Please teach me how to cook asian food!

So I can't cook, like, at all. I really like asian food, and it looks like it's relatively simple. So, can I get some tips/recipes, step by steps a la Cooking with Q?

1 - what kind of rice should I buy at the asian market?

2 - what are the different kinds of asian rice and flour noodles? Ho fun is the wide rice noodle, shanghai/udon noodles are the thick flour ones? What else is there?

3 - what are the typical spices used in Thai, Chinese and Indian foods?

4 - How do I make that oily chilly stuff that the guys at the restaurant use when I order my beef ho fun stir fry extra spicy?

5 - do you know any good recipe sites for Thai, Chinese and Indian food? I attempted to find a good Chinese recipe site and I failed horribly.

6 - What are the essential cooking techniques that I will need to master?

7 - How do you make sticky rice without a rice cooker?

I have a wok - and yes, I realize that Thai, Chinese and Indian cuisine are completely different from each other, but I enjoy them all and would like to learn how to make a number of dishes from each culture.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Quote:

2 - what are the different kinds of asian rice and flour noodles? Ho fun is the wide rice noodle, shanghai/udon noodles are the thick flour ones? What else is there?

If you're also including Vietnamese noodles, here are a couple more, in addition to Chinese noodles.

Egg noodles: These are thin, yellow noodles with a slightly eggy flavor. They're good for soup, frying, and more. There's also a variety that's a little wider, but it's usually less "bouncy" than the thin ones.

Pho noodles: This is basically a Vietnamese rice noodle that can be found in different widths. It's primarialy used in the Vietnamese dish, Pho.

Rice Stick Noodles (Mai Fun): These are thin rice noodles that can be used in spring rolls, soup, and fried dishes.

Vermicelli Noodles: This is similar to mai fun, but when cooked, it's transparent and has more of a bouncy texture.

Oh, and if you're planning on cooking Chinese food, you might want to invest in a wok. This is pretty much common sense, but when stiry-frying food, make sure you don't overcook whatever it is you're frying.

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Got a rice cooker? You're going to need that most importantly. No asian dish is complete without RICE! And I don't mean that instant crap. Screw that. Get a real rice cooker machine from various popular brands like Zojirushi. Buy rice by the sacks! Maybe not sacks, perhaps bags. But they come in their seperated form from their plants. Thousands of them all collected into a nifty bag for you to buy and haul away.

For every cup of rice you put into the cooker, add 1 cup more water than the total. So, if you have 3 cups of rice, you'll need 4 cups of water.

Your rice cooker should be automated in how long it takes to cook the rice. If not, you can always manually time it by 45minutes to 1 hour. After that period of time, you must sitr the rice inside the machine. If you fail to do this step, your rice will come out as dok. (From Korean to English, RICE CAKE!).

If it becomes a rice cake, you will have a harder time enjoying rice. Not only will it practically be harder and much more difficult to seperate with a fork or chopsticks, you probably won't be able to enjoy it at all as you weren't prepared to make rice cake. The end product would have no added flavoring, no snackable fillings (like red beans), and you'll just have wasted time and money. Stiring the rice exposes the inner part of the clump. So as your rice cooker continues to stay on and keep your rice warm/hot, it won't completely evaporate all the moisture added by the water.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Indian food are well known for curry. So, here is a little recipe that I found out.

Soutee garlic and onion on oil. Add chicken breast sliced into smaller chunks. Add a bit of sesame oil. When the chick is cooked, add "golden brown" curry then follow the instructions on the box. Simmer. Add any thing to make in spicy to your taste. Add any veggy that you like. I used carrots. Serve over rice.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Here's a "simple" and slightly unorthodox fried rice recipe:

Ingredients:

Rice, steamed in a rice cooker (3 cups is plenty)
2-3 eggs
a small bag of frozen mixed vegetables
a meat of your choice cut in small pieces (I usually use canned tuna, hence the unorthodox part)
soy sauce
oil

So . . .

1. You should have steamed your rice before hand since that is the longest part.
2. Make scrambled eggs, set aside.
3. Oil wok/pan and put in meat and vegetables, let it cook a while, or at least until the meat looks done.
4. Add the eggs
5. Add the rice
6. Add the soy sauce, not too much, just splash some in random places.
7. Mix thoroughly.
8. Let it cook a little more so it all blends in.
9. Stop cooking and serve.

