Asian and oriental cuisine - recipes. Oriental and Asian cuisine from meat, soups, salads, sauces
Fish sauce was also popular in ancient Rome and Greece. In addition to soy sauce, it is the main spice for Asian cuisine. The sauce has a salty, unique and irreplaceable flavor derived from fermentation and perfectly enhances the flavor of the curry. The color of the sauce is rich red-transparent or golden brown. Some types of fish sauce are prepared with raw small fish. It is usually used instead of salt as a spicy seasoning for fried foods or as a marinade for meat or fish. Traditional fish sauce is known as nuoc nam in Vietnam, patis in the Philippines, nam pla in Thailand in Thailand, and shottsuru in Japan. In some other regions it is also called fish gravy or fish gravy.
It is worth noting that fish sauce has a very characteristic spicy aroma, which softens during cooking. Asian fish sauce is different from each other. For example, fish is sweet because sugar is added to the fish during the fermentation process, and Filipino sauce, which is known as Bagoong Monamon, has a sour taste.
Today, fish sauce is produced in villages and fishing towns. To prepare it, the fish is placed in barrels, sprinkled with salt and given time to ferment. After this, the liquid that forms in the barrels is removed through a tap located at the bottom of the jar. When the fish meat is finished fermenting, it is filtered, placed in a clean container and exposed to the sun. The more such a product is exposed to direct sunlight, the better the sauce will be, with a more intense aroma - this is how the first grade of fish sauce is obtained. The second and third varieties are made by covering the leftover fish with salt water again and leaving it for two to three months to continue fermenting before bottling it. Finally, the leftover fish is boiled in salt water to create the lowest grade of fish sauce in which the flavor is greatly reduced. Some sauces are quite varied in consistency - some can be liquid, while others are more like puree.
Good fish sauce recipe T which is quite simple, prepared from a mixture of fish and salt that has been fermented for 1 to 18 months. Anchovies are usually used, although some types of sauce can be prepared from other types of fish, such as mackerel, tuna, shrimp and even squid. There are many recipes for its preparation, but the most common ones always contain ingredients such as anchovies, salt and water. Sugar may be added, but it is not necessary. You can also buy vegetarian fish sauce in Vietnamese stores.
For those who are concerned about their personal sodium intake, using sauce can be a bit of a dilemma. But don't worry. If the sodium content in fish sauce seems outrageous, remember that this amount is evenly distributed throughout the entire product you are preparing. Add only part of the fish sauce called for in the recipe, and feel free to replace the rest - it contains less sodium than regular
To prevent a dish that uses fish sauce from having an unpleasant odor, you need to add a few drops of lime juice. Most Thai recipes combine the sauce with lemon and other spicy ingredients. Fish sauce is generally not served separately as a main sauce due to its intense flavor. Instead, it is most often used in dishes that were originally flavored with other spices.
Natural fish sauce takes time to prepare, so it is made in large-scale production. Although you can prepare something similar at home. To do this, you need to clean the salmon, remove the bones and cut into small pieces. Peel the shrimp and cut into 2-3 pieces. Also cut the cod into small pieces, squeeze the garlic through a garlic press. Add olive oil and white wine to the fish. Cook until the wine has evaporated. Add tomatoes, salt and pepper. Keep the sauce on low heat for another 30 minutes, add chopped parsley at the end.
Our article will introduce you closer to Asian cuisine, and also teach you how to cook simple and tasty oriental dishes.
- Recently, Asian and Oriental dishes have become increasingly popular. Chefs love them for their quick and easy preparation. Ordinary people like their original taste and memorable aroma
- Each person finds something different in these exotic dishes. Plant-based food lovers can prepare dishes with lots of lightly poached vegetables; people watching their figure can eat rice with turkey or glass noodles with seafood
- The main thing is, don’t be afraid to try something new and believe me, Asian cuisine will definitely surprise you. If you have not yet become acquainted with this exotic cuisine, then we offer you a few simple recipes that will help you surprise your family and friends.
Asian and oriental products
Tofu cheese- Probably every person knows that it is almost impossible to prepare an Asian dish from familiar products. And it's not all about the spices.
