Top Five Basic Ingredients for Chinese Cooking
5 Products Essential for that Oriental Taste
Sep 10, 2009
Shopping for Chinese ingredients can be a mine field. Shitake mushrooms, soy sauce, oyster sauce, yellow bean sauce… where do you begin? What is essential for beginners and what could you buy later when you feel like tackling more complex dishes?
It is important to choose the right ingredients to start with, as a few bottles and jars will provide the means to make a multitude of different dishes. With a handful of key ingredients it is possible to make stir-fries, soups, marinades and stews all with a distinctive taste. Here are the five ingredients to pick up next time you go to the supermarket, for Chinese cooking success!
Shaoxing Rice Wine – For Bitter-Sweet Taste
Shaoxing rice wine (pronounced “sh-ow-shing”) is made in the Shaoxing region of China, and is a wine made with rice that has been fermented. It is used primarily to sweeten meat dishes and has a taste similar to dry sherry. In fact, if shaoxing rice wine is hard to find, dry sherry makes a good substitute for cooking with.
This rice wine has on average a 13% alcohol volume, and is used in marinades, stir-fries, stews and can also be used to poach fish. Once opened, it will need to be kept in the refrigerator. Its flavour is unmistakeable and it lifts the dish with its bitter-sweetness.
Soy Sauce – For Salt and Colour
There is a huge range of soy sauces available – some with added garlic, some with added chilli, light soy and dark soy, among others. Soy sauce is made from fermented soy beans. Light soy is lighter in colour and more salty and is used in Chinese cuisine instead of salt. Dark soy is darker in colour and less salty, and is used mainly to give colour to a dish. For those watching their salt intake, reduced salt versions are available.
Soy sauce is normally used towards the end of cooking, for example a few tablespoons are drizzled into a stir fry to season it in the last few minutes of cooking. Dark soy is often used in marinades, and both versions can be used in dressings for noodle salads, and in stews and hotpots.
Chilli, Garlic and Ginger – For Freshness
Considered the "Holy Trinity" of Chinese cooking, these fresh ingredients form the basis of any authentic stir-fry. Chilli adds heat, garlic gives pungency to a dish and the ginger imparts a zesty aroma. Together they give fresh taste to a dish.
In oriental cuisine, chillies can be used once de-seeded and finely diced, or can be left whole to infuse a stock or stew – for example in Hot and Sour soup. Garlic is most often chopped finely before adding to stews, soups and stir-fries, and ginger is often used grated, although can also be used in the same way as chillies to infuse a dish. One example of this is to cut the ginger into slices and cook fish on top of it to allow the scent of the ginger to gently infuse into the fish.
Chinese Five Spice Powder – For Aroma and Spice
Chinese Five Spice consists most usually of the spices star anise, fennel, cloves, cassia and ginger. It is used in a lot of Chinese recipes. A pinch or two can be added to a noodle soup or a teaspoon of Chinese Five Spice mixed with some soy sauce makes a quick and easy marinade for meat before stir-frying.
The wide availability of this ingredient makes it easy to find in supermarkets along with other dried spices and herbs. For an instant “Chinese” taste, this spice can be added to almost anything before or while cooking. It can even be rubbed into pork, with oil, before roasting.
Toasted Sesame Oil – For Nuttiness
Toasted sesame oil is made from seeds that have been toasted beforehand to create a very intense nutty fragrance and taste. It is used sparingly, and drizzled into noodles, fried rice or other stir-fries at the end of cooking. It can also be used as a stir-frying oil, but has a slightly lower smoking point than regular sesame oil that has not been made from toasted seeds.
One easy dressing for a noodle salad consists of soy sauce and sesame oil mixed together and poured over the cooked, drained noodles. Sesame oil has a very strong fragrance and so must be used sparingly so as not to overpower the other ingredients in the dish.
Five Ingredients to Get You Started in Chinese Cooking
With all the ingredients available, it is easy to feel confused about what to buy if you want to start cooking Chinese food. This is not a definitive list, but merely a guide as to the five basic storecupboard standbys that will add oriental flair to cooking. There are many more products available. For sweet and sour dishes for example you will need pineapple, honey and vinegar as well as other ingredients in addition to these listed.
With just a few basic ingredients it is possible to create a wide range of Chinese food and take your stir-fries and stews up to the next level.
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