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cuisines Must haves if you like to cook Asian foods

 Good soy sauce, good oyster sauce although this one isn't the best ive had, Top shelf fish sauce!!!! Chu Hou and fermented red bean curd if you want authentic Chinese BBQ. The Chu Hou is also great for braising beef, The LKK Hoisin isnt bad and the Kung Pao is ok with a little "doctoring". Ive been using it lately by adding just a little to stirfried noodles.
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Or reasonably good rice.
 
This one is good for budget rice. Its cheaper than Botan.
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If you have a Costco near checkout Kukuho Rose pink label. Its cheaper than Botan at Walmart and better.
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I prefer Koshihikari, Hitomebore or Akita Otome but i don't think most people are willing to pay nearly $25/15lbs or more. Its certainly worth it though if you like good rice. The top 3 on this page are excellent for domestic. http://products.wismettacusa.com/categories/rice/ Kagayaki Select is also very good but only slightly cheaper.
 
Some locations carry this oyster sauce which i think is about the best you can easily find.
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Asian "must-haves" and no ingredients for curries? How do you cook Indian and Thai???? ;)
 
Most of my curry is made from scratch except Thai pastes. Mae Ploy all the way baby and Maesri if i cant find it. If you got a can of good coconut milk you don't need much else for a really decent Thai curry. I love the Mae Ploy Penang with a little chunky peanut butter added. Real simple, just beef, onion, garlic and bell pepper.
 
For convenience i do get Ottogi medium powder (NOT VERMONT) when its on sale. It makes a great super simple Kare Raisu. It just needs some heat, fish sauce and i prefer it with a little coconut powder added but not enough to make it taste like Thai curry. I used to get S&B curry roux but its so expensive for what you get.
 
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jedisushi06 said:
I have the oyster sauce on the left of your picture but i haven't used it yet, but i do like like that the main ingredient is oyster at 30% instead of sugar like the lee khum brand.
 
 
LKK makes a couple oyster sauces. There is one with premium or super premium on the label. That one has a high oyster extract content. IIRC LKK actually invented oyster sauce. If you look on the ingredients oyster extract is the first thing listed on the LKK Premium oyster sauce. The pic i posted though is a very good oyster sauce and WAY cheaper than the LKK Premium.
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I want to try this one but no one carries it locally. Its 45% and no MSG
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Haechandle HOT gochujang is the hottest ive tried and less sweet too. I use the medium for most stuff though. My favorite Korean pepper flakes for flavor are the Assi coarse flakes, They are just really high in sodium but the flavor is great. I buy Korean pepper flakes in 2lb or larger bags most of the time. They work great for tons of spicy foods.
 
Cooking wines......I get 2 kinds, Chinese or sake (not sweet) and Korean mirin (sweet)
 
Lotte brand Mirin is about the best deal going and no salt is added. 14% ABV too.
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Chinese cooking wine and cheaper sake when i can get it. Gekkeikan Traditional Sake is over 15% and works really well as a cooking wine. It does not cost a fortune either. A 750ml should easily be under $10 at most places and the large "magnums" run close to $12.
 
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Dashi stock. There are literally tons of options but almost none have no MSG or salt added except........
 
This one....Riken and they even offer one made with anchovies. This is the one i use for kimchi jjagae base. It works great for miso soup too but the bonito one is better for that.
 
Sardine (anchovy) aka Iriko
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Bonito aka Katsuo
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