The Asian Market Cookbook: How to Find Superior Ingredients to Elevate Your Asian Home Cooking
()
About this ebook
The Key to Amazing Chinese Meals is Selecting Top-Quality Ingredients
Delicious, home-cooked Chinese food is just a few pantry staples away, thanks to celebrated chef and CookingBomb founder Vivian Aronson. Learn to select standout sauces, condiments, spices, noodles and more from the aisles of your local Asian market, then incorporate them into 60 must-try meals!
Vivian’s detailed guide will teach you how to pick the right chili paste so you can make delicious Double Cooked Pork Belly. And once you find the right sesame oil, your Sesame Chicken will never be the same. You can even whip up a masterful Miso Salmon once you’ve discovered the perfect miso paste at your local market.
With this invaluable resource, you’ll be ready to shop like a pro and prepare an impressive variety of recipes that capture the mouthwatering flavors, textures and aromas of any Asian market.
Related to The Asian Market Cookbook
Related ebooks
Traditions of South Korean Cooking: Learning the Basic Techniques and Recipes of the South Korean Cuisine Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Asian Noodles: 86 Classic Recipes from Vietnam, Thailand, China, Korea and Japan Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Let's Cook Japanese Food!: Everyday Recipes for Authentic Dishes Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Chinese Takeout Cookbook: Top 75 Homemade Chinese Takeout Recipes To Enjoy Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Korean Home Cooking: Classic and Modern Recipes Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Simply Japanese: 100 Authentic Recipes for Easy Home Cooking Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMini Quick & Easy Vietnamese Cooking Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Asian Dumplings at a Glance: Learn The Art of Making Gyoza, Jiaozi, Wontons, Mandus, Samosas and Much More! Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mrs. Ma's Chinese Cookbook Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMalaysia: Recipes from a Family Kitchen Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Chinese Takeout Cookbook: 75 Favorite Homemade Chinese Takeout Recipes For Everyone Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsNoodles Every Day Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Ramen: Japanese Noodles & Small Dishes Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Farm to Table Asian Secrets: Vegan & Vegetarian Full-Flavored Recipes for Every Season Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDim Sum Street Food Recipes Cookbook Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Japanese Hot Pots: 35 One-Pot Recipes with a Traditional and Diverse Way of Slow Cooking: Authentic Meals Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsJapanese Cookbook: The Traditional and Simple Japanese Cuisine Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Tokyo Cult Recipes Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Korean Instant Pot Cookbook: Classic and Modern Korean Recipes for Everyday Home Cooking Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSushi Modoki: The Japanese Art and Craft of Vegan Sushi Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Japanese Homestyle Dishes: Quick and Delicious Favorites Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsEasy Thai Cooking: 75 Family-Style Dishes You Can Prepare in Minutes Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Asian Hot Pot Cookbook: Family-Friendly One Pot Meals Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMini Northern Chinese Favorites Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsVegan Asian: A Cookbook: The Best Dishes from Thailand, Japan, China and More Made Simple Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsChinese Hotpots: Simple and Delicious Authentic Chinese Hot Pot Recipes Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsJapanese Homestyle Cooking: Quick and Delicious Favorites Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5
Cooking, Food & Wine For You
Back to Eden Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Quick Start Guide to Carnivory + 21 Day Carnivore Diet Meal Plan Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat: Mastering the Elements of Good Cooking Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5From Crook to Cook: Platinum Recipes from Tha Boss Dogg's Kitchen Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Snoop Presents Goon with the Spoon Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ratio: The Simple Codes Behind the Craft of Everyday Cooking Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The How Not to Diet Cookbook: 100+ Recipes for Healthy, Permanent Weight Loss Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsEat Plants, B*tch: 91 Vegan Recipes That Will Blow Your Meat-Loving Mind Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Small Apartment Hacks: 101 Ingenious DIY Solutions for Living, Organizing and Entertaining Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5What to Cook When You Don't Feel Like Cooking Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Complete Medicinal Herbal: A Practical Guide to the Healing Properties of