**The Essentials of Cooking with Asian Ingredients**

Cooking with Asian ingredients can seem daunting, especially with the numerous types and brands available in markets. However, with some knowledge and planning, you can easily navigate the aisle and create delicious dishes at home. In this article, we will explore the basics of cooking with Asian ingredients, from noodles to seasonings.

**Noodles 101**

When it comes to noodles, there are three main types: egg noodles, non-egg noodles, and alkaline noodles. Although it may seem convenient to grab noodles from the store, making them at home is not only cheaper but also more versatile. By processing large amounts of noodles at once, you can use them as needed and freeze any excess for later use. Near the noodle aisle, there is usually a starch section where you can find essential ingredients such as rice flour, glutens rice flour, and wheat starch.

**Sweet Potatoes Starch: A Game-Changer**

For those who like all kinds of dim sum, sweet potato starch is an essential ingredient to have in your pantry. Unlike cornstarch or all-purpose flour, sweet potato starch produces a crisper batter when used for fried foods. It's also great for making crispy noodles and other Asian-style snacks.

**Tapioca Starch: A Bouncy Texture**

If you like cooking Chinese meatballs, tapioca starch is a must-have ingredient in your pantry. It provides a unique bouncy texture that is hard to achieve with other ingredients. Tapioca starch is also used in many traditional dishes, such as stir-fries and braises.

**Flavor Packs: Convenient or Not?**

While flavor packs can be convenient for busy cooks, we prefer making our own seasonings from scratch. However, if you don't cook often and are short on time, these pre-made packages can be a great resource. Hot pot flavor bases, in particular, are not only for hot pot but can also be used to make malatang, stir-fry dry hot pot, or add flavors to noodle soup.

**Choosing the Right Flavor Base**

When selecting a hot pot flavor base, look for ones that are non-solid at room temperature. This ensures that they won't turn solid as you serve the dish on the table. Some popular options include shui zhu yu (water boil fish), suan cai yu (pickle mustard green), and fen zheng rou tiao liao (steamed pork spice). For a more intense flavor, try using shui zhu niu rou (water boil beef) or Mapo tofu.

**Mastering Chinese Seasonings**

Chinese seasonings are an essential part of many traditional dishes. Lao Lu zhi (old master brine) is used to braise all kinds of meat, while Char siu seasoning and roasted duck seasoning add depth and richness to any dish. Sweet and sour flavor and spicy garlic seasoning can be used to cook a variety of proteins, from eggplant to pork.

**Conclusion**

Cooking with Asian ingredients may seem overwhelming at first, but with this article, you are now equipped with the knowledge to navigate the aisle and create delicious dishes at home. Whether you're a seasoned cook or a beginner, these essentials will help you take your cooking skills to the next level. Happy cooking!

