Many people today eat a wider variety of ethnic cuisines, especially foods and ingredients from Asia – everything from sushi, matcha tea to gochujang and fish sauce. We've got 9 Asian flavors here to spice up your kitchen.
1. Filipino food influenced by Chinese, Malay, Indonesian and Spanish is gaining momentum. Flavors that are fermented and funky with products like banana ketchup, adobo, spring roll and halo-halo.
2. Gochujang, fermented chili paste used in Korean cuisine hits the right flavor notes of spicy and savory.
3. Korean BBQ is a method of grilling meat. A table grill is used to prepare the meat, along with garlic, vegetables and flavorful sauces.
4. Asian citrus flavors, such as calamansi lime, a hybrid of a mandarin orange and kumquat give meats a tart and citrusy flavor and can also be used in dressings and sauces.
5. Fish sauce, a popular Asian condiment made with fermented anchovies and salt imparts an umami flavor in many different foods such as soups and sauces.
6. Area-specific chili peppers with specific healing levels and flavors differentiate many dishes. For example, the devanur chili grown in Southeast India has a medium heat level and earthy and nutty flavors.
7. Broth is the basis for several Asian dishes such as pho, a time-consuming dish that consists of cooking bones, meat and fat along with aromatics.
8. Ramen, long considered the food of poor college students that is now the staple at hip ramen shops with a variety of noodle broths.
9. Soy sauce has sweet and smoky components that can be used for bacon and other cured meats. It also adds complexity to cookies and cakes, enhances the dairy, sweet and cocoa notes in chocolate syrup, helps moderate yeast activity in bread and can even be used as a topping on vanilla ice cream.
