I love Asian cooking, but my doctor wants me on a low-sodium diet. Unfortunately, even the "lower-sodium" or "reduced sodium" versions of sauces (soy, tamari, etc.) are extremely high in sodium. Is there any alternative that can replicate the flavor of these sauces without the heavy dose of sodium?
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Unfortunately the sodium chloride salt is a requirement for the fungus and brewing process which goes into making soy sauce, you are extremely unlikely to find a much lower salt soy sauce, however experiment with vietnamese cuisine which uses more chilli and less soy if you can tolerate some sodium, this is the lowest sodium soy sauce i can find kikkoman less salt soy sauce, it has 3.4g sodium per 100ml which gives 170mg per 5ml tsp which is around 6% per tsp or 18% per 15ml Tablespoon (and thats based on the american sodium recommendation of 2400mg per day, wheras the UK recommends upto 6000mg per day so... take it with a pinch of salt so to speak) |
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Short answer, no. But you can look at other ingredients in a stir-fry and ramp up the flavor there: for the sour ingredients (vinegar lemon juice) try Shaanxi black vinegar which has a robust dark flavor Few drops more toasted sesame oil to replace other mild frying oil broth made with shitake instead of milder chicken/veg stock dash of aged Shaoxing wine (drinkable rather than cooking variety best) adds a brewed dimension Just some of the ways to add that savory brown something missing without soy |
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I would recommend trying Bragg's Liquid Aminos. The sodium content is 6% daily allowance for a 1/2 tsp amount. It won't work if used measure measure, though, compared with San-J's reduced sodium tamari at 29% for 1 TBS or Kikkoman's Less Sodium Soy Sauce at 24% for 1 TBS. (Bragg's Liquid Aminos would top them at 36%.) If it can be used successfully in smaller increments (a possibility given its concentrated nature), it would be a useful replacement. I recommend the Bragg's brand because I have used it and find it satisfactory, though for its own merit, not as a soy sauce substitute. I haven't used any other liquid amino acid product to compare it with. It won't give you exactly soy sauce flavor, but it has sufficient body to be a useful substitute particularly in cooking. |
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"Tangle extract" from kombu (tangle) seaweed, is used in Japanese cuisine to potentiate the effect of monosodium glutamate - that can make a big reduction in the sodium intake. Whatever a recipe calls for in the way of MSG, use a tiny pinch and a good dose of kombu to get the same effect. More info here. |
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