- After all, for example, we have nothing to replace such a component as soy sauce. Therefore, if we do not put it in a marinade or in a spicy dressing, then our food will not taste at all the same.
- For this reason, it is better not to look for a replacement for oriental products, but to use them for cooking. Moreover, you can now buy them without even leaving your home. You will only need to place the desired order in the online store and wait for delivery
Most popular products:
Rice for sushi
seaweed
Sesame oil
Shiitake mushrooms
Tufu cheese
Rice vinegar and paper
Pickled ginger
Coconut oil
Tempura flour
Japanese noodles
Wasabi
Asian and oriental cuisine - recipe
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Eastern cuisine is very different from ours. The food there is prepared very quickly and most often it is fried. Minimal heat treatment makes it possible to preserve almost all useful vitamins and give the finished dish a more piquant and fresh taste.
Therefore, if you want to prepare a completely identical dish, then strictly adhere to all cooking rules.
Asian cabbage soup recipe:
First, cook broth from meat or fish
While the meat is cooking, fry bell peppers, onions and oyster mushrooms in sesame oil
Cut Chinese cabbage into long strips and add it to the broth
Leave everything to boil for literally 2-3 minutes
Then add fried vegetables and hot peppers to the soup
Boil everything for another 2 minutes and you can start eating
Peanut Butter Chicken Recipe:
Boil rice noodles
Pour oil into a frying pan and literally add hot peppers, wheat sprouts and green onions for just one minute.
Next, we move on to frying the pieces of meat.
Then mix soy and hot sauce, peanut butter and finely chopped ginger in a saucepan.
Add noodles, meat and vegetables to the resulting mixture
Mix everything thoroughly and place on plates.
Asian soup recipes
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Asian style soups have quite an interesting and special taste. Due to the fact that quite a lot of ingredients are used to prepare them, they always emit a wonderful aroma.
Most often, they add meat (can be replaced with fish and seafood), rice or noodles, aromatic spices, hot peppers, fresh vegetables, and, of course, wheat germ. As a result, the dish turns out not only tasty, but also very colorful.
Thai Tom Kha soup recipe:
Heat a wok and pour sesame oil into it
At the next stage, add pre-chopped chili pepper and lemongrass to the oil.
When the oil is saturated with the aromas of spices, pour coconut milk into it and add lime leaves to the resulting mixture
Let the soup boil a little and drop small pieces of meat into the broth
When the meat is cooked, add salt, pepper and fish sauce to the soup and pour everything into plates
Recipe for Asian fish soup with coconut milk:
First, wash, fillet and cut the fish into pieces.
Heat coconut milk in a saucepan and season with hot spices
When the milk boils, start dipping the fish and chopped ginger into it.
While the soup is ready, boil the rice noodles in a separate pan.
After all the components of the soup are ready, you can proceed to the presentation of the dish.
Start by adding a small portion of noodles to the bowl.
Then pour fish soup over everything and drizzle with peanut butter.
Asian salads
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This salad can be either a hearty appetizer or an excellent addition to steamed rice or vegetables in sweet and sour sauce.
If you wish, you can use it for a light snack at work. A small portion of salad will help you quickly fill up and forget about the feeling of hunger for a long time.
Oriental chicken salad recipe:
Boil the chicken fillet, cool it a little and cut it into small cubes
Peel half a grapefruit from the membranes and cut it in the same way as meat
Grind hot pepper, mint leaves and ginger root
Squeeze the lime and grapefruit juice into a separate bowl.
Salt it, pepper it, sprinkle with sesame oil
Place meat, mint leaves, ginger, grapefruit, hot pepper in the center of the plate and pour a light dressing over everything
Asian sauces
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Some people think that Asian cuisine only uses two sauces, soy and fish. Of course, in most cases they are used for marinating meat, fish and for preparing various dressings.
But if you start getting to know oriental cuisine a little closer, you can learn about the existence of other, no less tasty and original sauces. We will now introduce you to the recipe for one of them.
The sweet and sour sauce recipe is yin and yang.
Pour the rice bite into the saucepan and heat it up a little
Then add soy sauce and ground chili pepper to it.
