Part 1: Cooking ingredients for Chinese & Thai cuisine

Today, it's all about ingredients in the Chinese and Thai cuisine.  This is just the beginning as I am only covering about the ingredients in my kitchen cabinet.

Ferns' hot curry paste
This is used in many Chinese takeaway spicy dishes such as Singapore fried rice and noodles.  It's highly recommended by Chinese chefs.

I purchased it for around £2.25.  I will share the verdict once I made the Singapore fried rice and noodles.

Place of purchase:  Loon Fung, East London

Sesame oil
It's used in many Chinese dishes.  I simply love the fragrance.  It can be added to many Chinese soups and fried noodles (before the noodles are served)

Place of purchase:  Loon Fung, East London

Ground chili with fried garlic
A Thai product.  I was introduced to it in 1996 when I first arrived in London, UK.  I never saw it in Penang.  It's a must for every chili lover although it tends to cause wind to my delicate stomach.

Add a teaspoon of the chili to your fried rice and you'll find the dish awesome.

Place of purchase:  Loon Fung, East London

Tamarind
Surprisingly, I found this in the local Sainsbury in Hornchurch, Essex, UK.  I never expected to see it but immediately grabbed a packet (69p, I think) so that I could make the pad thai sauce for my pad thai noodles.

Tamarind juice is widely used in many Asian dishes especially the Thai cuisine.  Tom yam & pad thai noodles, remember?  My parents used to make hot & spicy soup, as well as tom yam soup, using tamarind juice.  They even came up with deep fried king prawns with tamarind paste.

Place of purchase:  Sainsbury's, Hornchurch

Oyster sauce
A typical sauce in the Chinese cuisine.  It's typically used in the steamed dishes as well as stir fry dishes.  I tend to use the sauce in my lor mai gai (steamed glutinous rice).

I bought the Lee Kum Kee's Panda oyster sauce at Loon Fung.  I don't know why the panda was added to the brand.  But, one thing for sure, no traces of the giant panda are found in the oyster sauce!

Place of purchase:  Loon Fung, East London

Shaoxing wine or Hua Tiao Chiew

A regular star in the Chinese cooking.  It's a cooking wine and is used in many Chinese cuisine.  For example, my steamed glutinous rice recipe contains the wine. 

I bought it in February this year.

Place of purchase:  Loon Fung, East London

 

Ferns' hot curry sauce, sesame oil, ground chili with fried garlic & tamarind paste

oyster sauce

oyster sauce

Shaoxing wine