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enHi everyone, I am Mandy. Welcome to Souped Up Recipes. Today is a special episode. I am going  to take you shopping. It is very easy to get lost when you walk into an Asian market because all  those unfamiliar products are overwhelming. This is a comprehensive guide. I'm going to  walk you through the store, talk about all the must-have ingredients, and give you shopping  tips on how to pick the best product possible. I organized everything into different categories.You can navigate this video to find the most interesting  segment by scrubbing through the chapters.If you want to know what recipes you can make with a specific ingredient, please check the  link in the description because I listed all the dishes there. Alright, let's get started.I am going to stop at the produce section first. Let me walk you there.  Shopping in an Asian market is such an exciting experience. You can explore  all kinds of ingredients that you have probably never seen or cooked before.My first tip for you is to ask the staff to find out the date when they get new vegetables. This  Asian market is very typical. You know - small, neat, and run by Asian couples. Unlike big  supermarkets that can replenish produce daily, most small Asian markets do it weekly. If you  know the date, you can plan your shopping trip smartly to get everything as fresh as possible.I love these long skinny Chinese eggplants, the skin and seeds are very tender. Look for  the lighter color area in between the calyx and the eggplant body. The bigger this area,  the fresher the eggplant. As opposed, if this area is small or you don’t even see it,  that means the eggplant is old and it will have tough annoying seeds inside.I love baby bok choy (上海青). They are great in soups and stir-fries, but it does take  a while to go through a big bag like this. By the time when I get to the last bok choy,  the leaves already turn yellow. To minimize waste, I will tear the outer leaves from each  bok choy and eat those first. You can keep the center core in the fridge for up to one month.  This is more like a storage tip instead of a shopping tip, Anyway, it is useful and  it works for other vegetables that have similar structures, such as daikon cabbage and lettuces.These are Thai bird-eye chilies, we call it zhi tian jiao (指天椒). It is super spicy,  which means most people will not be able to go through this package in a short time but  you can freeze and use it as needed. If you don’t find Thai bird-eye chilies in the fridge section,  some stores will have them in the frozen section.This is lettuce stem (莴笋). It has a nice crunchy texture - great for stir fry. The  trick to pick it is to check the cut surface at the bottom. There will be a brown spot.  Sometimes it's hollow. The bigger it is, the longer it has been sitting on the shelf.Most stores will sell lotus roots by sections because a full one can  be 5 feet long. Look into the holes from the cut surface because lotus roots grow  in the mud and sometimes the mud will get inside if it is not harvested correctly,  which is a pain to wash. You just want to make sure the holes are clean and have no visible dirt.For the daikon radish, I will compare the weight,  and pick the more dense one. It means it is fresher and juicer.Besides that, I also love bitter melon. It may sound strange but I can never get enough  of that bitter taste. This is Chinese celery; it smells 10 times stronger  than Western celery. This is chive flower. It has a crunchy texture and a garlicky aroma.Here is the tofu section. In general, silken and soft tofu are good for  soups. Medium firm and firm tofu are good for stir fry and stew.I want to show you other soy products that they have. These are tofu sheets,  you can thinly julienne them and make keto noodles. They don’t have to tofu  skin here today today. They used to. I am sure they will restock soon. I do want to mention  that is because tofu skin is a great keto option to replace crispy egg roll wrappers.  I love these soy puffs, it is just fried tofu, but they have a spongy texture, so they become  super flavorful in soups and stir-fries. You can also make stuffed tofu with it. Alright, we are done here. Let's go to the seasoning section.Soy sauce is the number one must-have item. You will see many brands from different countries.  They do vary in taste. Some are sweeter, and some are saltier. So if you are cooking Chinese food,  definitely pick a Chinese brand. However, if you don’t have a Chinese brand on hand,  another country’s soy sauce can be a substitution.Besides that, you want to check the ingredient list and pick the one that has fewer ingredients  possible. Ideally, you only want to see water, soybean, wheat flour, salt,  sugar, and zero additives. Such as the Pearl River Bridge brand. It is naturally brewed,  very good quality. This store doesn’t have it, and your Asian market may not have it as well. So just  pick the best one out of whatever is available. Most soy sauce will contain flavor enhancers,  which is really hard to avoid, but you definitely don’t want to see preservatives  on the ingredient list because soy sauce has such a high salt content, it doesn’t need that.A