When the mixture boils a little, add a couple of spoons of any fruit jam to it
Simmer the sauce for another 5 minutes and let it brew
Asian cuisine menu
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Asian dishes differ from those more familiar to us not in the exotic combination of ingredients, but in the abundance of seasonings and soy products. Another difference is that they almost never use potatoes, so familiar to us, to prepare their dishes.
For example, they most often add rice noodles, meat and a variety of vegetables to soups. As a result, they end up with a rather thick soup, which can be both the first and second course.
List of the most popular Asian dishes:
Ramen
Pork in sweet and sour sauce
Spicy pickled Chinese cabbage
Pork stew with star anise
Rice noodles with beef
Spring rolls with shrimp and pork
Chinese puff pancakes
Oriental cuisine menu
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Oriental cuisine is practically no different from Asian cuisine. Spices, hot sauce, wheat germ and lightly poached vegetables are also popular here. Its only difference is the complete absence of liquid dishes, that is, the soups and borscht we are accustomed to.
But this does not mean that people eat only second courses, they just prepare soups a little differently than we do. Their broth is more like a thick and rich gravy that lightly coats the vegetables and meat. This is due to the fact that Eastern housewives love to thicken it with starch.
The most popular oriental dishes:
Bulgogi
Radish khichmi
Kalbi
Teokbokki
Kuksi soup
Heh from zucchini
Panchani
Eastern cuisine: meat dishes
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Eastern cuisine involves the use of lamb, beef, chicken and very rarely pork. But unlike us, people living in the east do not like to grind meat into minced meat. They believe that in this way all the taste of the product is killed. Therefore, they try to bake it whole or cut it into small pieces.
Oriental meat dishes:
Lamb shish kebab with vegetables
Lagman with beef
Chicken skewers in soy sauce
Heh from meat
Korean pork ribs
Oriental soups
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If you want to surprise your household, then prepare for them a delicious and aromatic oriental lamb soup. Its preparation requires a minimum set of ingredients and approximately 1 hour of time.
If you want to make this dish more festive, then garnish it with fresh herbs and chili peppers. This soup must be served with freshly baked flatbread.
So:
Make celery and onion broth
Add chopped meat to it
When the meat is cooked until half cooked, add rice to the pan.
Next, beat the egg, yogurt, lemon juice, salt and pepper.
Add the mixture into the boiling soup in a thin stream and let it cook until done.
Oriental salad recipe
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If unexpected guests decide to come to your place, and you have nothing to treat them with, then try to prepare a simple but original salad of oriental cuisine. It itself consists of products familiar to us, but the usual mayonnaise dressing will have to be replaced with a lighter and healthier one.
Spicy vegetable salad recipe:
Take any salad mixture, tear it into pieces and place it on a beautiful platter
Cut cucumbers, tomatoes, onions and ginger into strips
Place prepared vegetables on salad mix
Prepare a dressing from vegetable oil, salt, pepper, garlic and lemon juice.
Pour the sauce over the salad and serve
Southeast Asian cuisine
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The main highlight of southeastern cuisine, of course, is seafood. Local chefs complement them with seaweed, exotic seasonings, juicy vegetables and edible flowers.
Very often, travelers, having seen such a still life, are afraid to try it. And they do this, of course, in vain. After all, usually fresh seafood is used to prepare these dishes, which can saturate the body with useful substances.
Indonesian fish recipe:
Fry onion, lemongrass, banana in vegetable oil and add pre-boiled and washed rice to it
Cut the fish into large pieces and marinate it in pepper, salt and lemon juice
Dip the fish first in cream, then in flour and fry in plenty of oil.
Place rice and banana on a plate and fish on top
Any hot sauce can be served with this dish.
Eastern European cuisine
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Eastern European cuisine includes food from Georgian, Armenian, Bulgarian and Moldavian cuisine. Although the dishes of these regions are close and familiar to us, among them there are also those that can surprise us with something new.
As a rule, for cooking, residents of these regions use the same products as we do, with only one difference: in Eastern European countries they do not really like to marinate fish and meat in liquid marinades.
Meat recipe - “Three Shepherds” in Moldavian:
Marinate chicken, pork and beef fillets in dry spices
After 1.5 hours, beat each piece separately and cut them into strips 2 cm wide
Next, alternating each type of meat, we begin to twist it clockwise
We chop the workpiece with bamboo sticks
We bake the meat in the oven, periodically sprinkling it with wine.
