Seafood Sauce

I have been craving Japanese food for over a month now.  I tried to satisfy the craving by having a sushi roll here and there but it didn't quite cut it.  This says a lot because sushi is probably one of my favorite things to have for dinner.  There was just something about the Hibachi Chicken and Rice that I had really been craving.  Don't worry... I stuck to my plan.  If you are new to my blog to put that in context my plan is the following:  Although I am trying to eat healthier, if I am really craving something not great with regards to nutrition I have to learn how to make it myself.  This way I can control reducing calories (i.e. less butter and make healthy substitutions) and portion size.

In an effort to satisfy my craving I decided to tackle the hardest part of having hibachi at home... figuring out how to make the seafood sauce.  Some of you may not know what I am referring to as in my research I have heard it called the following names:  Seafood sauce, Shrimp Sauce, Yum Yum Sauce, Japanese White Sauce.   Growing up in Tennessee we called it Shrimp sauce... now I don't know if that is just a southern thing.. so I have decided to go with the universal Seafood Sauce to cover all my bases.

If you are like me the best thing about adding "Seafood Sauce" to your food is that if you are eating out, you can pretend you don't know how much mayo you are really eating.  Since I was forced to make it myself I couldn't hide the main ingredient.  If I followed the directions it would have called for more mayo than I was comfortable cooking with so I decided to make some substitutions.  By using plain Greek Yogurt I was able to reduce the amount of mayo by half! I am a big fan of letting you know if the taste is sacrificed when making conversions and I have to say I was amazed.  The Greek Yogurt did not impact the taste, this recipe makes a great version of that Seafood Sauce we all love!  I have to also point out that in the future instead of doing half mayo half yogurt, I was so satisfied, I plan on increasing the yogurt. I plan to use 3/4 yogurt and 1/4 mayo! I'd like to thank Morgan as I adapted my recipe from her version which you can find here.

Seafood Sauce

*yields about 1 and 1/4 cups

 



What you need:
-1/2 cup of Hellman's low fat Mayo

-1/2 (heaping) cup of Plain Greek Yogurt.  I used Fage.

-3 Tablespoons of Organic Sugar

-3 Tablespoons of Warm Water

-2 Tablespoons of melted Butter.  I used I can't believe it's not Butter

-3/4 Teaspoon of Paprika

-3/8 Teaspoon of Garlic Powder

-1 Tablespoon of White Wine Vinegar

Directions:

-In a small bowl mix together sugar, water, butter, paprika, garlic powder and vinegar.  Once mixed, add in mayo and yogurt and mix until well blended.

-Refrigerate overnight for flavors to set.

** I was only cooking for 2 so I cut this recipe in half and we still had some left over.

**I also added a little water (a little under 2 Tablespoons) the next day before using.  The consistency of the yogurt keeps the sauce a little thicker than at most restaurants.  You can add water in order to reach the desired consistency.