lot of people are confused about light soy sauce and dark soy sauce. Let me make  this clear. Light soy sauce is regular soy sauce, very salty and umami. It is not light  in taste or low in sodium. Some brands just use the word “light” to distinguish the color  from the dark soy sauce. Conversely, dark soy sauce is dark in color and thicker in  consistency due to the added caramel. It is mainly used to add color to the dish  and is often paired with light soy sauce to achieve the desired presentation and taste.Oyster sauce is the second most important seasoning in Chinese cuisine. One thing  you need to know is that the quality is determined by the oyster content,  which you can tell by reading the label. For the premium oyster sauce, oyster extract should  be the first ingredient. Otherwise, it is more like an oyster-flavored seasoning.You can also compare the protein content, the higher, the better. The premium one has 5.2%  and the oyster-flavored seasoning has 0%. That doesn’t mean they didn’t use any oysters to make  this sauce. It is just the ratio is too low to count. If you have the budget, of course, go with  the premium one but the regular one is good enough for daily cooking so don’t stress about it at all.I do have a demo video on how to make homemade oyster sauce from real oysters and a vegan  oyster sauce recipe made with mushrooms. You can check them out right here if you are interested.The way how manufacturers label Chinese black vinegar is versatile and confusing,  such as aged vinegar, mature vinegar, Zhengjiang vinegar, Chinkiang Vinegar,  and seasoned aromatic vinegar. However, the brand and the name really don’t matter.  There are only 2 things to look for. NO. one - check the ingredient list, again,  fewer ingredients mean better quality. You don't want to see any preservatives because vinegar  does not go bad if stored correctly. You don't want any flavor enhancer and added color because  after aged for years, the vinegar itself should have a distinctive taste and unique inky color.Second, check how many years it has been aged. These 4 bottles, they are aged for 3, 5, 6, and  10 years. The longer, the better, which means the flavor is more complex. However, your Asian market  may not have so many options. Just choose whatever is available according to your situation. This  store only has the 3-year version. The 5, 6, and 10-year versions are taken in China by my sister.There are mainly 2 types of cooking wine on the market. One is Shaoxing cooking wine,  which has a brown color; the other one is rice wine, which is clear. You don’t need to worry  about the difference between them because they are not real shao xing and rice wine.  They are just cooking wine named after Shaoxing or rice wine, which means the taste is mild and  the alcohol content is low. They don’t make a noticeable difference for cooking purposes.To pick a good cooking wine, check the ingredient list. One thing that  you don't want to see is alcohol. I know it sounds strained right. Let me explain,  cooking wine is made with fermented glutinous rice or wheat where the sugar  is transformed into alcohol by the yeast so the original ingredients that they use  should not include alcohol. If they did add alcohol, that means this wine is not  made with the natural fermenting process. It is just alcohol diluted with water.Ok, soy sauce, oyster sauce, and Chinese cooking wine are the 3 major items that you  should keep but I still want to list some other sauces that I use often.Sichuan Dou Ban Jiang is known as the soul of Sichuan cuisine. I always look for this brand  Juancheng (鹃城牌), it is a time-honored local brand in Sichuan so the quality is better. However,  your Asian market may not carry it so whatever is available to you will do a fine job. Of course,  I will link this in the description if you want to purchase it online.Red chili oil I put on almost everything, but you can also make it at home; Hoisine  sauce is great for stir-fries and dipping. Besides that, I always keep sesame oil,  sweet flour paste, soybean paste, sambal chili sauce, siracha, black bean sauce, Chu Hou paste,  and Laoganma crispy chili in my pantry. I don’t have any shopping tips for these,  because you really don’t get that many options to choose from.Now, we are at the spices section. Five spice powder is essential in Chinese cuisine. Sometimes,  you will find a product called 13 spices. 13 is a bigger number, but it doesn’t mean  better taste. Five spice powder is actually made with more than 5 kinds of spices. The  word “5” refers to 5 different tastes, spicy, bitter, salty, sweet, and sour. It is just a  rhetorical name that trying to tell you if you use this powder, it will balance all the flavors  and taste. In my opinion, they are similar and interchangeable. Don’t stress about it  at all. I do have a recipe on how to make your own 5 spice powder. You can check it out here.Next, is Sichuan peppercorns. It's not spicy at all but it has a citrus  aroma and a numbing effect that will make your taste buds more sensitive to other  flavors. It really will open up a whole new world to your Chinese cooking journey.There are 2 kinds of Sichuan peppercorns on the market: red and green. I know it looks brown but  that is because it is dried. The red one smells super complex, but it's less numbing. The green  one smells a bit bland but the numbing effect is stronger. Unless a recipe specifically asks for  the green version, always cook with the red one because it tastes better synthetically.  