Homemade Teriyaki Sauce!

Teri-yaki (照り焼き) is a Japanese cooking process of grilling (yaki, 焼き) and glazing the meat with a soy based sauce to make it shiny and glistening (teri, 照り) .

The basic Japanese teriyaki sauce ratio is 2:1:1 -- 2 parts of soy sauce, 1 part of mirin and 1 part of sake -- when used in cooking process as a glaze or a flavoring sauce. When making it as a dipping sauce, use equal part (1-1-1) of soy sauce, mirin, sake; then add and adjust the sugar to your taste.

Remember, any sauce you are making, don't over-flavor it so it can stay general-purposed and useful in many preparations. You can always adjust and add more but you can not take out what is already in there.

The store-bought American version of teriyaki sauce is leaning toward the sweet end of the spectrum, if that is what you are familiar with. I suggest you use the basic proportions and adjust the sugar level. Don't over sweeten it. If you have one of those bottles, try adding more soy sauce and sake to it next time.

Ingredients:
Basic for cooking: 

• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons of mirin or replaced with 2 tablespoons of rice wine and 1 tsp sugar
• 2 tablespoons of sake or rice wine
• 2 to 3 teaspoons of brown sugar, adjust to your taste

Basic for dipping sauce:

• 2 tablespoons of soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons of mirin or replaced with 2 tablespoons of rice wine and 1 tsp sugar
• 2 tablespoons of sake or rice wine
• 2 to 3 teaspoons of brown sugar, adjust to your taste
• 1 1/2 teaspoons of cornstarch 
• 1 tablespoon water to mix with cornstarch

To punch it up:

• 1/4 tsp freshly grated ginger or 1/8 tsp ground ginger
• 1/4 tsp freshly minced garlic or 1/8 tsp garlic powder
• 1/4 tsp sesame oil
• 1/4 tsp toasted sesame seeds
• Replace sugar with maple syrup or honey
• Optional, add a touch of pineapple juice or vinegar

Directions:

1. To cook with it: Mix up and add it to stew browned fish or meat or brush on skewed meat.
2. To make dipping sauce: Mix up and bring to boil. Turn heat low and simmer until it thickens.

Notes:

• If you don't have mirin, for each 1 tablespoon of mirin, replace it with 1 tablespoon of sake or cooking wine and 1/2 teaspoons of sugar.
• To make it even better, you can use maple syrup or honey to replace sugar.
• Store-bought sauces use refined sugar while using honey or brown sugar will make the sauce taste rounder, balanced with a molasses note.