What is needed to cook a Chinese meal? Today, I will highlight what you can typically find in a Chinese kitchen and pantry. If you plan on trying some of my recipes, you may want to consider acquiring some of these items before embarking on the recipes. Below is a list of things in my own kitchen, but I will also highlight some of them and why they are so useful.
Soy sauce is essentially the salt of Chinese cooking, so this is a critical item you need. A close second is rice wine, which is the general cooking wine. There are other blogs that explain rice wine better than me, but generally rice wine is great for removing the bad smells of meats, is a tenderizer, and enhances aromas. Cornstarch is often used as a tenderizer for meats in the marination process as well as a thickener for sauces. Oyster sauce adds sweetness and umami to many marinades and sauces. Sesame oil has its own unique flavor, but is also a flavor enhancer. It has a higher smoking point compared to vegetable oils and olive oil, so some recipes may even use sesame oil as a frying oil to brown foods without charring foods too soon. Chinese also often used dried goods as additional ingredients to flavor their dishes. By far the most common dried good is dried shiitake mushrooms. Lastly, short grain steamed white rice is often what accompanies most Chinese dishes, so it is very common to see rice cookers in Chinese homes. I prefer to use a ceramic pot (Le Crueset) to cook my rice, but the idea is the same: wash rice, boil and then steam the rice until done (don’t let the steam escape!). White rice is sticky, so it is easily eaten with chopsticks unlike other types of rice and methods of cooking rice. Take a look below and if you have most of these items you’ll see that you can cook numerous Chinese dishes!
Equipment:
- Large stainless steel wok and spatula
- Rice cooker or ceramic pot
- Steamer rack
- Heat safe ceramic bowls/pyrex bowls/platters
Below are the commonly used sauces as I mentioned above and can be often found in the Asian condiments section of many grocery stores. However, I have listed some common brands that Chinese cooks use that Chinese buy from Chinese grocery stores:
- Soy sauce (common brand: Kikkoman)
- Shaoxing rice wine (Qian Hu, Pagoda)
- Sesame oil (Maruhon)
- Oyster sauce (Lee Kum Kee)
- Hoisin sauce (Lee Kum Kee)
- Rice vinegar (Lee Kum Kee)
- Check out some of these recipes using these common sauces:
These other commonly used sauces in dishes are not as commonly found in all grocery stores, but can be found in Chinese grocery stores:
- XO sauce (Lee Kum Kee)
- Black bean sauce/Black beans (Lee Kum Kee)
- Black vinegar (Koon Chun, Kong Yen)
These commonly used spices can often be found in any grocery store or Chinese grocer:
Commonly used dried or preserved goods are often sold in Chinese grocers or Chinese stores that focus just on selling these dried goods:
- Check out some of these recipes with these dry ingredients:
Most importantly, Chinese meals usually have a few dishes served with white rice for a meal. Common brands include Nishiki and Kokuho Rose. I personally prefer Japanese white rice/sushi rice brands that are grown in California such as Kagayaki. Some recipes call for sweet (glutinous) rice (e.g. Thai Mango Sticky Rice), which is even stickier and sweeter, but this type of rice requires another method of cooking and is for specific recipes.
If you want to know more about how to cook Asian white rice, see my article about “How to cook Asian white rice”!
That should do it for the basics. If you enjoy cooking with these, look out for additional postings on the homepage under Cooking Technique Dishes or Recommended Products & Stores headings or look out for future postings where I will introduce other ingredients, cooking techniques and kitchen tools for Asian cooking! Happy cooking!
