Fermented fish sauce: how it is made and used in cooking
We call it patis in the Philippines. According to Encyclopedia Britannica, it is nam pla in Thailand, nuoc mam in Vietnam, nam pa in Laos, tuk trey in Cambodia, …
Cooking ingredients
To cook any dish properly, a good introduction to the ingredients that go into it is a must. For example, when a recipe lists scallions as an ingredient, does it refer to onion leaves, or are scallions and onion leaves different from one another? What is the proper way to rehydrate dried mushrooms? What is fish sauce and why is salt not a worthy substitute? What is shrimp paste and why is it such an important ingredient in Asian cooking? All these and more in this section.
Butterfly pea flowers
Steep to make a blue herbal brew that can be drank like tea or use to make Malaysian nasi kerabu. The scientific name Clitoria ternatea.
Mung beans and sprouts for home cooking
Mung bean is a legume grown for its edible seeds and sprouts. How are the seeds cooked? Are they used in savory or sweet dishes? How do you grow sprouts from dried beans?
How to cook with kaffir limes and leaves
Called makrut in Thailand, the fruits and leaves of the kaffir lime are used in Southeast Asian cooking. The leaves and fruit rind emit an intense citrusy aroma. The …
Difference between garlic scapes and garlic chives
There are similarities in their appearance but they don’t look exactly the same. Garlic chives and garlic scapes are different vegetables.
Cooking with chilies
Stop calling them chili peppers. Chili and pepper come from different plants. This post is about chili: how to choose, handle safely and use for cooking.
Tofu: how to buy, prep and cook
Silken, soft or firm, all tofu is made by liquefying soaked soy beans to make soy milk then adding a coagulant to form curds. The drained and pressed curd is tofu.