Herbs Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Joy of Cooking: Fully Revised and Updated Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mediterranean Diet: 70 Easy, Healthy Recipes Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Whiskey in a Teacup: What Growing Up in the South Taught Me About Life, Love, and Baking Biscuits Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Carnivore Code Cookbook: Reclaim Your Health, Strength, and Vitality with 100+ Delicious Recipes Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Art of Eating Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Prairie Homestead Cookbook: Simple Recipes for Heritage Cooking in Any Kitchen Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Taste of Home 201 Recipes You'll Make Forever: Classic Recipes for Today's Home Cooks Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Everything Macro Diet Cookbook: 300 Satisfying Recipes for Shedding Pounds and Gaining Lean Muscle Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Betty Crocker Lost Recipes: Beloved Vintage Recipes for Today's Kitchen Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Salad of the Day: 365 Recipes for Every Day of the Year Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Cooking at Home: More Than 1,000 Classic and Modern Recipes for Every Meal of the Day Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Homegrown & Handmade: A Practical Guide to More Self-Reliant Living Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for The Asian Market Cookbook
0 ratings0 reviews
Book preview
The Asian Market Cookbook - Vivian Aronson
How to Find
Superior Ingredients
TO ELEVATE
Your Asian
Home Cooking
THE ASIAN MARKET COOKBOOK
VIVIAN
ARONSON 袁倩祎
Celebrity chef and founder of CookingBomb
Begin Reading
Table of Contents
About the Author
Copyright Page
Thank you for buying this
Page Street Publishing Co. ebook.
To receive special offers, bonus content,
and info on new releases and other great reads,
sign up for our newsletters.
Or visit us online at
us.macmillan.com/newslettersignup
The author and publisher have provided this e-book to you for your personal use only. You may not make this e-book publicly available in any way. Copyright infringement is against the law. If you believe the copy of this e-book you are reading infringes on the author’s copyright, please notify the publisher at: http://us.macmillanusa.com/piracy.
In memory of my grandma and grandpa, Chen Guo Xuan and Yuan Da Chang, who inspired me and taught me how to cook.
INTRODUCTION
Growing up during the 1980s and ’90s in Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan, China, my family ate virtually all of our meals at home. From when I was a little girl, my parents would send me to the market to buy vegetables, soy sauce and other cooking ingredients. Back then, there were no bottles of brand-name soy sauce or cooking wine, so I would bring empty bottles with me that I would have filled by weight at the store. On the way, I would keep repeating how much of each item I was supposed to buy so that I would not forget.
There were few restaurants in those days and they were considered awfully expensive. In order to eat good food, you needed to know how to cook good food. My grandmother did most of the cooking—she even made her own steamed buns, dumplings, noodles and mochi. A typical home meal in China consists of three to four shared dishes plus rice. Meat was expensive, so most of these dishes were either vegetarian or contained just enough meat to flavor the dish.
Markets in China were different from those in the West. I would buy meat, seafood and vegetables at outdoor markets. While similar to farmers’ markets in Western countries, you can also buy live fish, seafood and even chickens at Chinese markets. The vegetables and everything else you buy are weighed on traditional handheld Chinese scales. Most people during that time did not own refrigerators, so you would buy only enough to eat that night and return to the market for the next day’s meal. Times have changed! Now there are modern markets selling a myriad of brands and packaged foods just like in the West.
When I shop in Asian markets in the West, shoppers always approach me and ask which brand of an item they should buy. There are so many different bottles of sauces and packages of noodles lining the shelves, so it can be daunting for someone who does not cook Chinese food frequently to navigate the aisles. There may even be a dozen different types of rice to choose from. How can you choose a brand when you cannot even read the Chinese label? I decided to write a book not only to share my love of Chinese food but also to explain how to go about choosing common items in the Asian market. These include common items such as soy sauce and sesame oil, as well as ingredients much less familiar in the West. Have you ever considered buying fermented tofu or Sichuan fermented broad bean chili paste? What about potato noodles or preserved mustard stems? I will tell you what they are and how to cook with them. I will explain the difference between dark and light soy sauces and why they are both added to a dish. After reading this book, I hope that you will be able to successfully navigate any Asian market and be able to create a delicious meal for your family and friends.
