I love making stir fry, but I don’t necessarily like having to buy store-bought stir fry sauces because of all the added salt, preservatives, etc., that most of them contain, so when I saw that The All New Ball Book of Canning and Preserving had a stir fry sauce, I knew I’d have to try it. Let me tell you, this sauce is fantastic. I will be making many more batches of this and ditching the store-bought stuff.

It’s really easy to make, and the yield is pretty close to what the recipe says. Recipe says yield is about 4 half-pints. I ended up with 5 half-pints plus 1 quarter-pint jar. More is always better than less in my book. My local grocery store doesn’t carry pomegranate molasses or star anise, but both are easily found on Amazon. My grocery store didn’t have any serrano chiles, so I substituted 2 small jalapeno peppers.

Asian Pomegranate Stir Fry Sauce

3 cups chicken stock

1-1/2 cups ketchup

1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar

1/2 soy sauce

1/2 cup pomegranate molasses

1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

2 teaspoons coarsely chopped fresh ginger

2 garlic cloves, sliced

2 small serrano chiles

1 3-inch cinnamon stick

1/2 star anise

1/2 cup sugar

Combine first 11 ingredients in a large stainless steel or enameled saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium heat; reduce heat and simmer uncovered for 20 minutes.

Pour mixture through a wire-mesh strainer into a bowl. Discard solids. Return sauce to pan.

Stir in sugar and bring to a boil, whisking constantly until sugar dissolves. Remove from heat.

Ladle hot sauce into a hot jar, leaving 1/4-inch headspace. Remove air bubbles. Wipe jar rim. Center lid on jar. Apply band and adjust to fingertip tight. Place jar in boiling water canner. Repeat until all jars are filled.

Process jars 10 minutes, adjusting for altitude. Turn off heat. Remove lid and let jars stand for 5 minutes. Remove jars and cool.

Yield: About 4 half-pints

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