You know when you go to a hibachi restaurant and they give you two little containers of sauce, one that is mayo based and one that is more of a soy sauce?  Who ever eats the soy sauce?  The mayo based sauce (which I didn't know was called yum yum sauce until I started looking for the recipe) is SO good.  I would really rather just have two of those and skip the other, but I feel like that might somehow offend the chef.  And after seeing how comfortable hibachi chefs are with knives and flames, I like to keep quiet.  I have a child to think about.

But I still want some more of that darn yum yum sauce.  So a couple of weeks ago I went on a hunt for the recipe, and this one is really close to the restaurant version.  Jake and I ate it on roasted vegetables, and we also had it as a condiment on faux chicken sandwiches.  It was delicious both times.  And super easy to make, so I'll likely whip up another batch this week (especially because I now have an open container of tomato paste sitting around that needs to be used... WHY do they sell it by the can when no one ever needs that much at one time?).  I can't wait to lather it on different kinds of vegetables.  Summer produce season is the best!

Japanese Steakhouse Yum Yum Sauce

1 1/4 cup mayonnaise (Hellmann's/Best Foods is recommended by the original recipe author) 1/4 cup water 1 heaping tsp. tomato paste 1 Tbsp. melted butter 1/2 tsp. garlic powder 1 tsp. sugar 1/4 tsp. paprika 1 dash cayenne pepper powder (I like a heavy dash)

Whisk all of the ingredients together until they are combined and the sauce is smooth. Refrigerate overnight to allow the flavors to blend (don't skip this step!). Serve at room temperature or slightly chilled.

The sauce will keep for about a week in the fridge. Source: Japanese-Steakhouse-White-Sauce.com