Uzbek oriental cuisine
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A characteristic feature of Uzbek cuisine are meat dishes. Uzbeks love meat and know how to cook it properly. Moreover, most often they do not eat it, for example, baked. Usually they stew it with vegetables, put it in pies or make the most delicate manti with it.
But the main pride of this region, of course, is. Unlike us, they put a lot of meat, carrots and spicy spices in it, in short, they do everything to make the aroma of the dish amazing.
Uzbek pilaf recipe:
Heat the oil in a cauldron and add chopped onions and carrots into it.
When the vegetables are browned, add pieces of meat to them (ideally it should be lamb)
As soon as you notice that the ends of the carrots are darkening, immediately add half a liter of water, salt, cumin and barberry to the cauldron.
Let everything simmer for 40 minutes
At this time, pour boiling water over the rice and let it swell a little
Then add the rice to the cauldron, put 5-7 cloves of garlic on top of it and cover everything with a lid.
In 15 minutes the pilaf will be ready
Oriental sweets
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Almost all sweet tooths like oriental sweets. The main highlight of these delicacies is the variety of spices and herbs. This allows pastry chefs to create culinary masterpieces like no other in the world.
These countries have more than 200 types of different sweets. Moreover, in each region they prepare one specific one. This is usually done by trained people (shackles) and using special equipment.
Honey baklava recipe:
Take flour, eggs, salt and milk and knead a soft dough
Divide it into 5 equal parts and swing them as thin as possible
Grease each layer with oil, roll it up like a snail and put it in the refrigerator for half an hour.
While the dough reaches the desired consistency, chop the nuts
Take the dough out of the refrigerator and roll it out thinly again.
Place the first layer of dough in the pan and sprinkle it with chopped nuts
Repeat the manipulation three more times
Roll out the last piece, place it on the nuts and cut the workpiece into diamonds
Place the baklava in the oven for approximately 30 minutes
While it is baking, prepare aromatic syrup from honey and water.
Fill the finished baklava with syrup and let it soak thoroughly
Video: Asian Lemon Cheesecake
Ponzu sauce
Ingredients
lemon 1 piece
lime 1 piece
orange 1 piece
soy sauce
ginger
garlic
chili pepper
cilantro
Cut off the zest of the lemon and lime, chop it and put it in water to release the bitterness. Squeeze the juice from half an orange, half a lemon and half a lime into one container. Pour the juice into a saucepan, place on heat and simmer until thick to concentrate the flavor.
Grate the unpeeled ginger and garlic, finely chop the chili pepper and press it into the paste. Pour soy sauce into a deep bowl, add chili pepper, and squeeze the juice from ginger and garlic. Pour the evaporated citrus juice into the sauce, stir and strain through a sieve to remove all ingredients. Add the zest and remove it after 1-2 minutes. Pour the sauce into a gravy boat.
Before serving, garnish the sauce with finely chopped cilantro. Ponzu sauce goes well with raw fish and chicken.
Hoisin sauce
Ingredients
soy sauce
star anise
carnation
fennel seeds
cinnamon
soybean paste
grape vinegar
sugar
garlic
Add star anise, ground in a mortar, cloves and half a teaspoon of fennel seeds to the heated frying pan. Warm up the spices to give them flavor. Pour the heated spices into a mortar, add half a teaspoon of ground cinnamon and grind again.
Place a saucepan on heat, pour in soy sauce and add the ground spices. Add 1 tablespoon of soy paste, a little grape vinegar and a handful of sugar. Peel the garlic clove, crush it and add to the soy sauce. Mix. Strain the sauce through a sieve and pour into a gravy boat.
Hoisin sauce is used cold. Goes great with duck
Sweet and sour sauce
Ingredients
fresh pineapple
bell pepper
onion
chili pepper
ginger
garlic
vegetable oil
tomato paste
soy sauce
water
sugar
sesame oil
sweet chili sauce
starch
vinegar
Peel the garlic and ginger. Cut the ginger into small cubes and chop the garlic. Grind some chili pepper and put all the ingredients in one bowl.
Chop the onion and half the bell pepper into large pieces and place in a bowl.
