SEASONING

Oyster sauce is a rich, brown sauce made from oysters and their brine, cooked with salt and so sauce and thickened with starches. It is a cooking sauce, it should be added to food only at the last minute of cooking. There are vegetarian oyster sauces available which are made from mushrooms often called Oyster mushrooms can be used to substitute. Generally cheaper, but contains more taste enhancers .

Plum sauce is a thick, sweet and sour sauce made from plums, vinegar, sugar, starch and spices. It has a smooth consistency with a colour which can range from pale beige to light brown. It is quite versatile; excellent as a dipping sauce for spring rolls or with duck - or use it for stir-fried dishes.

Hoisin sauce (Chinese barbecue sauce) is a thick, sweet and spicy Chinese paste made from salted fermented soy beans, onions and garlic. It is used as a seasoning, marinades and also as a dip at the table.

Fermented bean paste is typically made from ground soybeans. The pastes are usually savory, but may also be spicy, and are used as a condiment to flavor foods such as stir-fries, stews, and soups. The colour can be range from light tan, to reddish brown and dark brown.
(Chinese)
* Yellow bean sauce
a beautiful brown colour with a wonderful aroma. The basic sauce usually has just salt, sugar, flour and water or soy sauce added to it. Beside simple yellow bean sauce, there is crushed yellow beans, brown bean sauce and ground bean sauce. They are basically the same, each with a very slightly different taste.
* Chilli bean sauce
principally made with chillies and beans, either soy beans or black beans. Some sauces need to be cooked, others, such as Guilin chilli bean paste, can also be used straight from the jar as a spread or dip.

(Japanese)
* Miso
white and red (shiromiso and akamiso) are the basic types of miso available. There are many types- generally the darker the miso, the saltier the taste and denser the texture. Used extensively in Japanese cooking for soups, sauces and dressings.

Sweet bean paste is a food used in Chinese and Japanese cuisine, primarily as a f
illing for sweet desserts. There are several types of sweet bean paste. * Black bean paste made from black soy beans , dark brown or black in colour.
* Mung bean paste made from mung beans dull yellow in colour.
* Red bean paste made from azuki beans and dark red in colour.
* White bean paste made from navy beans, greyish off white colour.

MSG (Monosodium glutamate) also known as gourmet powder is a food additive, popularly marketed as a " flavour enhancer ". In its pure form, it appears as a white crystalline powder. When using MSG, no more than a pinch at any one time, and should not use it in every single dish that will be served at the meal; it should never be added to food until the end of cooking. When heated above 160ºc for extended period (more than 2-3 minutes) it changes chemically and it should not be sprinkled on at the table, for to have the correct effect, it has to be dissolved completely in the food before the end of cooking.

Palm sugar is extracted from the sap of various palm trees. Palm sugar is golden to toffee-brown in colour with a distinctive flavour. Palm sugar is often used to sweeten savoury food to balance out the salty flavour of fish. Its primary use in the Far East cuisine is in sweets and desserts.

Rock sugar is similar to coffee sugar, except that the lumps are much larger. There are two types, the most common of which is yellow rock sugar. It is made from light brown sugar; it has a unique, mild sweetness not unlike maltose. The other type is the darker slab sugar and sold in thin, rectangular blocks; it has a caramel taste.