Ever wander down the aisles of your local Asian grocer and stare up in confusion at the myriad of cans and jars of unidentified foods? Well, we’re here to help! These rows of shelf-stable products are actually a treasure trove of finds, and can really up your home-cooking game...if you know what you’re looking for.
1. Young jackfruit in brine
Jackfruit is a sweet, almost crunchy seasonal fruit from Southeast Asia. It’s almost durian-like in its pods, but much less pungent and well, spiky. Like the banana, however, this versatile fruit can be consumed at all stages of ripeness, with the young, green jackfruit often canned in brine and used in and !
2. Coconut milk and cream
Coconut milk Source: Camellia Aebischer
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3. Crab meat (minced crab in spices)
Asia has a reverence for shellfish, and with good reason! The sweet, chunky flesh is not only a delight to eat, but even when used sparingly, it can add an immense depth of flavour to any dish. If you don’t have fresh crab on hand, then pick up a tin of crab meat from your Asian grocer. They sell them both plain and spiced: the latter of which is a key ingredient in the Vietnamese .
4. Curry pastes
We’ll let you in on a little secret: as romantic as the idea may be, not every family’s grandma is slaving away making their own curry pastes from scratch. These pastes not only have an ingredient list as long as your arm, but the subsequent pounding, frying and storing of them is enough to induce nightmares. You can find a larger variety of curry pastes at the Asian grocer than chain supermarket, and the secret to capturing the magic of family recipes is often in the brand of the paste you choose.
5. Mushrooms
No no, we’re not just talking about tinned button mushrooms (although there is that, too). We’re talking straw, enoki, shiitake...and all the different types that add not only depth of flavour, but stoically keep their firm texture even with long cooking. Drain and rinse them before using, and then add them to your stir-fry, hot-pot, curries..or wherever you feel like you’re lacking in some mushroom-y goodness!
6. Luncheon meat
Tastes great sliced in a stir fry, cubed in fried rice or served with rice and kimchi. Source: SBS
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Korean army stew (budae jjigae)
7. Water chestnut
Water chestnuts add a pleasant crunch to stir fries and curries. Source: Camellia Aebischer
8. Bamboo shoot
Bamboo shoots soak up flavour in curries, noodle dishes and soups. Source: Camellia Aebischer
9. Grass jelly
Source: Flickr/Rosietulips
10. Red bean paste
Red bean has a long history of being used as a dessert ingredient in Asia. Usually sold dried, the tiny beans (also called adzuki in Japan) have to be soaked, slow-cooked and ground into a paste, before being , or into all manner of sweet treats. Thankfully, for the home cook, red bean paste is already sold in convenient cans, making it easy for us to enjoy the fun stuff!
Explore a Taste of the Territory with Jimmy Shu in his at 8:30pm Thursdays from 23 April to 11 June on SBS Food and On Demand.
