Pantry Essentials

I try to only use ingredients that I can find here in the midcoast for my recipes I've been sharing here on the blog. Our local grocery store here in the midcoast does carry a lot of ingredients to make pretty many kinds of cuisines from all around the world. But whenever I have a chance to make it down to Portland, I stock up on all kinds of spices and specialty food at the Asian grocery stores down there.

A few days ago, I went on a huge shopping spree when we went down the Chinese, Korean, Thai, Indian, and African grocery stores in Portland. I thought I'd share with you some of the things I've got which are basically my pantry essentials. For those who want to really get into Asian cooking, here are some of the ingredients that are just always useful to have on hand:

First Stop: the Indian grocery.

Left to right: Ajwain seeds, curry powder, whole green cardamon, bay leaves, red lentils, whole nutmeg, hot spicy powder, cardamon seeds, cumin seeds, fenugreek seeds. Other spices that are my pantry essentials are garam masala and turmeric which I didn't get this time because I have still have two big bags of them at home already.

Most of these spices you can also find at local grocery stores in the mid coast. However, a few items you might be unfamiliar with are the Ajwain seeds, fenugreek seeds and hot spicy powder.The Ajwain seeds are a family of bishop's weed and they look just like the seed of bishop's weed. This is a common spice they use in India and you will often find them in the samosa shell. It actually tastes very close to thyme, so if you can not find them, you can substitute it with thyme. Fenugreek seeds are another spice I use a lot, but it's more commonly used in East African dishes and gives them that very distinctive scent and flavor. As for the hot spicy powder, I really just bought it out of curiosity. It's basically garam masala and also added saffron and chili powder. 

Second Stop: the Chinese grocery.

Left to right: Sesame oil, cooking wine, soy sauce, white pepper, dried shiitake mushrooms, szechuan pepper, beef stew spice pack, chicken and pork stew pack and coriander seeds.

Most of these are very common Chinese ingredients that you probably already have in your pantry as well. The only thing you probably don't have are szechuan pepper corns, which is a little hard to find around here. It has a very distinct flavor. It's not very hot but it will make your tongue feel numb. It is also one of the main spices in Chinese Five Spice, so if you don't have these pepper corns, usually five spice will do. Obviously, Chinese Five Spice is another essential I always have in my pantry which I already have.

Someone had asked me before what brand of soy sauce I use. I usually stock up on Jin Lan Chinese soy sauce or the Korean soy sauce when I go to Portland. Korean soy sauce usually is very dark and has a strong and slightly sweet flavor. If I do go to one of our local stores for soy sauce I get the Kikkoman brand (not the low sodium kind) because it is the brand that has the most authentic flavor. The store brand soy sauce is what you really don't want to get because it doesn't taste anything like soy sauce to me.

Left to right: Dried mung bean, dried red beans, rice flour, glutinous rice flour, soy beans, fries shallots, unsweetened coconut flakes, cinnamon sticks, chili powder. You are probably familiar with rice flour, but are wondering what glutinous rice flour is. Glutinous rice is also known as sweet rice or sticky rice and it's what we use to make mochi rice cakes.

Left to right: dried chili, bonito fish flakes, star anise and frozen pork belly. Bonito fish flakes are great to for making the base for Japanese noodle broth, such as Udon. It's also commonly used for garnish on noodles and street food as well. I've also bought some frozen pork belly because we love pork belly but it's a little hard to get them around where we live unless get them at the butcher, which is great but can be a bit pricey. Unfortunately, you can't always depend on the English label at Chinese grocery stores...  

Now I question what did I buy at the store?

Third Stop: Thai grocery.

Left to right: fresh Thai basil leaves, Pandan extract and fresh lemon grass. We usually plant our own Thai basil in the garden, but this time of the year we can only get them from the store. Pandan is a leaf commonly used in south east Asian cuisines and has a very distinct aroma. They often infuse the fresh leaves in rice and desserts. Another great Thai essential ingredient to have is obviously fish sauce, again it didn't make it on my shopping list because I still have a bottle of it in my refrigerator.

Last stop: Korean grocery.

Left to right: Nuruk power, Gochujang ( Korean chili paste), dried kelp and Korean pepper flakes. Nuruk is a starter culture for making makgeolli  (Korean rice wine). Makgeolli is a milky sweet and sour rice wine that is usually home brewed which is why some call it "Korean Moonshine." It's very delicious and unique, so I'm very excited to make it myself for the first time this winter. Kombu (dried kelp) is great for making the base for Korean and Japanese broth. This variety of pepper flakes is what I used to make kimchi in my first recipe on this blog.

One more Korean cooking essential I always have in my refrigerator is Dashida (Korean beef stock).

I hope this blog will give you a little guide for what you can have in your pantry if you are interested in cooking Asian meals.