Sauces and condiments

Homemade Narutomaki

A delicious Narutomaki recipe to enhance all your ramen dishes When you’re enjoying a steaming bowl of Shoyu Ramen, you may have noticed a white cloud-like object with a pink spiral inside floating among the mostly brown ingredients of the dish. If so, you’ve probably seen a Narutomaki, a type […]

Ramen Eggs – Ajitsuke Tamago

A delicious and simple recipe for marinated Ramen Eggs, also called Ajitsuke Tamago or Ajitama Ajitsuke Tamago (味付け玉子), these marinated eggs with a slightly runny center, are an essential element of Japanese cuisine. Perfect for enriching a bowl of ramen, they also integrate wonderfully into donburi (garnished rice bowls) or […]

What is fish sauce?

Thai fish sauce is one of the basic ingredients not only of Thai cuisine, but also of much Asian cuisine. It has a rich translucent reddish-brown color and is added generously to almost all Thai dishes. It is often used as a marinade for fish and meat, as well as […]

What is katsuobushi?

What is katsuobushi? Katsuobushi is a staple of Japanese cuisine. It consists of dried bonito flakes, a variety of tuna. It’s very often used in broths like the famous dashi. Visually, it looks a bit like wood shavings, but don’t be fooled, it’s actually tuna floating in your soup! What […]

What is Black rice vinegar ?

What is black rice vinegar? Black rice vinegar is a condiment widely used in Asian cuisine, but especially in Chinese cuisine. Along with red rice vinegar and white rice vinegar, it’s one of the three varieties of rice vinegar. Completely black in color, black rice vinegar has a complex taste, […]

Sesame oil

Sesame oil is a cooking oil made from sesame seeds that is highly appreciated in Asian cuisine. There are several varieties made from either pressed seeds or roasted seeds, and they are used in different ways in Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and even Middle Eastern cuisine. Light sesame oil is generally […]

What is Shaoxing wine ?

Shaoxing wine is perhaps the most mentioned ingredient on my site that you’ve never heard of (and you let me know in the comments!). If you’ve ever wondered why your homemade Chinese food doesn’t taste like what you’d get in a restaurant, Shaoxing wine is probably the key element you’ve […]

What is oyster sauce ?

Oyster sauce is a rich, syrupy sauce used in Chinese cuisine. It’s made from oyster extract, but despite its name, doesn’t taste at all like seafood. Instead, oyster sauce has an earthy, slightly sweet and salty taste. It’s a mixture of boiled oyster juice (which has caramelized), salt and sugar, […]

Scallion oil – Chinese noodle sauce

Scallion oil is a very, very traditional dish that is quite unknown here. The reason is that many Chinese restaurants jealously guard this secret… but why? Well, it’s THE SECRET to quick, delicious, and extremely inexpensive noodles. In fact, I guarantee that by using this condiment, you’ll be blown away […]

Spicy Wing sauce

Highly requested, I present to you exclusively my recipe for wing sauce. Or rather, a general sauce for all the little fried appetizers that may exist: Ingredients for the wing sauce Gochujang and gochugaru: iconic Korean spices, I direct you to my article on the subject. Can be substituted with […]