Must have ingredients for Asian cooking

[user 211287]

Its not really a soup. The wontons are steamed or boiled then bathed in a heavy dose of chili oil sauce. They are insanely good if you like spicy. Only places that serve authentic Chinese food will offer them.

Make sure to get good black vinegar too. Not the stuff from Taiwan. You want vinegar from Zhenjiang aka Chinkiang vinegar. The older the better but chances are you wont find the really good stuff in the USA. Gold Plum 2yr old will likely be the best you can find. Heng Shun brand 3yr if you can find it is really good stuff.

 

[user 211287]

While not a must this is something i like on plain rice or in onigiri. (rice balls)

 

[bob1852]

I've been looking for good black vinegar but all I've found so far is stuff made with vinegar and caramel coloring.

Or...is that what black vinegar is?

 

[user 211287]

No thats that cheap one made in Taiwan from Kong Yen or Hong Kong from Koon Chun.

This is the one to look for just because its the most common in the USA and reasonably priced. Only thing i dont like is the added salt.

This is the Heng Shun brand which is also good for the price.

If you cant find either of those there is a vinegar commonly used in sichuan also.
Baoning Vinegar

 

[Ke_Liren]

@Ke_Liren -- can you share your chili oil recipe?

I use a recipe similar to this http://thewoksoflife.com/2016/03/homemade-chiu-chow-sauce/

This isn't necessarily a traditional oil as it adds garlic and soy sauce, but I'm a total convert.

I usually grind my own dried chilis and prefer to use a balance of different kinds of chilis. If possible, try to balance a fragrant chili ("authentic" would be the "Facing heaven pepper", which I've also seen called lantern peppers because of their shape https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Facing_heaven_pepper ) and a spicy chili (I haven't tried them but I imagine cayenne peppers or Thai bird's eye chilis would both work).

If you can't grind your own chilis, this recipe suggests using ground Sichuan pepper. I have tried these but have always found them rather one dimensional, so would still recommend mixing it with something else (either spicy or fragrant depending on how your Sichuan pepper tastes).

Katsuobushi (dried bonito flake)

This is an ingredient that came late to my pantry, but I like it a lot. Okonomiyaki is one of my favorites, and is almost always a hit when I make it for guests, and for okonomiyaki more bonito = better!

If you get into sichuan cuisine you will also want this or some of the other "preserved" veggies. I normally get zha cai which is the mustard tuber but for some dishes you need ya cai. Little 100gr packs at my market are about 40 cents. Its dried mustard stems that have been seasoned and salted. (pickled).

When buying this, be careful of expiration dates! Whenever I went to buy it in the Asian store in the US, I find three or four that are several years old. This is especially true of the canned ones.

 

[user 211287]

This isn't necessarily a traditional oil as it adds garlic and soy sauce, but I'm a total convert.

I add Maesri fried garlic to mine also after the oil has cooled enough not to burn it.

I usually grind my own dried chilis and prefer to use a balance of different kinds of chilis.

I like Korean gochugaru but many brands are loaded with salt. I grow my own. Korean pepper flakes have a great flavor and brilliant red color. They are way too mild though for chili oil so you need the addition of some other peppers like Thai peppers. Prik Kee Nu for very spicy or Prik Chee Fah for a bit less heat. Prik Chee Fah is the Thai "Facing Heaven" variety. Prik Kee Nu is the small birds eye type or more accurately "rat/mouse turd chili" with considerable amounts of heat.

I only grow Prik Luang which is a much milder large orange Thai pepper. They are excellent for making a pepper paste that wont light you on fire.

 

[DeadYetiBrew]

This is an ingredient that came late to my pantry, but I like it a lot. Okonomiyaki is one of my favorites, and is almost always a hit when I make it for guests, and for okonomiyaki more bonito = better!

I haven't tried making that yet but I made Furikake with the left over Kombu and Bonito from making dashi and I was using it in everything from Meat Marinades to sprinkling it in my spaghetti, lol.

 

[Ke_Liren]

I like Korean gochugaru but many brands are loaded with salt. I grow my own. Korean pepper flakes have a great flavor and brilliant red color. They are way too mild though for chili oil so you need the addition of some other peppers like Thai peppers. Prik Kee Nu for very spicy or Prik Chee Fah for a bit less heat. Prik Chee Fah is the Thai "Facing Heaven" variety. Prik Kee Nu is the small birds eye type or more accurately "rat/mouse turd chili" with considerable amounts of heat.

I'd never thought to use gochugaru in my oil! I use it often for quick pickles, but it's so fine I'd worry it would burn right away. Do you buy flakes? I seem to always see it in finely ground form.

I haven't tried making that yet but I made Furikake with the left over Kombu and Bonito from making dashi and I was using it in everything from Meat Marinades to sprinkling it in my spaghetti, lol.

Yum! Sounds good. Might need to try this. I'm always at a loss over what to do with my leftover kombu - feels wasteful to toss it so I usually slice it up and put it in some miso, but it's always a bit too much.

