Authors: Dana Carpender
Tags: #General, #Cooking, #Diets, #Health & Fitness, #Weight Control, #Recipes, #Low Carbohydrate, #Low-carbohydrate diet, #Health & Healing
½ cup (130 g) natural peanut butter, creamy
½ cup (120 ml) chicken broth
1½ teaspoons lemon juice
1½ teaspoons soy sauce
¼ teaspoon hot pepper sauce
1 large or 2 small cloves garlic, crushed
1½ teaspoons Splenda
Put all the ingredients in a blender and run it until everything is well combined and smooth. If you’d like it a little thinner, add another tablespoon (15 ml) of chicken broth.
Yield:
About 2 cups, or 16 servings
Each with 2 grams of carbohydrates, a trace of fiber, and 2 grams of protein.
This Chinese sauce is usually made from fermented soybean paste, which has tons of sugar in it. Peanut butter is inauthentic, but it tastes quite good here.
¼ cup (60 ml) soy sauce
2 tablespoons (32 g) creamy natural peanut butter
2 tablespoons (3 g) Splenda
2 teaspoons white vinegar
1 clove garlic, crushed
2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil
teaspoon Chinese five-spice powder
Put all the ingredients in a blender and run it until everything is smooth and well combined. Store in a snap-top container.
Yield:
Roughly
cup (80 ml)
Each 1 tablespoon (15 ml) serving contains 2 grams of carbohydrates, a trace of fiber, and 2 grams of protein.
Of course, this sauce is essential for Mu Shu Pork (page 418)—or Mu Shu anything, for that matter—but it’s also good for dipping plain chicken wings in.
What are you going to eat duck sauce on, now that you’re not eating egg rolls? Well, Crab and Bacon Bundles (page 77), for one thing. It’s good with chicken, too. This does have the sugar that’s in the peaches, of course, but not all the added sugar of commercial duck sauce. And it tastes better, too.
1 bag (1 pound, or 455 g) unsweetened frozen peaches or 2½ to 3 cups (500 to 600 g) sliced, peeled fresh peaches
½ cup (120 ml) water
2 tablespoons (30 ml) cider vinegar
2 tablespoons (3 g) Splenda
¼ teaspoon blackstrap molasses
teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon soy sauce
1 clove garlic, crushed
Put all the ingredients in a heavy-bottomed saucepan and bring them to a simmer. Cook, uncovered, until the peaches are soft (about 30 minutes).
Purée the duck sauce in a blender, if you like, or do what I do: simply mash the sauce with a potato masher or a fork. (I like the texture better this way.)
Yield:
About 2 cups (480 ml)
Each 2 tablespoon (30 ml) serving has 3 grams of carbohydrates and 1 gram of fiber, for a total of 2 grams of usable carbs and no protein.
It’s best to freeze this if you’re not going to use it up right away.
It’s good on chicken, beef, fish—just about anything!
½ cup (120 ml) soy sauce
¼ cup (60 ml) dry sherry
1 clove garlic, crushed
2 tablespoons (3 g) Splenda
1 tablespoon (6 g) grated fresh ginger
Simply combine all ingredients.
Yield:
Makes just over ¾ cup (180 ml)
About 3 g carbohydrate per tablespoonful.
This is a Chinese sauce for “red cooking.” You stew things in it, and it imparts a wonderful flavor to just about any sort of meat.
2 cups (480 ml) soy sauce
1 star anise
½ cup (120 ml) dry sherry (The cheap stuff is fine.)
4 tablespoons (6 g) Splenda
1 tablespoon (6 g) grated fresh ginger
4 cups (960 ml) water
Combine the ingredients well and use the mixture to stew things in. After using Looing Sauce, you can strain it and refrigerate or freeze it to use again, if you like.
Yield:
6½ cups (1.5 L) of looing sauce, or plenty to submerge your food in
In the whole batch there are about 50 grams of usable carbohydrates, but only a very small amount of that is transferred to the foods you stew in it.
Star anise is available in Oriental markets, and my natural food store carries it too. It actually does look like a star, and it’s essential to the recipe. Don’t try to substitute regular anise.
You’ll need this for the Easy Party Shrimp (page 76)!
½ cup (120 ml) Dana’s No-Sugar Ketchup (page 463) or purchased low-carb ketchup
2 teaspoons prepared horseradish
¼ teaspoon hot pepper sauce
1 teaspoon lemon juice
Combine all ingredients in a bowl and mix well.
Yield:
Makes about ½ cup (120 ml)
The whole batch contains 5 g protein, 36 g carbohydrate, 6 g dietary fiber, 30 g usable carbs. Good thing you’ll be sharing it! You can drop this carb count considerably by using commercially-made low-carb ketchup.
Try this over broccoli or cauliflower. It’s wonderful!
½ cup (120 ml) heavy cream
¾ cup (90 g) shredded cheddar cheese
¼ teaspoon dry mustard
In a heavy-bottomed saucepan over the lowest heat, warm the cream to just below a simmer.
Whisk in the cheese about 1 tablespoon at a time, only adding the next tablespoonful after the last one has melted. When all the cheese is melted in, whisk in the dry mustard and serve.
Yield:
Enough to sauce 1 pound (455 g) of broccoli or cauliflower, or about 4 servings of sauce
Each with 1 gram of carbohydrates, no fiber, and 6 grams of protein.
¼ cup (60 ml) Dana’s No-Sugar Ketchup (page 463)
1 tablespoon (15 ml) Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon lemon juice
Combine well and store in an airtight container in the fridge.
Yield:
5 servings of 1 tablespoon (15 ml)
Each with 2.25 grams of carbohydrates, a trace of fiber, and a trace of protein.
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 small onion, finely minced
¼ cup (56 g or 60 ml) butter or oil
4 tablespoons (6 g) Splenda
1 teaspoon salt or Vege-Sal
1 teaspoon dry mustard
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon chili powder
½ teaspoon black pepper
2 teaspoons blackstrap molasses
1½ cups (360 ml) water
¼ cup (60 ml) cider vinegar
1 tablespoon (15 ml) Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon (15 g) prepared horseradish
1 can (6 ounces, or 170 g) tomato paste
1 tablespoon (15 ml) liquid smoke flavoring (such as the one made by Colgin)
In a saucepan, cook the garlic and onion in the butter or oil for a few minutes.
Stir in the Splenda, salt, mustard, paprika, chili powder, and pepper. Add in the molasses, water, vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, and horseradish, and stir to combine. Let the mixture simmer for 15 to 20 minutes.
Whisk in the tomato paste and liquid smoke and let the sauce simmer another 5 to 10 minutes.
Let the mixture cool, transfer it to a jar with a tight-fitting lid, and store in the refrigerator.
Yield:
About 2
cups (640 ml) of sauce
Each 2 tablespoon (30 ml) serving has 3 grams of carbohydrates and 1 gram of fiber, for a total of 2 grams of usable carbs and no protein.
If you’re wondering whether it’s worth it to make your own barbecue sauce from scratch, chew on this for a moment: Your average commercial barbecue sauce has between 10 and 15 grams of carbs per 2-tablespoon (30-ml) serving—and do you know anyone who ever stopped at 2 tablespoons of barbecue sauce?