make dinner | teriyaki take-in!

take out seems like such a great idea, until you realize how inexpensively (and quickly!) you can make your own teriyaki sauce at home. the bottle above probably costs at least $3-4, going to your favorite teriyaki joint will run you about $7-8. i can't even estimate how cheap teriyaki sauce is to make at home, because the ingredients were so basic that i had most of them already!

• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 1 cup water
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
• 5 tablespoons packed brown sugar
• 1-2 tablespoon honey
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1/4 cup cold water

Directions

1. Mix all but cornstarch and 1/4c water in a sauce pan and begin heating.
2. Mix cornstarch and cold water in a cup and dissolve. Add to sauce in pan.
3. Heat until sauce thickens to desired thickness.
4. Add water to thin if you over-thick it :)

recipe from here

you can try it out verbatim once, then add or subtract ingredients to alter the flavor. i found the garlic powder to be a little overpowering, so the 2nd time around, i just sprinkled a VERY small amount in. same with the ground ginger. also, this does make a pretty sweet teriyaki sauce, so you might want to add 3 TBS brown sugar and 1 TBS honey, taste it, then go from there.

throw some sticky rice into your rice cooker, and scoop it out with your ice cream scooper to make your "take out" style meal even more "authentic" :o]