Okonomiyaki is great. Nice way to use leftovers in the house, can throw in half a carrot or some shrimp or squid or whatever. I also like to use the bonito flakes on silky tofu https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hiyayakko

 

[aces-n-eights]

I'm enjoying this discussion immensely - thanks!

One of our standards to pick up when we visit our Asian grocery store is a bag or two of frozen potstickers. So a couple of questions...

Are there brands you would recommend? Avoid?

I'm sure there are hundreds of recipes for making your own - i haven't started that research yet - but could you direct me to some to try?

 

[DeadYetiBrew]

I'm enjoying this discussion immensely - thanks!

One of our standards to pick up when we visit our Asian grocery store is a bag or two of frozen potstickers. So a couple of questions...

Are there brands you would recommend? Avoid?

I'm sure there are hundreds of recipes for making your own - i haven't started that research yet - but could you direct me to some to try?

If you like pot stickers, try and find some of these https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baozi... With the right filling they're amazing.

 

[aces-n-eights]

If you like pot stickers, try and find some of these https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baozi... With the right filling they're amazing.

Oh yeah! Steamed buns. We had those years ago when we lived in Hawaii. Gotta try again!
Thanks.

 

[user 211287]

I'd never thought to use gochugaru in my oil! I use it often for quick pickles, but it's so fine I'd worry it would burn right away. Do you buy flakes? I seem to always see it in finely ground form.

There are 2 types of gochugaru, fine and coarse. The coarse usually has a picture of kimchi on the package and its also usually milder than the fine powder. Fine is hotter and used for making gochujang. I use the coarse for everything including American/Mexican dishes like chilli.

I find it to be way too mild to use alone for hot chili oil unless you use about equal parts oil and pepper flakes. Even then its rather mild. I ordered some Sichuan pepper plants this year to test out. I dont have any more room to start more plants from seeds.

The gochu plants i grew last year were hotter than the coarse flakes i normally buy but its very labor intensive to deseed and sun dry them. I could have bought over a pound of good hot gochu flakes from Korea for what it cost me. Korean grown gochugaru cost WAY more than the Chinese grown. Plus to grow enough to make a pound of powder requires a LOT of garden space.

I buy Assi brand coarse flakes for making kimchi. It only cost be about $8 for over 2lbs and i simply cant grow enough peppers to keep me supplied in kimchi. The flavor is excellent for Chinese grown gochugaru but they are rather high in sodium.

This is the Assi brand. This 1 pound bag was under $5.

These are the Korean hot flakes. They cost me almost $18/500grams but they have no added salt. I would guess they are twice as hot as the Assi.

 

[DemonsRun]

Oh yeah! Steamed buns. We had those years ago when we lived in Hawaii. Gotta try again!
Thanks.

Love Steamed Buns, Frankly it's the only thing I make that both Kids will eat. Still haven't got the pinching around till closed thing down, one day I'll get them looking nice But will settle for yummy.

Low-protein flour was key in getting them fluffy, White Lily All-Purpose is actually in the 9% range and works great.

 

[user 211287]

Went to the market today to get Gai Choy and a few other items. Most pickled mustard i find is loaded with artificial garbage and also has vinegar added. Its time to make some Suan Cai from scratch. https://www.chinasichuanfood.com/pickled-mustard-green-recipe/

This stuff is great in soup and some stirfries.

While i prefer homemade to avoid all the garbage added to prepared sauces/condiments. There are a few that standout, spicy fermented bean sauce/paste and Lao Gan Ma chili oils. The Spicy Chili Crisp one is addictive. The addition of peanuts and fermented soybeans give it a unusual flavor. I would suggest the original or the chili crisp version unless you love extra fermented black beans. Lao Gan Ma offers a few varieties. One version adds double the fermented black soy beans,

The good spicy chili bean paste is a bit harder to find. Most places carry the LKK brand which is not that great. To get the good stuff you will probably need to find a market in "China town". I was too lazy today to drive the extra 10 miles.

 

[bob1852]

For ~20+ years, I've been craving the chile sauce from a restaurant in Hong Kong.

I've tried many from the Asian markets, but haven't come close.

I finally think I know what it is: chiu chow sauce

Not quite Sichuan Chile oil, not quite the garlic sambal.......by golly, I think this might be it.

Time to make some...

 

[user 211287]

Try the LoaGanMa if you have not. Its by far the best tasting commercially available one from China ive tried. My only complaint is the Chili Crisp is a bit salty for my tastes. I need to check the original version sometime.

Im growing Sichuan peppers this year. My Super Chiles and Thai Dragons are just too hot for chili oil. The Thai Giant Orange is about right but of course the color is wrong.

 

[Widukind]

I can speak on behalf of steppe cuisine, so here goes (if anyone likes that stuff...).

Good salt is a must. Don’t forget about grain flours of many kinds to make those succulent fruit, meat, or vegetable-filled dumplings. Sauerkraut and other forms of sour cabbage is also important, as it probably originated in China anyways. Shashlik sticks (think kabobs) cannot be forgotten, either. Having some pepper doesn’t hurt.

It’s not quite like Eastern or Southern Asian cuisine.

I’ll add more another time.