Stir fries - what do you put in the sauce?

[nkf]

From scratch. Not Blue Dragon or anything like that. Need some pointers.

Soy, ginger, garlic and chilli is a favourite here.

Oh and some sesame oil in there too

Ginger, garlic, chilies, fish sauce, golden mountain sauce (could sub dark soy), nut oil, palm sugar (or brown sugar), green onion, & Thai basil

Yum!

Can I buy fish sauce in a regular supermarket? And - blush - I don't actually know how to prepare ginger.

fish sauce can be bought in supermarkets

You need to peel the ginger, so it hasn't got the 'bark' looking stuff on it you can then either

chop it, like you would garlic
grate it, with a grater
cut it into matchstick size sticks

it's strong so if you haven't used it before don't go mad with it

Thank you.

Peel ginger with a teaspoon. The skin is very easy to scrape off. You'll find it far easier than a peeler, which just cuts into the woodiness.

Here's how we do sweet and sour in my family. You marinate the meat with soy, chinese rice wine (sherry or even just white wine should do), dash of sesame oil, sugar, a pinch of salt (skip this if you don't like it too salty), and a pinch of pepper. You just need to marinate while you cut the veg, 10-15min will do. The sauce you add at the end of the stir fry is pineapple juice, ketchup, white rice vinegar (I'm sure any vinegar will work), sugar, corn flour, and the marinade left after you drain the meat.

I ususally add pineapple juice because I use a tin of pineapples in my sweet and sour chicken/pork. But I'm sure you can make up the same sweetness with just sugar.