When you buy the red Sichuan peppercorn, the more red the better, it means a fresher and  stronger aroma. You also want to get the ones that have fewer seeds. This is a citrus fruit;  all the flavor is concentrated in the red peel. The seeds will only bring you bitterness.Sometimes you will find Sichuan peppercorn powder that comes in a small bottle like  this. Don't buy it because after it has been sitting on the shelf for too long,  the flavor and numbing effect fade already. The best way to do this is to keep a bag of  Sichuan peppercorns in your pantry. Roast a little bit that is enough for 2 months. Then,  grind it into a fine powder and keep it in a sealed jar. If you keep sichuan  peppercorn powder for longer than 2 months, it doesn’t taste good anymore.Now we are at the noodle aisle.Let’s talk about the rice noodles  first. They have many thicknesses. This is super thin. I call it the Angle hair thickness. I use it  to make pork Chow fun. I use this medium thickness to make Singapore noodles. It doesn't break easily  and it doesn't stick to the wok. The thickest wide is best for soups because you can cook it in the  water for a longer time. These wide flat noodles are called hefen (河粉) in Chinese, you can stir  fry them or make soups as well. The recipes are endless. No matter what thickness you are getting,  you want to make sure there are only 2 ingredients on the list - rice and water. Some brands  will contain tapioca starch, I don’t like that because Tapioca starch makes the noodles sticky.When you buy Mung bean noodles, always look for the package that has the word  Longkou (龙口) because it is a city that is known for producing mung bean noodles,  so the quality will be better. These noodles are great for making egg rolls filling.Fresh noodles will be in the fridge or frozen section. Don’t get confused when you see so  many types and brands. They are just made with wheat and water. Depending on the additional  ingredients and the use, you can easily divide them into 3 types: egg noodles,  non-egg noodles, and alkaline noodles. Although it is convenient to grab noodles from the store,  I make them at home because it's cheaper. I save a lot of money by processing large  amounts of noodles at once and using them as needed because they are freezer-friendly.Near the noodle aisle, there usually will be a starch section. In this store,  it is at the bottom shelf - rice flour, glutens rice flour,  and wheat starch are essential If you like all kinds of dim sum, such as Taro Cake,  Radish Cake, Crystal Dumplings, Snowy Mooncakes, and Cantonese Ham Sui Gok.Besides that, sweet potato starch is a keeper,  because it makes a crispier batter compared to using cornstarch or all-purpose flour.It is good to have a bag of tapioca starch in your pantry. If you like to make all  kinds of Chinese meatballs because it provides a unique bouncy texture.Now let’s talk about pre-made flavor or seasoning packages. Personally,  I don’t buy them because I am a cook. I make them at home. But if you don’t cook often and  you are in a rush. It's very beneficial to grab a couple packages and make quick meals out of them.Hot pot flavor bases are not only for hot pot, you can use them to make malatang (麻辣烫),  stir fry dry hot pot (麻辣香锅), or even just add flavors to your noodle soup. The hot pot flavor  base contains lots of oil. You want to buy the ones that are non-solid at room temperature.  This package is not transparent but you can feel it. When you serve the dish on the table it will  get cold as you are eating, you don’t want the oil to turn solid. Trust me, it is disgusting.This one is called shui zhu yu (水煮鱼), which translates as pouched fish. Don’t get confused;  this package doesn’t contain any fish ingredients. It is just a classic flavor  that is known for cooking fish, but you can cook other proteins too. I do have  a recipe called shui zhu niu rou (水煮牛肉), which is the same flavor but I was using  beef instead. It is not a well-known recipe but it is insanely delicious.Suan cai yu (酸菜鱼) is similar to shui zhu yu (水煮鱼) but made with  pickle mustard green. Fen zheng rou tiao liao (粉蒸肉调料) - this is a rice powder mixed with lots  of spices. It is used to make stead pork. Lao Lu zhi (老卤汁) - this is called Chinese master  brine. We use it to braise all kinds of meat. They have Mapo tofu, spicy and mild. Here is the Char  siu seasoning, Roasted duck seasoning, sweet and sour flavor, and spicy garlic seasoning,  which is known for cooking eggplant, but you can cook anything with it.Alright, that is all the info for today. I hope this video is helpful to you. I know  many people don't have Asian markets nearby. I will link all the mentioned  ingredients in the description. You can check them out if you want to purchase them online. A special thanks to Lee Asian Market for allowing us to film so we can make  this video. Thank you for watching and I will see you next time. BYE!\n"