Liquid Aminos are a soy sauce substitute. Most mass-produced soy sauces contain wheat (gluten), which is something we avoid in our home for medical reasons for a couple of our family members. You could also use Tamari (a slow-brewed soy sauce that contains no wheat), or regular soy sauce if you don’t have gluten issues.

Tamarind paste is worth the investment for me, because it only takes a little to go a long way, and it keeps in the fridge for months and months. As for the pastes, you can buy the fresh ingredients and make the pastes yourself. Garlic is cheap, ginger is cheap. Peel and grate the ginger yourself, smash and mince the garlic. Lemongrass can be hard to find fresh, but it’s mostly available. Just make sure you really spend the time mashing it or you’ll get stringy bits in your stir fry. You could also sub the lemon grass for a little bit of lemon zest – it will give a different flavor than the lemon grass, but still good.

Adding peanut butter or peanuts is definitely an option! At that point you’re just talking about a completely different dish, though, but that’s fine. Use this as inspiration, make it your own! A great peanut stir fry sauce can be made with peanut butter, agave nectar, fresh ginger, fresh garlic, lime zest, lime juice, and cilantro. It’s yummy.

Good catch on the lime. I add fresh citrus to almost everything I cook. And if I add the juice, I usually add a little zest as well.