Peel half the pineapple. Cut out the core and cut into large pieces.
Prepare sugar, tomato, soy sauce, sesame oil, vinegar, sweet chili sauce. Dissolve 2-3 teaspoons of starch in cold water.
Heat a frying pan with the addition of vegetable oil. Add chopped garlic, ginger, chili pepper and heat without letting it burn. Add 3-4 tablespoons of tomato paste, a little soy sauce, 1 glass of water, 3.5 tablespoons of sugar, vinegar, 1 tablespoon of sweet chili sauce, 2-3 teaspoons of starch for thickening, pineapple and mix. Remove the sauce from heat and add sesame oil.
Sweet and sour sauce is served cold. Goes great with fish, chicken and vegetables.
Satay sauce
Ingredients
coconut milk
ginger
garlic
chili pepper
sugar
peanut
soy sauce
fish sauce
cilantro
Place the saucepan on heat and pour in the coconut milk.
Peel the ginger and garlic and chop as desired. Grind the chili pepper and add it along with ginger and garlic to a saucepan with coconut milk. Add half a tablespoon of sugar, 3-4 handfuls of salted peanuts and wait until the milk boils. After the milk has boiled, reduce the heat, cover with a lid and cook for 5 minutes.
After 5 minutes, grind all the ingredients in a saucepan using a blender to a thick, smooth consistency.
Add a little soy and fish sauce to the saucepan and stir.
Finely chop the cilantro and add to the sauce. Mix and pour into a gravy boat.
Satay sauce goes great with chicken.
Spicy Thai sauce
Ingredients
lime 2 pieces
fish sauce
sugar
garlic
chili pepper
cilantro
Remove some zest from the lime, cut it into thin strips, place in a bowl and cover with cold water for 10 minutes.
Squeeze the juice from the limes and pour into a bowl. Add a little fish sauce and 2 teaspoons of sugar.
Peel the garlic clove and cut it first into thin slices, then into strips, and then into small cubes. Add the garlic to the bowl with the lime juice and stir.
Remove seeds from chili peppers and cut into small cubes. Chop the cilantro and add the chili pepper and cilantro to the lime juice. Add the lime zest, stir and pour into the gravy boat.
Spicy Thai sauce goes great with steamed fish.
from Ilya Lazerson’s program “Aerobatics”
Ways to use Chinese spices for lovers of specific Asian cuisine
Before you dive into cooking Asian cuisine, you should become familiar with the basic spices. I don’t specifically use “Chinese cuisine” because I often use a mixture of spices to prepare non-traditionally Chinese dressings and sauces. Asian countries are closely intertwined in the use of sauces and seasonings. Chinese cuisine is so diverse that each province has its own traditional dishes and spices. But the backbone of the taste of Asian cuisine lies in the seven spices. The list of spices in Asian cuisine can be significantly expanded, but I focused on the most popular spices in China and available in Russia.
Interest in Asian cuisine has grown significantly in Russia. This is evident from the number of small eateries with Chinese-style names.
The shelves of Chinese supermarkets are filled with a variety of sauces and seasonings. It's easy to get confused in such diversity. It is not necessary to buy all the seasonings, just learn a few basic ones and learn how to combine them. Otherwise, the kitchen runs the risk of oversaturation of glass jars.
Several years ago, when I didn’t even think about moving to another country, and everything Chinese was considered consumer goods, even then I managed to find a store with Chinese products. Now with the development of online stores, it is easy to find Chinese products. And you can find Asian spices on the shelves of large supermarkets. At the same time, I bought unprecedented red rice, rice noodles, soy sauce and cooked as my heart dictated. Not surprisingly, the rice noodles were bitter and the red rice looked like fried cockroaches. I didn't know then that rice noodles should be soaked in water for 20 minutes, while red or brown rice require longer cooking.
The most important thing is that sauces can be combined, looking for the right proportion to suit your taste. From the same bottles you can get a great variety of flavors for meat, poultry, fish and seafood.
– Soy sauce酱油 jiàngyóu soy sauce
Soy sauce is always at the head of the table. Soy sauce is the most important seasoning in Asian cuisine. After discovering soy sauce, I stopped adding salt to my dishes. Because the sauce is already salty. A teaspoon of soy sauce can contain a day's worth of salt. There is a less salty soy sauce designed for seasoning seafood and fish.
