53
votes
Is it safe to add garlic powder to sesame oil?
The concern with garlic in oil leading to botulism is about long-term storage, usually in the context of garlic oil as a 'shelf-stable' condiment; the botulism needs time to grow in the anaerobic ...
- 2,456
46
votes
Accepted
Is pad thai actually Thai?
It's Thai, but it's a relatively new dish as it doesn't date back when the country was called Siam, and it uses Chinese style noodles and preparation (with Thai flavors).
There was a coup against the ...
- 80.1k
31
votes
Accepted
How to make thick Asian sauces?
Thickening agents
To thicken, you would mix in an agent designed to do so. There are many options, but here are some that are directly applicable to Asian cooking:
Corn starch - Works well in small ...
- 949
24
votes
How to make thick Asian sauces?
Many such sauces include a thickening starch, like corn starch. This can either be mixed with some of the cold liquid and stirred into the hot, or used to coat ingredients prior to adding liquid (with ...
- 43.8k
15
votes
What is this slimy Asian leafy green?
Although it's hard to say without seeing the stalks, your description of the flavor and texture is consistent with Malabar Spinach, also called Wood Ear. It's used in a variety of Asian and African ...
- 75.4k
12
votes
What is this slimy Asian leafy green?
It's called Malabar spinach,my family grows this kind of vegetable in china.
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11
votes
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Cooks Illustrated recipe too Salty
The first thing that caught my eye was the soy sauce. However, I think the real culprit here is the miso.
From Wikipedia:
Typically, miso is salty, but its flavor and aroma depend on various ...
- 18.3k
10
votes
Accepted
What is this green cake with plastic-y texture, found at an Asian store?
Looks like Vietnamese Honeycomb Cake made with pandan and tapioca:
http://danangcuisine.com/recipes/recipe-28-banh-bo-nuong-vietnamese-honeycomb-cake/
- 176
9
votes
How can I get the smokey flavour in Hor Fun?
Another option is Smoked Paprika. As Jolene wisely cautions, those liquid smoke products are very strong. And even though it might be "natural" smoke flavor, it can lend a "synthetic" taste to ...
- 2,709
9
votes
Is rice supposed to be eaten with chopsticks?
The Chinese cultural norm is to eat rice with chopsticks. It would be very inconvenient to constantly switch back and forth between eating with chopsticks and a spoon depending upon whether you were ...
- 2,474
9
votes
Why is the English word "curry" used for all these different dishes?
"Curry" is based on the Tamil word "Kari", which refers to any of various highly-spiced side dishes intended to be eaten over rice. Englishmen from the British East India Company encountered the Tamil ...
- 61.4k
9
votes
Accepted
Why is vinegar not applied to rice used for onigiri like rice for sushi?
Not a Japanese chef, but I do homemade nori rolls and onigiri:
The purpose of the vinegar in sushi rice is to flavor it, not to make it more sticky. If anything, the vinegar makes it less sticky due ...
- 61.4k
8
votes
How can I get the smokey flavour in Hor Fun?
To add smoky flavor, you can add a drop of liquid smoke.
Do it drop by drop - be careful, it's easy to use too much and not be able to taste anything else. Liquid smoke is actually made by distilling ...
- 58.5k
8
votes
Is rice supposed to be eaten with chopsticks?
In Japanese food, I would say you use chopsticks to eat white rice that comes in a rice bowl. Japanese rice is short/medium grained and sticks together so you can pick up clumps at a time. You also ...
- 567
8
votes
Accepted
How to cook multiple batches in a wok without things burning
I admit that I've spent too much time in Panda Express... but you can see their kitchens from the line and how they batch their food - often switching from a main dish to fried rice (with egg) and ...
- 16.5k
7
votes
Soaking beef in water
In the west beef are not as "fresh" as in asia. The meat in the supermarket in the west most likely have been hanged and drained of any blood for several days. (Hence, there's no need to wash the ...
- 71
7
votes
Accepted
How is "Oelek" pronounced?
Sambal Oelek is not tied to any producer or manufacturer.
Oelek is a word indicating something was processed in a pestle and mortar, and refers to the mortar (if memory serves).
"Oelek" is the ...
- 2,167
7
votes
Accepted
How do I cook with Salsola (land seaweed)?
Salsola soda can be eaten raw or sautéed quickly - as a very rough rule of thumb, think “spinach”.
If you are looking for recipes, it’s helpful to know that in Italian cuisine it’s called
Agretti ...
- 58.6k
7
votes
How can I separate fresh rice noodles that are stuck together?
I think those are chow fun noodles, cut them to the desired size if not already cut, soak it in cool water for about 7-15 mins then hand unroll them. That how I was taught anyways.
The packaging ...
- 1,319
6
votes
Substitute for Chinkiang vinager
In America's Test Kitchen's recipe for Hot and Sour Soup (sorry, paywalled), they call for 5 tablespoons black Chinese vinegar or 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar plus 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar. So a ...
- 58.5k
6
votes
What is the best western/cheap substitute for banana leaf?
If you can find a local Asian or Mexican specialty food store, you'll be more likely to find them, though they may be in the frozen section. Part of the uniqueness of these leaves is that they impart ...
- 16.5k
6
votes
Accepted
What can we do if we accidentally buy tamarind puree instead of paste?
The only difference between the two is that puree has a little more liquid.
You should add more puree than the recipe calls for paste to compensate for it being more dilute.
In some recipes, the ...
- 47.5k
6
votes
What is the coating of this spring roll called, and how is it made?
It's regular roll made with net rice wrapper
It's common wrapper in Vietnam.
Here's site when you can see the package and rolls made with it bearnakedfood
- 4,121
6
votes
Is pad thai actually Thai?
It is Thai.
Pad thai has its origin from chinese noodle. It can be found every where even outside tourist area. Actually you can find it anywhere in the country. It is definitely not a new dish ...
- 207
5
votes
Substituting for Candlenuts in Indonesian Food
Author Lother Arsana has this to say in "Authenthic Recipes from Indonesia," (Periplus Editions):
"Candlenuts (buah kemiri) are waxy, cream-colored nuts similar in size and texture to macadamia nuts, ...
- 51
5
votes
How can I get the smokey flavour in Hor Fun?
While the some of the other answers point to liquid smoke or actual smoke,
I would suggest that the flavour doesn't primarily come from the smoke generated by the fire/stove, but by the wok, the oil ...
- 11.2k
5
votes
Accepted
Where to source Tapioca balls for Homemade Milk Tea?
I would personally go buy them at an Asian grocery or online (Amazon or something similar), but you can make them. It seems fairly straightforward if you have the tapioca powder.
Recipe One
Recipe ...
- 1,038
5
votes
How can I cut the flavour of Worcestershire sauce in a completed Asian dish?
I have never encountered this problem but I would suggest making up a batch of just the sauce, omitting the Worcestershire sauce and maybe going a little light on any of the other ingredients that ...
5
votes
Accepted
If I want a complex, yeasty soy sauce, what to look for?
Soy sauce should only contain at most 4 ingredients - soy beans, wheat, salt and water; Chinese ones often leave out the wheat, which is a more typical Japanese ingredient. The quality of the sauce ...
- 13.9k
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