Oriental Pantry Ingredients

vernplum said:
Dried shrimps: soak 1 tbsp of them for half an hour in some water, drain them and then stir-fry half a head of sliced cabbage with 1 tbsp of oyster, 1 tbsp of soy sauce.

For the really small kind I just throw them into fried rice as a seasoning as they are a source of saltiness. Also good in this way is dried salted fish cut into tiny cubes.

Anchovies: you can use your gochujang in a recipe such as this using anchovies for the base stock.

Dried scallops are great boiled in some clear chicken stock. I like to boil up some bai cai/Napa cabbage in that till it becomes almost clear then use that as a base for dumpling soup.

Chicken powder (if you get the right kind) is a used as a substitute for MSG, so added to rice, as an ingredient in various kinds of dumplings, or just added to water as a soup base. Very common:

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Thanks I hadn't considered them as seasoning or stock but now you've said it it's obvious 😆
 
badjak said:
I figure it is maybe not that strange you find soy sauce.
Adobo, the Philipino one, is made with soy sauce and the philipines were a Spanish colony :)

vernplum
Definitely dried shrimp and anchovies, but I figured they might be available in spain.

If it would be me going and knowing I would crave SE Asian food, I would stock up on ready made boemboe (bumbu)
Like those https://www.dutchexpatshop.com/en/f...-and-spices-from-holland/spices-from-holland/
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Dried shrimp and anchovies definitely not available or some are but you have to pay silly amounts to have them posted.
Salted cured blocks of fish yes but that's where it ends.

Not familiar with boemboe either. What do you use that for?

Looks like I'm getting new ingredients to enjoy, that's just lovely ☺️
 
vernplum said:
One I make very regularly is beef/pork with some leafy green such as cabbage, kai lan, chye sim, etc. You can just do it with plain old green cabbage. I'd avoid bai cai/napa as it releases too much water.

Your meat needs to be velveted in advance; I think you know this: meat thinly sliced against the grain, baking soda, cornflour, pinch of 5 spice if you like, dash of light soy. Mix and marinate for at least half an hour.

100g velveted beef or pork
leafy greens (5 or 6 cupfuls roughly)
1tbsp each light soy, oyster, shaoxing, water
half thumb-sized julienned ginger
1 clove garlic sliced thinly

mix your oyster, soy and wine together
heat 2-3 tbsp of vegetable oil in a steel wok on high heat.
throw in your ginger and your meat and sear till you meat is almost cooked - about 30 seconds
throw in the vegetables and garlic
throw over the sauces and give it a good stir
throw in the water and stir fry another minute.

Now if you do the same thing but with 2 cups of broccoli (I like to microwave it for 2 mins before it goes in the pan)
and at the end add in some cornstarch slurry (1.5 tsp cornstarch mixed with 1 tbsp water then you'll get a nice takeaway-style broccoli beef.

So these would be my 'classic' stir fried dishes that I do at least once a week.

If you're looking for a noodle dish, you can try this one, instead of using the maggi noodles and its seasoning, you use plain egg noodles with a bit of chicken powder.
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I can't go down the Maggi route just cos of the gluten content but I've bookmarked the post "Moss' Stir Fry" 😂
Sounds like the classic combos. I always velvet the protein, it's the difference between wow and meh 😆
 
TastyReuben said:
The only thing I have/had that’s not on your list is mirin.

I cook so few Asian-inspired dishes that when I do, I usually have to go out and restock from the ground up: “Oh let’s see…well, this is six years past its date…”

I’m making a stir fry sometime this coming week, and I had to do just that.
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Thats funny cos I'm exactly the opposite way around. I use them so often I run out of an ingredient and forget so I can get part way into cooking something and pick up the sesame oil and think oh bloody Nora I've only got half what I need.

Mirin is a good catch, not one I use often but certainly not something I can get from around here 👍
 
I live in the centre of a really big city in England.
The only things I have some trouble finding so keep stocked up are:

Wasabi ( fake paste or powder) this goes off!
Miso
Seaweed ( usually nori)
Tofu ( silken)
Sriracha is popular
All ambient, most last a long time in the cupboard. Sorry if any repeats

Tend to have these on the regular for everything. Just realised I do a lot of fusion cooking.
Asian is so broad a term. My tastes tend to lean more towards Japan and Korea but if cooking Thai, Indian or Malaysian, black cardamom is one ingredient I struggle to find that doesn’t really have a replacement.
 
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Living here in Cowboyville Arizona, I can buy very few Asian ingredients, so when ever when go to The Big City or to California, I make a point to go to one of my favorite Asian Markets and stock up on all of the shelf-stable items.
The fresh Greens I miss terribly! and just plain do without.
 
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