Soy sauce has many uses in Asian cuisine. Absolutely everything is fried with it: meat, fish, noodles, herbs. One ancient Chinese nutritionist said that eating raw foods is bad for human digestion. That is why it is difficult to find a Chinese eating raw vegetables in a salad.
Several common uses of soy sauce in Chinese cuisine.
– Rice/buckwheat noodles in soy sauce. First, the desired ingredients are fried. These can be vegetables (carrots, sweet peppers, mushrooms), shrimp, sausage. Meanwhile, boil the noodles for two to three minutes. Then add the noodles to the vegetables/shrimp, add a small amount of soy sauce and stir. It turns out quickly and tasty.
– Sauce for stewing pieces of beef. Add sesame oil, soy sauce and, if desired, sugar to well-washed beef. Leave for 10 minutes. And after the time has passed, you can simmer for five minutes with celery or other vegetables.
– Sauce for meat or fish. Fry finely chopped garlic in oil and add to a saucer with soy sauce. For spicy lovers, chop the chili pepper. And dip the finished pieces of meat or fish into the sauce.
– Another delicious sauce with the Japanese name “Warashita”. Soy sauce is mixed with rice wine and sugar.
– Soy sauce goes well with honey. Most often this combination is used as a marinade. Great option with chicken wings. Mix honey and soy sauce. Marinate for a few minutes. And send it to the spirit. If desired, before removing the wings, you can brush them with a honey brush for a more aromatic taste and a honey crust.
– A universal combination of soy sauce and sesame oil. This dressing can be added anywhere: to a salad or stir-fry.
– It’s impossible not to mention the famous teriyaki sauce. It is much easier to prepare than Chinese sweet and sour sauce. Half a tablespoon of tomato paste, a spoonful of honey and a spoonful of soy sauce. All ingredients are mixed. The sauce is then added to the fried ingredients in the pan. A particularly tasty combination with chicken and squid.
– Sesame oil芝麻油 zhīmayóu orsesame oil
If you want your dish to have a piquant taste, then use sesame oil. In China, it is believed that sesame oil is best used for food; it contains unsaturated fatty acids necessary for the human body. Also vitamins, iron, zinc, and other microelements. And the cholesterol content is much lower. Widely used both for frying and in pure form. For example, for cold appetizers.
– Shrimp sauce shrimp paste
Oyster sauce is the most controversial spice in Asian cuisine. This is a traditional Macau sauce. Shrimp sauce is especially popular in Macau, Hong Kong, and coastal areas of Southeast Asia. You either love oyster sauce or you hate it. And all because of the specific smell. From the first minutes, your nose is torn by a terrible smell incomparable to anything. It seems that it contains all the most unpleasant odors for humans at once. Surprisingly, you can get used to the smell and even enjoy the smell of the dish. The sauce is quite salty, so it should be added to the dish carefully. It contains the simplest ingredients: shrimp and salt. Shrimp go through a fermentation process. A purple sauce with a thick consistency is considered a good and high-quality sauce. Since it is a fermentation product, protein is converted into amino acids. In addition, shrimp contain calcium, which is better absorbed by the body during the fermentation process. Fat is converted into fatty acids. So the sauce is not only tasty, but also healthy.
Even an open jar of sauce has a long shelf life. Shrimp sauce is used in frying vegetables, mushrooms and meat. It is better to dilute the sauce in water and then add it to the ingredients in the pan.
– Fish sauce
The sauce contains fermented anchovies, water and salt. This sauce is used instead of salt in Chinese cuisine. The sauce is widely used in Asian countries. It was invented by fishermen. They felt sorry for throwing away anchovies that they could not sell. And so they added salt to them and boiled them. This is how fish sauce was made. Fish sauce is often used in combination with soy sauce. You can add it not only to seafood, but also to meat.
– Wine for cooking 料酒 liàojiǔcooking wine
The main ingredient is rice wine. Has an aromatic taste. Wine is added during cooking. Effectively removes fishy odor and adds flavor to the dish. The alcohol content is low, below 1%, and the alcohol evaporates during the cooking process. The taste of dishes becomes softer. Mainly used in cooking meat, fish and seafood.
