This all-purpose marinade can be used for chicken or turkey breast, pork cutlets, firm-pressed tofu, and seafood. If you prefer to omit the chile flakes or paste, use 5 or 6 slices of smashed fresh ginger instead.

Ingredients

　　3 tablespoons soy sauce

　　2 tablespoons rice wine or sake

　　1 tablespoon minced garlic

　　1 teaspoon dried chile flakes or hot chile paste

　　1 tablespoon virgin olive oil

　　Mix together all the ingredients in a bowl and use as directed in the recipe or for other foods.

　　Spices of Life by Nina Simonds. Copyright © 2005 by Nina Simonds. Published by Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. All Rights Reserved.Nina Simonds has lived, studied, and traveled throughout Southeast Asia. For the past thirty years she has taught cooking classes across the United States and in mainland China. An Asian correspondent for Gourmet and a frequent contributor to The New York Times Sunday Travel section, she is also the author of numerous award-winning cookbooks, including A Spoonful of Ginger, which won both a James Beard Foundation Award and an IACP Cookbook Award. She lives in Salem, Massachusetts.