If this seems a bit vague, my apologies, I tend to cook based on what was passed down and with experimentation. If there is anything that needs clarified, ask.

Most amazing jew boots

There's also a type of noodle called kueh teow. I've no idea what's the name in English but it can be cooked like fried rice or made into noodle soup and so on. And there's one that looks like rat tails that I've only seen occasionally and have no idea what it's called.

And you can cook rice without a rice cooker though it's harder. You can put the same amount of rice and water as you would in a rice cooker in a small pot and then put the whole thing into a bigger pot with water (double boil) it... should take about 45 minutes? tat way the rice wouldn't get burnt and would still come out nice. If you cna't be bothered, just cook it in a pot over the stove but make sure the heat is not too high or it'll be burnt and u'll have to watch over it carefully as it might occasionally boil over. Over you can always make porridge with it. Just add loads of water and keep on stirring to make sure it doesn't get burnt. cook it till it's cooked thorough and it also depends on what sort of consistency you prefer it to be. I prefer it nice thick and gooey so it takes quite long to get the rice grains to disintegrate a lil... i prefer medium grain but long grain would do as well. And different types of rice taste different, I quite like thai fragrant rice the smell is appetizing!

btw... here's one site I found tat has a few recipes there .. it's singaporean i think
http://tazzinthekitchenindex.blogspot.com/

and

http://kuali.com/

The recipes in the later tend to be a bit complicated at times but you can always use substitutes for the ingredients required and leaving out some stuff is ok .. hope this helps

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

I'll tell you right now:

If you're going to cook Indian food properly, you'll be standing at the stove for hours, your clothes will reek, and it's very likely to come out tasting like ASS.

FELIPE NO

Originally Posted by a_mcnugget

7 - How do you make sticky rice without a rice cooker?

you don't. go buy one... u can get a 3 cups rice cooker at CVS for like 10 bucks.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

You're going to need garlic, onions, soy sauce, and a rice cooker. I mentioned this in the "Rice" thread, but you generally want rice that comes in this bag:



There are smaller bags, of course.

As for possible ingredients to use for noodle recipes, I recommend trying:

- bok choy
- water chestnuts
- bean sprouts

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Guess you don't wanna learn how to make Pilipino food. It's okay, I can't teach you. ;_;

First get a pig...

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Quote:

1 - what kind of rice should I buy at the asian market?

I'm pretty partial to jasmine rice. It's a long grain, easy to cook, fragrant and taste great. If you've ever been to a high scale Chinese resturant (not Panda Express), then that's the rice they always serve.

If you end up fucking up your rice in the cooker, here are fix-it tips. If it's too soggy, lid your rice cooker and let it go for another 5 - 10 minutes, depending on the damage. If it's too dry, add enough water to get it moist, not wet, and cover and cook. It won't ever taste as good as perfect first time rice but it'll be pretty damn close.

Quote:

2 - what are the different kinds of asian rice and flour noodles? Ho fun is the wide rice noodle, shanghai/udon noodles are the thick flour ones? What else is there?

I'm no noodle expert but I don't think Shanghai noodles and udon noodles are the same thing. Shanghai noodles are the yellow ones that are more starchy with eggs and flour and udon are Japanese noodles that are sort of lighter in texture and flavouring (made out of what, I have no clue. Ask a Japanese person). Either way, I'm assuming neither as anything to do with each other in their respective cuisines.

Basically in Chinese cooking, noodles are measured by their width more than anything else. So you have your "skinny" noodles and "wide" noodles. Most of the noodles are the generic flour type with or without eggs in the batter but there are differences, like "ee mein" which is a egg skinny noodle that is fried. You boil it to soften it up and then stir-fry it with your choice of whatever (my mom typically puts mushrooms).

Quote:

4 - How do I make that oily chilly stuff that the guys at the restaurant use when I order my beef ho fun stir fry extra spicy?

Dried chilis and soak it in chili oil? Ask the "guys at the resturants"

Fried Rice

Your choice of Meat, ground or cut up into small bite sized pieces. Pre-cooked
Your choice of Vegetable (Peas, carrots, lettuce, etc.)
Long Grained Rice
Green Onions
Egg
Salt

If you want to make fried rice, using day old rice will yield a better product. Cook some rice, then leave it in the fridge overnight and cook with it the next day. Use a long grain rice like jasimine, short grain will chump and stick together. Fried rice is freakishly simple. Just add oil to the pan and add a beaten egg first. Scramble it into little pieces then add the meats and vegetables, whatever your flavoring, it's your fried rice so I'd assume anything is fair game although I like Cantonese pork and lettuce. Make sure the meats are pre-cooked ahead of time, the longer the egg stays in the pan, the tougher it will become. After everything is heated through, add your rice. Stir to heat, then add salt to taste and green onions to finish. If you want chow mein, then do the same thing except boil the noodles ahead of time, use mushrooms and long strips of meat rather than bited sized and don't add green onions are the end.