– Oyster sauce 蚝油 háoyóu oyster sauce
Especially widely used in Guangdong. Oyster sauce is popular due to its spicy taste and aroma. Suitable for cooking mushrooms, meat, vegetables, noodles.
It was invented in 1888 by a peasant from the village of Zhuhai. His entire family lived off the proceeds from the sale of a new product - oyster sauce. The owner of the family business, surnamed Li, was born in 1868 and became an orphan at an early age. Having matured, he entered into disputes with the local nouveau riche. Fleeing from their persecution, he fled from his native village to Zhuhai. He built a house on the river bank. As it turned out later, that place was rich in oysters. That's what he lived for, selling fresh oysters. One day, having put oysters in a frying pan to cook, Lee got busy with other things and completely forgot about the oysters. As the strong smell filled the apartment, he ran into the kitchen, thinking about the ruined dinner. I opened the lid and found a thick layer of brown liquid. A fragrant smell spread throughout the apartment. This is how oyster sauce was born. Since then, Lee began making sauce for sale. That's what he lived for.
The main thing in using oyster sauce is not to simmer the sauce in a frying pan for too long, as it may lose its taste and aroma.
Application. Add half a spoonful of oyster sauce, vinegar, sesame oil, and a little grated ginger to a saucer. This is the seafood sauce.
Or throw the lettuce leaves into a heated frying pan with hot water and fry when the water goes away. Chop the garlic, throw it into a frying pan in heated oil, add oyster sauce, rice wine, salt, sugar, fry and pour over the lettuce.
The same goes for herbs, but instead of wine sauce, you can add vinegar and hot chili pepper.
For noodles. Add water to the frying pan, add noodles, stir, add oil, add soy sauce, sesame oil, garlic, later add oyster sauce, stir. And ready to eat.
– Chinese “Five Spices” wǔxiāng fěn five spices powder
A mixture of five ground spices is suitable for baking or roasting meat, stewing or steaming. In Chinese culture, it is believed that this particular seasoning combines the balance of five tastes: sour, spicy, sweet, salty, bitter. It contains several spices, which is why it has a second name – spice powder. The spice powder contains: cardamom, cloves, cinnamon, kaempferia, anise.
It is also worth paying attention to the fact that it is not recommended for use in the early stages of pregnancy.
Lately, there’s been no room on my shelf for various vinegars and oils – there’s a whole battery of Asian ingredients on there. They did not appear all at once, but gradually. At first I discovered the basic ones, then I learned about new ones and was captivated by one thing or another. At some point I decided to write a “useful” post about them. Here I will briefly talk about each and how I use this ingredient. I don’t pretend to be encyclopedic, I’m just sharing my experience.
Soy sauce
This is probably the first Asian ingredient that appeared in our kitchens in the late 90s.
If you want to understand what fermentation is, welcome to Asian cooking. Absolutely everyone here knows about this process. Soy sauce is the result of a fermentation process of soybeans, toasted grains, brine and a certain fungus. Everything mixes, begins to ferment, and during the fermentation process liquid appears - this is soy sauce. Different amounts of water, beans, and fermentation time lead to the formation of different versions of the sauce. The taste can also change under the influence of various additives. Soy sauce is concentrated umami, that “fifth” taste.
The main thing you need to pay attention to when buying a sauce is that it is naturally fermented.
Soy sauce can also be used on its own. In addition, it is added to Asian soups, for example, marinades for meat and fish, and stir-fries are made with it. Other, more complex dishes, such as teriyaki, are also prepared using soy sauce.
How I use soy sauce:
- For marinades for fish and meat;
- For salad dressings;
- In Asian style soups;
- In hot dishes;
- For glazing meat and vegetables when baking.
Rice vinegar
In general, rice vinegar is softer and sweeter than the European ones we are used to. If you need to replace rice vinegar with something else, you should do it in a ratio of 1 to 2. It comes in different colors - from transparent, colorless to quite dark. There is even red rice vinegar. In addition to being used for its intended purpose, like vinegar, it is often included in various dishes as an acidulant.
How I use rice vinegar:
- For salad dressings;
- For creating complex sauces.
