Spicy Orange Stir Fry Sauce

I have a bit of a condiment and sauce obsession. If I could have a bunch of little bowls of dipping sauces at each meal I would be so very happy. The only problem is that sauces that you buy at the store usually seem to suck. Especially Asian sauces. Unless you are buying something basic like soy sauce, the amount of interpretation is so great from brand to brand that none of them seem right. I have been making stir fry with these sauces forever. I have even tried mixing different sauces and it still sucked.

So today I decided to make my own stir fry sauce. I wanted something sweet and spicy and simple. The base of this sauce is orange juice. I zested and juiced a couple oranges. I bought a zester, and dang it, I am going to use the crap out of it!

I added some orange juice from the bottle too, just because I needed more, and it didn't seem to hurt anything. Then I added a couple tablespoons of soy sauce, a couple tablespoons of sugar and about 1/2 a teaspoon of crushed red pepper flakes. That's it! Then I reduced it by half or more, until it was a little caramelized.

I left it simmering while I worked on the stir fry. I used shrimp and some frozen vegetables (bell peppers, snap peas, onions and edamame), but I am sure you could use whatever you like in your stir fry.

I cooked the shrimp through and warmed the already thawed veggies. Then I just poured on the sauce and cooked until the sauce was the consistency I wanted, and coated everything. Serve over rice, and TA DA!

Magic in a bowl! Those 4 simple things made the best stir fry sauce I have had in a long time. I may just throw out some of the crappy sauces that have been hiding out in the fridge for years. The red pepper flakes weren't overpoweringly hot, and the orange juice was the perfect vehicle for sweet and spicy. Obviously this is not an entirely original flavor, but it was so much better than a bottle. Paul Newman, you can suck it!