Meat in Brown Sauce

Cornstarch
Your Choice of Ground meat
Oyster Sauce
Sriracha Sauce
Baked Tofu
Soy Sauce

This is a Taiwanese dish that my mom modified into her own. You can mix it with noodles too, that's the more typical way of eating it. Anyways start with a ground meat of your choice, I like ground turkey because it's lighter. Mix in well one or two tablespoons of cornstarch and a splash or two of soy sauce, depending on how much meat you have. If you have a fattier meat, you won't require too much cornstach, all it does is make it more tender so I use it with my lean ground turky so it isn't as dry. Stir fry the meat in a big pan, then add the baked tofu, cut into bite sized pieces. Cook until the baked tofu is heated through, then add oyster sauce and Sriracha Sauce. I usually go about once or twice around the pan, the oyster sauce is salty and the Sriracha Sauce is spicy so add according to your taste. Mix the sauce in well, then add enough water to barely cover the bottom of the pan, this will be your sauce so add as much water as you want sauce. When the water is boiling with the meat mixture inside, add cornstarch slurry with 2-3 tablespoons of cornstarch in it (add cornstarch in with a bit of room temp water in a seperate bowl beforehand, dissolving the cornstarch well into the water with a fork to create a sort of cornstarch water, to cornstarch slurry as it's called. If you add the cornstarch powder straight into the hot pan, it will clump so don't do that). Stir until the sauce coagulates, then serve over rice or mixed with noodles.

Stir-fried Egg with Tomatos

Tomatos
Egg
Scallions
Rice

Easy. Add cut bited sized tomatos in a pan, cook to heat. Beat an egg and cut up scallions together in a seperate bowl. Add to the pan and cook until slightly firm. Don't over cook the egg, the point of this dish is a soft scramble with tomatos and scallions in it. Eat over rice

I have more but to make a stereotypical sweet and sour pork or beef and broccoli, you're on your own. Hate to burst the ethnic bubble but Chinese people rarely, if ever, cook that shit.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Anyone have any good Wok and Egg Noodles recipies? (really any noodles will suffice)

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

I recently start eating this for breakfast. It's simple with rice, eggs, soy sauce, and sesame seed oil.

You just put all the ingredients together and that's it. It's simple and very filling.

I was speaking idiomatically.

You can make sticky rice without the rice maker, althought they're cheap and easier. I have a copper pan that I boil water and rice together in to make mine. Just look up a recipe for "sticky rice" and you'll find that it requires cooked rice, rice vinegar (available at walmart) and a little bit of sugar. A lot of it is in the technique and how you allow the rice to air dry and stick together. A non-laquered wooden bowl is also nice, but you can get by without one.

Invest in a wok. Electric ones are kind of pricey, but typical metal ones will work quite well. Mine is a $12 pan from an Asian market that had to be tempered a bit, but it works nicely.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Originally Posted by Mucknuggle

So I can't cook, like, at all. I really like asian food, and it looks like it's relatively simple. So, can I get some tips/recipes, step by steps a la Cooking with Q?

http://www.nsknet.or.jp/~tomi-yasu/index_e.html
http://www.bob-an.com/recipe/English/index_e.html
those are two sites that i get the majority of my japanese recipes from, others you can usually find on the packet of one of the main ingredients. you can usually adjust japanese recipes into chinese ones as lots of them actually originated from china.

Quote:

1 - what kind of rice should I buy at the asian market?

there are three main types of rice, long grain, medium and short:
long - stuff usually used in asian dishes <-- what i'd recommend
medium - stuff the japanese use mainly
short - sticky rice

Quote:

2 - what are the different kinds of asian rice and flour noodles? Ho fun is the wide rice noodle, shanghai/udon noodles are the thick flour ones? What else is there?

there's also soba, which is has buckwheat and is a browny-grey colour, wonton noodles, which is basically another type of egg noodle though when you make it with wonton you usually just stick in boiling water for a very little while and then put it under cold water and then serve with the soup.