Oyster sauce
One of my favorites. Once upon a time it was made from oyster broth, and only from it. What you can buy in our stores has a much more modest composition. Typically it's sugar, salt, water, oyster essence (from concentrated oyster stock) and caramel for color. The taste is distinctly sweet and the consistency is thick.
One of the basic ingredients in Chinese cuisine. Pairs well with meat and vegetables. Without it, popular Chinese sweet and sour meat dishes, as well as stir-fries, are impossible.
How I use oyster sauce:
- For marinades for meat and fish;
- For sauces in hot dishes;
- Into soups.
Fish sauce
Fishy does not at all mean to go with fish. Although, as they said in “Office Romance”, that goes there too. A lot of Asian products are obtained as a result of fermentation, this one is easy to guess from what.
One of the most ancient sauces in the world. Now widely distributed in South Asian cuisine (Philippines, Laos, Vietnam) and other Asian countries. But the ancient Greeks and Romans also had their own version of fish sauce.
It is made from fermented fish in a variety of ways: from raw fish and dried, from different fish and the same type - so it has many varieties. It is used as an additive during cooking and as an integral component of many sauces. It’s also hard to imagine Korean kimchi without fish sauce.
How I use fish sauce:
- In hot dishes;
- For dressings and sauces.
Hoisin sauce
I once read in a culinary magazine or on a forum a question about what plums are used to make hoisin sauce. After all, it really does have a fruity, spicy smell. Of course, there are no plums in the sauce. But there are fermented soybeans, red rice and five-spice seasoning.
The sauce is especially popular and widespread in China. There it is added to marinades for poultry and meat, and is also brushed onto meat during cooking to obtain a beautiful glazed crust.
The most famous dish that comes with hoisin is Peking duck. It is also often served with spring rolls. In addition to Chinese, especially Cantonese cuisine, it is also popular in Vietnam. In this country, in addition to the methods described above, it is also added to soups.
How I use hoisin:
- For marinades;
- For the glaze.
Mirin
This is not even a sauce, but rice wine originally from Japan. In the old days, it was used this way, for its intended purpose - men drank sake, and women drank mirin. This product is very sweet and low alcohol. It comes in different colors - both light transparent and dark.
Wikipedia talks about three types of mirin. "Hon mirin" (true mirin) - the classic version of mirin, "sio mirin" (mirin with salt) - containing alcohol only to the extent to avoid the liquor tax, and "sin mirin" (new mirin) - mirin seasoning , which contains less than 1 percent alcohol but still retains the taste of classic mirin.
In Japanese cooking it is used in fish dishes to overcome the rich fishy smell. Included in marinades, salad dressings and complex sauces, such as teriyaki. The two main ingredients in teriyaki are soy sauce and mirin wine.
Those who do not drink alcohol can also use mirin; it completely evaporates during heat treatment.
How I use mirin:
- In salad dressings;
- For greasing fish during baking;
- In marinades;
- In soups for an Asian twist.
Miso
Miso paste is an affordable, convenient product. A Japanese component that is produced in different parts of the country, it comes in different colors and differs significantly in taste. May be more or less salty and sweet. It is made from soybeans, wheat, rice, and also a combination of different products. Naturally, using a fermentation process.
In the old days, it was the main source of protein for ordinary people who could not afford anything other than rice.
In addition to all of the above, miso paste is very healthy, as it contains many trace elements and vitamins.
Of course, miso is put into the same miso soup that is served in Japanese restaurants at the beginning of the meal. But its use is not limited to this, since miso can be easily combined with different ingredients. The result is interesting marinades, sauces and additives for Asian dishes.
How I use miso paste:
- In the soup;
- For marinating meat before baking.
Shrimp paste
The first time you sniff shrimp paste, you may instantly lose the desire to put it in anything edible. Its smell is quite intense. However, this ingredient is one of the main ones for South Asian cuisine in general and Thailand in particular.
Produced from small shrimp, krill, by drying and subsequent fermentation. It can be pinkish or brown, depending on the region.
It is used in a variety of dishes, in curry in particular. By the way, during heat treatment the pungent odor of the paste disappears.
How I use shrimp paste:
- In Asian hot dishes.
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