Have you ever tried to recreate a Thai, Indian, or Vietnamese dish from a restaurant and just had it... fall flat? Have you ever wondered how to get a Chinese stir-fry to really sing in the kitchen? Every cuisine has its "secret" ingredients — the ones that turn a dish from a weak imitation to the real deal. These are often the ingredients that are a little harder to find, or less familiar to Western cooks. Here are some thoughts on the secret ingredients of five Asian cuisines.
Here are five cuisines I've worked to learn, at least a little, in the last few years, and some of the ingredients that gave my dishes a big boost from bland to interesting.
I'm sure, though, that you have other thoughts and opinions on the "secret" ingredients of each of these cuisines... and more! Do share below!
Chinese (Sichuan)
• What you're missing: Sichuan pepper & chili oil
Sichuan (Szechuan) pepper is one of the key ingredients in Sichuan cooking. It's not a true pepper; it's really like a little dried flower bud, and it gives Sichuan dishes their characteristic ma la flavor — a tingling, numbing spiciness, instead of straight heat. Chili oil is what brings the heat, and it's also a very standard ingredient in Sichuan cooking.
Thai
• What you're missing: Thai basil & sugar
Balance is key in all cooking, but Thai cooking is built on an especially careful balance between sweet, salty, hot, and sour. A pinch of sugar can smooth out rough edges and bring a dish together. And true Thai basil, with its licorice freshness, when used in copious quantities adds a wild edge of authenticity to noodle dishes.
Vietnamese
• What you're missing: Fish sauce & fermented shrimp paste
Vietnamese cooking also depends on a balance of sweet, sour, and salty, although the end result often tastes more delicate than the robust Thai foods. But the key, I find, to good Vietnamese food, is remembering there is also a funky edge to much of it, which is added by fish sauce and fermented shrimp or fish paste (also very important in Malaysian and Indonesian cooking).
Indian (Southern)
• What you're missing: Tamarind & fennel seed
South Indian cooking has big flavors, but it doesn't get those from meat or cream as much of it is vegetarian and vegan. Like in other regions of India, this flavor comes from spices fried in oil, but I find that fennel seed is especially important in South Indian cooking. Its sweetness and aromatic qualities can really fill out a dish. And tamarind is also an authentic ingredient with its sour sharpness — it's so powerful, you really can't substitute anything else when it's called for in soups and sauces.
Indonesian
• What you're missing: Galangal and lemongrass
Galangal is similar to ginger, but it has a sharper, more citrus-centered taste, and it adds a flair to Indonesian and Malaysian curries. It's familiar yet exotic, in the way it tastes like ginger yet... not quite the same. Lemongrass is another pungent, aromatic ingredient that has its own quality.
OK, your turn! What do you think are the secret ingredients of Asian cuisines? What takes a Thai, Chinese, Japanese, Malaysian, Pakistani — or any other Asian dish — over the top?
Related: Care to Share? What's Your Secret Ingredient?
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How about saffron for Indian cuisine? Every litttle Indian grocery store locks up saffron in the display case and calls it "gold":-) http://7th-taste.com/2011/06/08/indian-saffron-chicken-with-oregon-riesling/
South Indian (Tamil Nadu specifically) in particular gets as much of its unique flavor from the oil or ghee that is used to extract the oils from the spices as from the spices themselves. Essential South Indian spices for me are black mustard seeds, asafoetida, kari (curry) leaves, fenugreek seeds, cumin, coriander and green chillies (thai or serrano).
Asafoetida, ghee, and green chilies for Indian food!
bonito for japanese food
Excellent list, KATE.S. I would add to that fresh curry leaf. You can always tell if a household does authentic South Indian cooking by the potted curry leaf plants around the house.
I think traditional Thai cuisine uses palm sugar, not the white stuff we're used to here.
I was told that the secret to Chinese soups and stocks was dried scallops.
Curry leaves do add a special yum factor. And I never knew I could have been growing them as houseplants! I wonder if I can get a plant locally?
For palm sugar, I've found light brown sugar works fine.
For vegetarians and vegans: note that there are vegetarian subs for Asian essentials like fish sauce. I don't know exactly how they measure up in comparison, but I use them all the time and everyone loves my stuff so they must be doing something right.
Thai also do use galangal, lemongrass (and keffir lime leaves) copiously.
I find a good bowl of Indian Channa Masala absolutely requires a big spoonful of asafoetida and amchoor powder (dried green mango, ground).
And as far as I'm concerned, no bowl of hummus is complete without the Turkish sumac and a sprinkling of urfa biber.
Rice wine. My Chinese style cooking has improved out of sight since using rice wine with gay abandon!
I'm not an expert on any of these cuisines but when I got my hands on some oyster sauce and rice wine, my Chinese cooking improved immeasurably.
Vinegars: Black for Chinese, Palm for Thai
For anything stir-fried or wok cooked dishes, I find oyster sauce adds nice flavor and depth to the dishes. I add this to fried rice, stir fried veggies, rice noodle stir fry's, etc. Be careful though, it is intense and too much will make the dish fairly salty.
Fennel? In south Indian cuisine? Sorry...it's somewhere in the lower middle of the list in importance..the primary spice we'd be asafetida and curry leaf for their aroma. Tamarind imparts tartness as opposed to spice notes..high on the list in southern Indian cuisine are mustard, cumin, fenugreek, red chile. And coriander.
Angelinethe baker... Curry leaf plan.. Your best bet is to look for them in the temples and Indian grocery stores..they're notoriously slow to grow so most south Indian homes never rip a leaf off their trees unless there is an extreme emergency..
I luv this post! Thanks for the info.
I've ordered a curry leaf plant from a seller on Amazon, which arrived in great shape and is still alive and growing a year or two later. And I do pull the leaves off for use.
http://www.amazon.com/Seeds-of-India-Curry-Plant/dp/B0034TQ846/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1344409578
I have to agree with Panfusine - I've rarely used fennel seed in Indian cooking. However, coriander, cumin, black mustard seed, and chili (either dried or fresh Thai) are indispensable. Curry leaves, fenugreek, and asafoetida are a close second.
I want to echo what Kate S. and the others said with regard to Indian food -- huh? Fennel seed?
In my mind, I felt my Indian cooking really elevated to a more authentic level when I started cooking with ghee instead of regular vegetable oil. That was the key ingredient that seemed to make a noticeable difference for me.
As for the other Asian cuisines, I hate to say it, but a lot of times the missing ingredient is...MSG. I have traveled throughout Asia a bit and my colleagues and I used to joke that if you have a dish that tastes particularly delicious, you know it is because there is MSG in it!
I just found vegetarian oyster sauce at the asian grocer, but haven't used it yet. Still looking for a vegetarian fish sauce (substitute) that I don't have to make at home.
Have to agree with the comments here on South Indian cooking and respectfully disagree with the writer of this piece. Fennel really isn't critical to south Indian cooking. It is indispensable to Kashmiri cooking. Kashmir being the northern most state, one could say fennel is critical to a type of North Indian cuisine.
India is a large country where literally every state can boast of its own cuisine. I don't think its essence can be distilled so easily into a post of this type.