Quote:

3 - what are the typical spices used in Thai, Chinese and Indian foods?

depends entirely on what you're making and how you want it to taste, just because a recipe says use 'this' doesn't mean you can't use 'that'. how else would you get family recipes?

Quote:

6 - What are the essential cooking techniques that I will need to master?

none ^^ well just the ability to not start a fire i guess

FELIPE NO

For rice, I like to mix long grain and medium grain rice, and for the health reason, I also mix with brown medium grain rice as well. Just remember to soak it before you cook it and put a little bit more water. The easiest way to prepare Asian dishes, especially Chinese food, is to panfry garlic or ginger with meat and vegetable, then add soy sauce and sesame oil, then you have a delicious meal.

Myeronetwo

How ya doing, buddy?

Originally Posted by Mucknuggle

1 - what kind of rice should I buy at the asian market?

Flying horse brand jasmine rice, buddha brand jasmine rice.

Originally Posted by Mucknuggle

2 - what are the different kinds of asian rice and flour noodles? Ho fun is the wide rice noodle, shanghai/udon noodles are the thick flour ones? What else is there?

Probably the best kept secret in the world of noodles. Nissin brand instant noodles are probably the best thing you can get. I am not even kidding you, a bunch of restuarants in Hong Kong won't even hide the fact that they serve you those instant noodles. But they put it into their own soup etc. etc. it's got a japanese kid on the front with a latern running.

Remember with Ho Fun you have to peel them apart otherwise you get clumps of noodles. And really there is very little diffrence between noodle types. It's the same reason as to why the italians have a million cuts of pasta.

Originally Posted by Mucknuggle

3 - what are the typical spices used in Thai, Chinese and Indian foods?

There are two diffrent types of soy sauce Chinese people use, old and fresh. Old is for cooking, fresh is for dipping. Old is A LOT stronger and you definately don't want to dip food in it unless you absolutely love the taste of soy sauce. Simple way to tell the diffrence is old is a lot blacker than fresh, and it comes in a bottle rather than a vat. Otherwise, garlic, ginger, oyster sauce, etc.

And Indians? What don't they use??? Bay leaf, cumin, curry powder, yogurt, milk, coconut milk, salt. If you find it on a spice rack on this planet they probrably use it.

Originally Posted by Mucknuggle

4 - How do I make that oily chilly stuff that the guys at the restaurant use when I order my beef ho fun stir fry extra spicy?

You don't, it's called Chili Oil, best brand (as with all other sauces and marinades) Lee Kum Kee.

How ya doing, buddy?

Making sticky rice is really more a matter of the type of rice you use rather than how you cook it. Generally, if you want sticky rice, you should go for the short-grain (round type) instead of long- or medium-grain rice. For instance, the Japanese, who are known for their great rice, use a variety of different short-grain types.

And don't forget to rinse it first! On a downside it makes some of the nutrition go away, but it makes it slightly stickier and, more importantly, improves the taste.

Rinsing instructions:

1. Put the rice in a bowl and pour enough water in it to cover the rice.

2. Rince the rice with your hands by "rubbing" the grains against each other until the water turns white.

3. Dispose of the now "dirty" water, leaving the rice in the bowl.

4. Repeat the process 4-8 times, or until the water becomes moderately clear, for best result.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Is it possible to cook regular rice (not just sticky) without a rice cooker?

I've been considering learning how to make fried rice at home for awhile, but decent rice cookers seem kind of expensive. I don't typically cook much since I live alone and don't usually find it to be worth the effort, but if I can make fried rice and have it come out okay a few times then I'd be willing to buy one.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

You can cook rice in a normal pot, that's what the instructions on most bags of rice are written for. Just be sure to pay attention to where it says turn the heat down to LOW otherwise you'll burn the rice for sure. It's not a bad idea to check the rice a few minutes before it's done in case you cooked it a little faster than they expected, too.

And if you do burn the rice, you can still salvage whatever's floating on top. Just be sure when you're spooning it out you are really gentle towards the sides and bottom and you'll only lose about half an inch worth of rice on the bottom.

Also, anyone have a good recipe for lo mein? I don't even know what kind of noodles to use for that, and the Chinese places around here tend to be a little unreliable with their quality, so I'd like to know how to make my own?

