This is my family’s favorite sauce for stir-fry. I saw Kenji Lopez-Alt make his stir-fry sauce, and it was a lot like this one, which made me feel vindicated. I usually make this in a 2-cup liquid measuring cup. All measurements are approximate.

Into the bottom of the measuring cup, mix until dissolved:

• 2 Tbsp cornstarch
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup cold water

Add:

• 1/3 cup soy sauce
• a couple of glugs of oyster sauce (maybe 2-3 tsp)
• a generous squirt of Sriracha or other Asian chili sauce of your choice (optional; adjust to your audience’s spiciness preferences)
• 1 tsp sesame oil

Stir to combine. The oyster sauce usually makes gross little chunks on the bottom, but they dissolve if you let it sit for a while, so it’s cuter if you have time to leave it alone for half an hour or so. That’s optional.

Add:

• Dry white wine (unseasoned rice wine is good, but don’t use cooking wine, as it is too salty. If it’s all you have, cut back on the soy sauce. I usually just use whatever white wine I have around.) Fill the measuring cup up to the 1.5 cup mark.

Stir it all together. Use this as a final step in your stir fry, stirring immediately before adding it to reincorporate ingredients. It should thicken within one minute of cooking. It’s good with lots of different things. It makes a pretty big quantity, because my family is divided on the question of beef and snow peas vs. cashew chicken, so I make both, and this is enough for a batch of each.