CHAPTER 1
SAUCES
Oyster Sauce, Hao You 蚝油
Used in many Chinese dishes, high-quality oyster sauce is naturally dark. It is made from oyster extracts, sugar, salt and water. The founder of the Lee Kum Kee brand, Lee Kum Sheung, invented this sauce in 1888. This is the brand I use most often. The company also has a vegetarian version made from mushrooms. Refrigerate the bottle after opening it.
Miso Paste 味增
Miso paste is made from fermented soybeans and rice. There are three kinds of miso paste: white miso, red miso and awase miso. The different colors come from the length of time it takes to make the paste. White miso has a lighter flavor, a slightly sweet taste and takes less time to produce than red miso. Red miso has more salt and a richer flavor than white miso. Awase is a combination of white and red miso. Awase is a good choice for all kinds of Japanese cooking. You can buy all different kinds of miso paste and mix them together in your recipe to get a more complex flavor. One of my favorite brands is Marukome Ryotei No Aji Miso Paste. This is a high-quality red miso paste blended with bonito and konbu (kelp) dashi. Miko Awase miso is another good choice.
Korean Gochujang Sauce 韩国辣椒酱
Gochujang is a traditional Korean chili sauce made from glutinous rice, fermented soybeans, red chili pepper flakes and salt. It has a deep red color, a thick consistency like a jam and both sweet and spicy flavors. I love to use it in both meat and vegetable dishes. To pick out an authentic gochujang sauce, find one packed in a red jar with an English label on the back saying hot pepper paste
or red pepper paste.
Some of the big brands are Chung Jung Won (Chung Jung One), CJ Haechandle and Sempio. This versatile sauce can be used in noodles, hotpots, vegetables and meat dishes.
Sichuan Broad Bean Chili Paste, Dou Ban 豆瓣
Dou ban is called the soul of Sichuan cuisine.
This is the most important ingredient for many Sichuan dishes such as Mapo Tofu (here) and Double Cooked Pork Belly (here). In Sichuan, we call it dou ban jiang, which means bean paste.
It is made with fermented broad—also called fava—beans, er jingtiao chili peppers, soybeans and flour. There are many steps involved in making dou ban. First, the chili peppers are chopped and mixed with salt. The broad beans are soaked, boiled, then mixed with ground soybeans and flour and then fermented. After the fermentation process, the broad beans are mixed with the chilis and left to ferment from 6 months to a year. The highest-quality dou ban ferments for a year and a half. The most famous dou ban is made in a small town named Pi Xian and is called Pi Xian dou ban, 郫县豆瓣. The most famous brand in Pi Xian is named Juan Chen 鹃城. Look for this brand in an Asian market to get the best dou ban jiang, but any dou ban made in Sichuan is quite good. Other well-known brands are Dan Dan, Chuan Lao Hui and Shu Wei Yuan.
Sweet Wheat Flour Paste, Tian Mian Jiang 甜面酱
Tian mian jiang, sweet flour paste made with fermented wheat flour, is different from fermented soybean paste, which is made with soybeans. Sweet wheat flour paste is a thick, smooth, dark brown paste with a savory and sweet flavor. This paste is used in many dishes in Sichuan as well as in northern China. It can be used as a cooking ingredient as well as a dipping sauce. The Juan Chen brand also makes Sichuan-style tian mian jiang. Other brands that I use are ShinHo, Kimlan, Lee Kum Kee and Chuan Ba Wang.
Sesame Paste, Zhi Ma Jiang 芝麻酱
Chinese sesame paste is made from toasted sesame seeds and has a taste that differs from Middle Eastern tahini, which is made from raw sesame seeds. Chinese sesame paste is made from white sesame seeds, whereas Japanese sesame paste is made from roasted black sesame seeds. Many Chinese recipes use white sesame paste, but there are some desserts that use black sesame paste. See the chapter on desserts on how to make Black Sesame Paste (here). When you buy sesame paste in an Asian market, it is important to note that some brands add peanuts. I recommend buying brands made from sesame seeds only, so check the ingredients on the package before you buy it. Refrigerate the paste after opening and stir it before refrigerating to help prevent the oil from separating. The brands I like are Wang Zhi He 王致和, Liu Bi Ju 六必居 and Lee Kum Kee 李锦记.
MISO SALMON
Wei Zeng San Wen Yu 味增三文鱼
Far and