2024 Author: Isabella Gilson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:14

When sushi appeared on the shelves of our stores in the mid-90s of the last century, soy sauce began to be sold along with them. This brown liquid gives bland, unimpressive dishes a savory taste and oriental notes. Later, soy sauce began to be used for other purposes. In particular, chefs have noticed that it is good at softening meat fibers, making it an ideal ingredient in marinades.

Now it is difficult to imagine the food of a modern person without soy sauce. In stores, you can now find variations with mushrooms, ginger, wasabi, and various spices. Soy sauce allows you to put less s alt in the dish, gives the dishes an expressive taste, pleasant color and oriental aroma. But this product also has a lot of drawbacks.

The soy sauce we sell in bottles is too cheap to be of good quality. In himcontains many preservatives, as well as monosodium glutamate, which is potentially harmful to the human body. Therefore, housewives who monitor the he alth of households are looking for something to replace soy sauce with. Homemade replacement recipes for this product will be discussed in our article.

What you need to know about soy sauce

Buddhist monks believe that a life dedicated to God should be harsh and full of food restrictions. Many of them completely refuse to eat meat. To give expressiveness to unleavened vegetable dishes, monks from China came up with soy sauce. It later made its way to Japan, where the recipe was refined.

The modern version of soy sauce originated around the 18th century. The Dutch, who were the first Europeans to try it, brought the recipe home. But due to the exotic nature of the ingredients, soy sauce remained unknown to the general population for a long time. And only in the second half of the 20th century did he gain well-deserved popularity. Before thinking about what to substitute for soy sauce in a recipe, we need to understand what it actually is. This is an extract obtained from the fermentation of beans with the addition of wheat.

Is all soy sauce bad?

Despite the strict vegetarian diet of Buddhist monks, their life expectancy is more than enviable. Frequent consumption of properly brewed sauce is very beneficial. After all, soy contains:

• antioxidants that slow down the aging process, strengthen immunity, bindfree radicals and reduce the risk of cancer,
• Genistein, found in beans, lowers blood sugar levels and is used to treat type 2 diabetes; beneficial effect on the liver, helps prevent osteoporosis,
• daidzein isoflavone is very beneficial for post-menopausal women, it reduces the risk of breast cancer; in men, this substance prevents baldness,
• daily small amount of sauce (oral) treats dermatitis,
• soy protein cleanses the walls of blood vessels, lowers blood pressure, removes cholesterol from the body.

But all of the above is true if the sauce was made according to traditional recipes. Unfortunately, this cannot be said about a cheap store product. Therefore, you need to think about how to replace soy sauce in the recipe, where it appears in the list of ingredients.

Is it possible to make a quality product at home?

How to ferment beans? This technology was invented in China before our era. At first, soy sauce was very expensive. And this is not surprising. Indeed, for the natural fermentation of soybeans and wheat grains, it takes from six months to two years. Then people noticed that sometimes the cooking process suddenly speeds up. The culprit for this is the fungus Aspergillus, which, having penetrated into the mixture by air, plays the role of a fermentation catalyst. Manufacturers began to add bacteria to the solution artificially. But even in this case, the sauce is prepared within a month.

Modern manufacturers of a cheap ersatz product use dubious acid hydrolysis technology. It allows you to get the sauce in a couple of hours. The beans are boiled with hydrochloric or sulfuric acid, and then this mixture, which is deadly for the body, is neutralized with alkali. Having learned the recipe for preparing a purchased product, you will all the more want to know how to replace soy sauce at home.

Cooking by ourselves

We don't have to wait half a year or even a month. Here is a recipe for a sauce that will be as close as possible to soy sauce in taste. And most importantly, it will have the same useful properties. After all, soybeans (120 grams) are the basis for home dressing. We boil them until soft and mash them into a puree. Then add:

• two tablespoons of butter,
• one spoon of wheat flour,
• a pinch of sea s alt,
• and 50 milliliters of mushroom (or vegetable) broth.

Stir the mixture well. Put it on a small fire, bring to a boil. Cool down. We got an analogue of soy sauce. What can be replaced at home with a purchased product? With this homemade soy sauce. True, in it, unlike the real one, prepared according to all the rules, there is s alt. But the food product has not been in contact with hazardous acids and alkalis!

How to replace soy sauce in the recipe: dressing options

Oriental chefs have come up with a lotsauces that will give your dishes an oriental touch. Some of them contain soy extract, others do not. By the way, English Worcestershire sauce also resembles a brown liquid with a characteristic taste and aroma. It is also made with soy, but with many more ingredients such as onions, garlic and chili peppers. Worcestershire sauce is very thick and needs to be diluted 3 to 1 with water.

But you want to give your dish an oriental twist? Many dressings similar to soy sauce were invented by the Japanese. These are tamari (distinguished by a large amount of s alt), teriyaki (caramelizes products due to the content of cane sugar), unagi (white and rice wine with the addition of dry fish broth and soy). But you can use the inventions of culinary experts in Southeast Asia. Coconut Amino is very similar, although slightly sweeter. Thai sauce is ideal for fish, but it has a lot of s alt. Soy-like Chinese sweet and sour dressing made from ginger, sugar and a mixture of peppers.

Salad dressings

Before puzzling over what to substitute for soy sauce in a recipe, we need to decide what we need it for. After all, this product is used for different purposes. It marinates meat and poultry. It is used as a dressing in salads. They cook vegetable hot dishes with it. Consider salad dressing options.

First: mix balsamic vinegar with olive oil to taste. Thicken with mustard powder.

Second option: bring the vegetable oil to a boil. Pour the garlic cloves passed through the press into it. The oil should darken. We turn off the fire. Add apple cider vinegar and spices to taste. Cooling the gas station.

Third option: mix adjika and mayonnaise in equal proportions. Add spices and a little s alt.

Substitute for soy sauce in chicken recipe

Poultry does not need to be marinated. But chicken is delicious with soy sauce.

1. If we are looking for a replacement for the last product, we can take one and a half cups of rich broth and dilute it with the same amount of boiling water.
2. In this liquid, add four tablespoons of vinegar, one - dark molasses (or colorizer), a little sesame oil, a pinch of ginger, s alt, pepper and other spices.
3. Stir and boil until thickened.
4. Great sauce for chicken comes from a rich mushroom broth (especially shiitake).
5. When the liquid is a little cool, but still warm, add a little vegetable oil, a couple of crushed garlic cloves and curry.

For meat dishes

Most often, recipes call for the use of soy as a marinade. But sometimes you can find sauce as an ingredient in cooking. It gives the meat a special flavor. What can replace soy sauce in the recipe of such dishes? There aren't many options.

1. Dilute 50 grams of Provence mayonnaise with 50 ml of water.
2. Add a pinch each of black and hot red peppers.
3. Pour a teaspoon of lemon juice. Get goodsauce for cold boiled pork or beef dishes. But in this mixture it is equally good to marinate shish kebab.
4. For beef, boil the broth.
5. Add s alt, ginger, corn syrup, peppers to it, thicken with flour.
6. Pour some vinegar or table wine.

Marinade Ideas

The easiest, but time-consuming way to replace soy sauce in a meat recipe is to take the liquid from canned olives and chop onions into it. Let it brew for a day. This liquid is good for marinating lamb skewers.

Option two: add 90 milliliters of balsamic vinegar to a glass of molasses. Add sugar and stir until the crystals dissolve. Option three: 50 milliliters of wine vinegar and honey are mixed with three cups of water. Add a coffee spoon of ginger, a pinch of s alt, pepper and dry garlic. Cook over low heat after boiling for 20 minutes.