Also, what cut of pork do you guys use when making doing a stir fry? I figure the loin would be best since there's not a whole lot of trimming, but I don't know if there's a cheaper one available that'll do just as well.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Originally Posted by Tritoch

Is it possible to cook regular rice (not just sticky) without a rice cooker?

I've been considering learning how to make fried rice at home for awhile, but decent rice cookers seem kind of expensive. I don't typically cook much since I live alone and don't usually find it to be worth the effort, but if I can make fried rice and have it come out okay a few times then I'd be willing to buy one.

The usual rule of thumb is to add an extra cup and like three quarters water with each cup of rice. So two cups cups rice three and three quarter cups of water. But of course each brand and personal tastes vary so you need to tweak it yourself.

So you add the rice, wash it just douse it with water and stir it with your hand until it is this murky creamy color DO NOT FORGET THIS STEP!!

Next you get as much of the water as you can out, and you add water. You know for absolute sure when the water completely covers the rice with a bit of room to spare, if you did the rule of thumb i told you earlier you should have done it right.

Next bring the rice and water to a rolling boil, after that turn the heat all the way down to minimum and have it simmer for 10-15 minutes. You'll know it's ready when the rice doesn't look shiny anymore. But try not to check on it too much cuz you're trying to steam it, and if you let the steam out you're just baking the rice and than you're gonna burn it.

I was speaking idiomatically.

An interesting way to cook rice: First ,clean the rice in a pan. Second, get a section of thick bamboo, clean it over and fill it with rice. Third, cover the outside of bamboo with salt (You can mix the salt with some water to make it more sticky), and airproof it with a piece of tin foil. When all of these are accomplished, put the bamboo over a flame, keep turning it around. Wait till the steam blows the foil out. Then just get the rise out and enjoy! This kind of rice can have a faint scent of the bamboo. The taste is really impressive.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

asian huh? well...most of the stir-fries i make are pretty easy. but if you want a REALLY easy one, i've got a recipe for Pad See Ew. my bf LOVES this! it's a Thai noodle recipe.

ingredients:
1/2 cup thinly sliced pork
3 Tbs soy sauce, light or dark is up to you
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 Tbs sugar (this balances out the flavour)
1 tsp hot sauce (i like to add this for a little kick. add more if you like)
1 egg, beaten
1 lb flat rice noodles (don't get the very thin ones or they'll break apart when you're cooking them)
the recipe says Chinese broccoli (gai lan) but i like to use regular broccoli, cut into bite-sized pieces - any leafy vegetable is fine as well.

method:
1. boil the rice noodles until almost cooked. don't cook all the way through because they will cook more when you add the pork, veggies, and egg.

2. add about 2 Tbs of cooking oil in a wok/pan and add the garlic to flavour the oil.

3. cook the pork.

4. mix in the rice noodles with the pork.

5. add soy sauce and sugar, mix well.

6. make an open spot in the middle of the pan and add the egg. scramble the egg until it's not watery anymore. mix in well with the noodles and pork.

7. add in the veggies.

8. turn the stove off when the veggies are cooked through.

9. serve while hot.

enjoy!

it may be a little plain, but you can always improvise and add any kind of sauce you like. my bf always manages to throw some teriyaki sauce in his, making it a Thai-Japanese noodle dish. lol.

if you'd like more recipes, please feel free to PM me

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Ultimate pro-tip: Martin Yan is God and "Chinese Cooking for Dummies," is his bible.

It starts you off telling you exactly what you need, and exactly how to start off making your own sauces and dinners. Great stuff. He also wrote many other books and has a ton of PBS specials.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

ok filipino food time :P
except...i do this by eye after soo long of experimenting and having to cook for myself...so here's the general formula for filipino adobo

1. ok you have ur meat (can be chicken...pork...or beef...no ground tho, even shrimp lol)
2. put that in ur pot, add soy sauce n vinegar (ratio depends on ur taste...so make sure you taste test it as you add...since that will be what ur food tastes like when ur done). pepper helps (either ground or peppercorns), and i like to add a bayleaf...tastes pretty good
3. close the lid, put the heat on high at first to get it up to temperature and when it starts boiling reduce the heat to low-medium (depends on your stove)
4. cook it for however long oyu want, the more time you cook it, the more tender it will be and more flavorful (basically depends on how long you are willing to wait)

i was gonna add fried rice...but there are recipes here and...it's not that hard to make XD, only so much difference (if any)
now i need to learn sizzling sisig (that shit is offa da hook good) XD

Jam it back in, in the dark.