love oyster sauce but want a better way to make it healthier?  I love oyster sauce but to be honest
with you I haven't used it for a
while because I don't want to say ...this
is really a little bit awkward. If you
read a label you will see it's filled
with sugar additives and  synthetic
flavorings. But I love the sauce it just
makes food so much more delicious so
what do I do
hmm you don't think I'm going to give up
right?
challenge accepted ! So I was thinking
there must be a way to make it my own
and I want to make a vegetarian version.
But I am so busy so if I'm going to make it
myself it has to be easy and
delicious otherwise what's the point?
so I went on a little copycat experiment... I know I need dried shiitake mushrooms
because ...by the way someone thought these are turtle shield ...no no no no Turtles
okay? The dehydrated shiitake packed with more concentrated umami flavor than the
fresh ones and if you soak them
overnight the rehydrated shiitake makes
the best mushroom stock that adds so
much flavor to the vegetarian mushroom
oyster sauce. But what else do I need?
I know Oyster sauce has soy sauce and here I
use coconut aminos if you can't have wheat or soy. But I also need
something sweet so the sauce will taste
more complex. Should I use regular
sugar or dates?? in the end I decided go
with the dates because they give a gentle
almost caramelize sweet flavor that I
think it works really well in this
context and dates are much gentler to
our bodies because it's less likely to
cause a sudden sugar spike and that
gives you sugar crash. So to make it
really delicious,  I thinly sliced the mushrooms
and saute them with chopped ginger
, a pinch of salt,  and dash of a
coconut aminos. Then I seek out my most
devoted and powerful kitchen helper
now let's just dump everything in - the
mushroom water, sauteed mushrooms with
ginger, pitted dates, more salt,  and cocoa
nominals. Make sure to cover the lid real
tight or it might burst... unless the you want mushroom facial :d
when this is done the sausage should be
very smooth.
Wow. it's salty and it has rich shiitake
mushroom flavor and a hint of sweetness
from the dates.  The color is lighter
because there's no food coloring and
Coconut aminos has lighter color than soy sauce. I'm happy that the sauce has a
good consistency and we didn't use any
starch. And that my friend is my take on
making a healthier and with no
additive vegetarian mushroom oyster
sauce. In the next video, I'm going to
show you how to use the sauce that we
just made to make one of my favorite
Chinese dishes - Oyster beef stir fry
and as always my goal is share the
dishes that I grew up eating and make
them lighter healthier and still taste
so yummy. Leave a comment below let me
know what you think. You can find the
recipe details on my website in the link
below and if you're making it sharing it on
Instagram, be sure to tag me @iheartumami.ny.  I would
love to see it! My name is ChihYu Smith
from I Heart Umami. I will see you in the
next video!
