Kit out my Asian-cooking ingredients cupboard please!

[Posturesorposes]

Sorry to introduce such trivial topics when the news reel is depressing the life out of us, but upon my recent very successful toast toppings thread I suddenly realised that you lot may help me with kitting out my Asian cooking cupboard section!

Key info -

1. I am totally sorted for the Indian subcontinent (for reasons more than one). Don’t need anything further as have home sources for all things curry ;)

1. What I am after is my top favourite cuisines - Chinese, Vietnamese, Thai and Indonesian largely. Not into Japanese food really.

What do I need in the food cupboard in terms of key spices, powders, tinned vegetables, sauces? I think I might have lots for Chinese even (not sure though) but Thai and Vietnamese are needing to become Deliveroo or spice kits which when I look at them I think I could have those at home!

Currently cooking a spice kit green curry and really wishing I had a larder as well stocked for these cuisines as I have for Indian food... particularly as I like East Asian stuff more anyway!

1. I have already got -

Soy sauce light snd dark
Oyster sauce
Various chillies
Coconut milk

If and when you suggest stuff can you maybe also think if an authentic Vietnamese or Thai paste can be whipped up quickly? Or will it always need to be blue dragon? We have FT jobs and 2 smalls so dinner is usually needing to be a half an affair !

Thank you so :) and once again apologies for such trivial topics amidst such gloom :/

Asian supermarkets sell frozen fresh galangal, lime leaves, lemongrass etc, so you can just pull what you need out of the freezer.

White pepper
5 spice powder

Something else that doesn't seem to have been mentioned is frozen garlic and ginger. Will be cheapest from the Asian sections of large supermarkets or independent Asian grocers - under a pound for 400 g of crushed garlic or ginger, so you can just defrost what you need in the microwave with no prep required.

Hi, I live in Oz so it might not be avail over in UK. But I have sesame oil, mirin seasoning, tonkatsu sauce, rice wine vinegar, cooking sake, Chinese cooking wine. Oh and cornflower. Chili sauce is also handy.

For Chinese food:

• sesame oil (pure rather than blended)
• cornflour for thickening sauces
• I always have frozen coriander to hand
• light and dark soy (light for flavour, dark for colour)
• oyster sauce
• Shaoxing rice wine
• Chinese red vinegar for dumplings and noodles
• Knorr chicken powder
• Chilli oil with shrimps
• Fresh root ginger and garlic

... for basics. I also have an entire cupboard of Chinese ingredients, most commonly I also use Lee Kum Lee sauces (black bean and garlic, yellow bean or chu hou sauce and chilli sauce), fermented red bean curd and salt and pepper seasoning. Five spice powder, star anise, fennel, cumin and coriander. Also rock sugar.

Christine's Recipes is a great recipe website to follow.

Lee Kum Kee sauces.

Another recommendation for Mae Ploy pastes. Completely different to the ones available in UK supermarkets. They are fantastic.

Using that and a tin of coconut milk you can make a very good Thai curry in about 10 to 15 mins with chicken or fish. Season with lime, palm sugar, fish sauce and add different herbs, chopped peanuts etc for different styles.
Using that,

Btw beware the shrimp paste, it stinks!! And you only need the tiniest bit.

www.mythaicurry.com sells the most amazing curry pastes. The pastes are made at home by the Thai lady who runs the website, they come vacuum-packed so can be stored for ages. The flavours are amazing. My favourite is the Khukhan Mild Marinade, it’s utterly delicious. Better than any pastes or sauces in jars I’ve ever tried.

Sesame oil

www.wingyip.com/ do delivery via UPS if you can't get to one of their massive shops.

Zhx3's list is pretty much my store cupboard. I'm also a fan of Christine's Recipes.

Cock sweet chilli sauce is a staple in our household, always raises a from teen DD.

Fresh ginger, grate and freeze, otherwise it's mostly fresh stuff, though fish sauce is good (unless you are veggie) and rice wine too. Sesame oil and seeds I presume you would have.

Morrison's sometimes has bulk East Asian food in the world food section and one branch of Asda did where I used to live (near the university)

If you can buy fresh turmeric it's far better btw

@TottiePlantagenet thank you, Wing Yip was the name of the online store I was trying to remember yesterday.

Wrapping work up by 5 pm today and going on online shopping spree before taking the Little Rugrats over from spouse!

@JingsMahBucket

Get yourself some Mae Ploy Thai curry pastes. They’re authentic and used all over Asia in regular households. They’re inexpensive but excellent quality. We normally have red and yellow pastes in our house. You can get them lots of places, online or in person. I think Lidl might even carry them.

I agree these are great.

Follow Marion Grasby on Facebook or YouTube, she’s great for authentic recipes and she recently made something (I forget the name) but it’s made with dried shrimp and dried scallops. It can be bought in jars as I saw it in my local Chinese supermarket.

You definitely need shaoxing wine, hoisin sauce, dark and light soy sauce, MSG, sweet chilli sauce, oyster sauce.

If you can, Korean chilli in a pot is fab, and frozen bricks of garlic and ginger are helpful!

Eeep I’ve just spent a fortune at Wing Yip. Slightly nervous now. Do all these pastes and sauces and various I’ve just gone and bought need storing in the fridge the minute I open them? In which case I possibly need to use ingredients one by one which is a bit mad but the fridge is small for four of us and I totally should have thought this through :/ I mean - once I open say Shrimp Paste and simultaneously also Chilli Oil and then also Black Bean Paste - do they need fridge straight off?

I should have asked this very basic thing here first before buying that much off Wing Yip! I thought they could live in the pantry under stairs!!

I don't keep much stuff like that in the fridge as long as it's in a cool place.

@Posturesorposes

Eeep I’ve just spent a fortune at Wing Yip. Slightly nervous now. Do all these pastes and sauces and various I’ve just gone and bought need storing in the fridge the minute I open them? In which case I possibly need to use ingredients one by one which is a bit mad but the fridge is small for four of us and I totally should have thought this through :/ I mean - once I open say Shrimp Paste and simultaneously also Chilli Oil and then also Black Bean Paste - do they need fridge straight off?

I should have asked this very basic thing here first before buying that much off Wing Yip! I thought they could live in the pantry under stairs!!

Yes some need to be stored in the fridge ( it should say on the bottle ) But Shrimp paste, mae ploy curry paste, black bean sauce , chilli oil ,oyster sauce are better off in the fridge Shaoxing wine, sesame oil, vinegar, fish sauce and soy sauce are ok in the pantry. Have fun cooking!

I keep all open jars like that in the fridge and they last a long time.

I agree with @JuneFromBethesda. The pastes from www.mythaicurry.com are from another planet. Totally superior to anything else you can buy, so easy to use. Supermarket pastes are a joke , Mae Ploy pastes marginally better but about 20% salt. You should also check the site out for the advice on coconut milk, gamechanger when it comes to making curry.

I’m glad someone else is a fan @RoamingAsia!

Kefir lime leaves and sticky rice.
Soak the rice in salted water and then steam rather than boil to cook.

Oh and toasted sesame oil