Monday, September 7, 2009

Chinese Herbs

This dried root is commonly known as Radix Angelicae Sinensis, or Chinese angelica, or Tung Kui in Cantonese. It is widely used in Chinese traditional medicine and is also used as an aphrodisiac. Available in Chinese herbal shops.
Dried red dates or jujube are rich in iron and Vitamin C. In addition to their medicinal use, it is often eaten as a snack or boil with other ingredient as a soup.

This fruit is known as longan or literally means "dragon eye' in Chinese. In addition to their medicinal use, it is often eaten as a snack or boil with other ingredient as a soup.
Wolfberry, or goji berry is used commonly in Chinese medicine.

Sunday, September 6, 2009

Snacks

Nutella is great use on toast, crepes or pancake.

Dodol is a Malaysian sticky cake

Sauces and Seasonings

This hot pepper paste is use widely in Korean cuisine.
Ja-jan sauce is a mixture of bean sauce and soy paste. It is used as a topping on noodles or a dip for fresh peppers.
Soy bean paste is a popular ingredient in Korean cuisine.
This curry paste comes in both red and green flavor.
This thick sauce is used great with chicken and lamb. It is made of pomegranate extract and is thick and slighty tart in flavor.
Rose water and orange blossom water is used to flavor teas. Used widely in the Middle Eastern and Mediterranean cooking.
Chinese cooking wine is essential to enhance meats dishes in Asian cuisine.
Preserved Bean Curd comes in both red and plain. This is the spicey version.

A Malaysian dressing for a salad of fruits and vegetables.

Mirin is Japanese vinegar

Fresh Herbs and Spices


This flower gives a blue color hue for Malaysian cakes.
The kaffir lime, also known as kieffer lime, limau purut or makrut lime is a lime native to Laos, Indonesia, Malaysian, and Thailand, used commonly in Southeast Asian cuisine. The citrus leaf used mostly in Thai cooking, such as Tom Yam. Available fresh or frozen in Asian supermarkets.

Lemongrass is native to India. It is widely used as a herb in Asian cuisine. It has a citrus flavor and can be dried and powdered, or used fresh. Lemongrass is commonly used in teas, soups, and curries. It is also suitable for poultry, fish, and seafood.

Pandanus amaryllifolius is a tropical plant in the screwpine genus which is known commonly as pandan and used widely in Southeast Asian cooking. It is an upright green plant with fan-shaped sprays of long, narrow, bladelike leaves and woody aerial roots. The plant is sterile, flowers only very rarely, and is propagated by cuttings. The plant is rare in the wild but cultivated widely for use as a flavoring in cooking. The leaves are used fresh or wilted, and are commercially available in frozen form in Asian grocery stores in nations where the plant does not grow. They have a nutty, botanical fragrance which enhances the flavor of Indonesian, Singaporean, and Malaysian, Thai, Vietnamese foods, especially rice dishes and cakes.

Galangal (galanga, blue ginger) is a rhizome used in most Southeast Asian cooking. It is also known as lam keeon in Cantonese.

The curry tree is a tropical to sub-tropical tree in the family Rutaceae, which is native to India. Often used in curries, the leaves go by the name "curry leaves." They also called "sweet neem leaves." The Tamil name means leaf that is used to make curries.

Candlenuts or buah keras is used as a thickener in some curries.

Persicaria odorata, the Vietnamese coriander, is an herb whose leaves are used in Southeast Asian cooking. Other names include Vietnamese mint, Cambodian mint, or rau răm, or daun kesom or daun laksa in Malaysian and Singapore.

Turmeric (Curcuma longa) is a rhizomatous herbaceous perennial plant of the ginger family, used in most Southeast Asian cooking. Commonly known as turmeric or kunyit in Malaysian.

Dried Goods

Dried chestnuts is commonly used Asian cooking in stews or soups.
Dried mung beans.

Dried red beans.
Dried octupus is used to flavor some Chinese soups.
Dried oysters is used in soups, stews, or stir fry in many Asian cuisines.

Dried fish is good for frying and flavor other dishes in Asian cooking.
Dried scallops are used in stir fry, soups and congee in Cantonese cuisine.
Dried tamarind is used in Southeast cuisine. It has a sour taste and is used in curry and the famous Malaysian laksa noodle.

An instant pressed rice as a side dish for satay.

Dried Shitake mushrooms comes in dried or fresh.

Dried chilies is available in Asian or Mexican supermarkets.

Dried shrimps is available in Asian supermarkets.

Cane sugar is raw sugar and most are imported from China.

Belachan is dried shrimp paste that is used in Malaysian cuisine.

Dried bean stick is a by-product of soybean.

Dried beancurd sheets another soy bean product.

Canned Goods

Canned salmon.

Canned mackerel

Coconut milk comes in cream and milk form. Used in most Southeast cuisine.

Foodstuffs

I have a passion for buying and stocking up my pantry with all kinds of foodstuffs as this allows me to be creative in the kitchen. So, I thought this might be fun to post these ingredients used in my recipes.