Whether you are cooking Chinese, Korean, Japanese, or Thai food, here are seven staple East Asian sauces and condiments that are a must-have if you love to cook Asian food at home.
There’s good news if you’re worried about being tight on space at home in your pantry! You can use these sauces interchangeably with any type of Asian or Western cuisine so that these Asian condiments can do double duty in the kitchen.
If you could only pick one Asian sauce from this list for your pantry, this would be it. Soy sauce is one of the most versatile ways to flavor anything, and its sole purpose is to provide savoriness and umami.
Most oils are used as an element of fat for cooking, but not sesame oil. It is solely for flavoring. It is made from pressed sesame seeds and has a deep nutty aroma and flavor.
Oyster sauce is a savory, rich, and flavorful sauce made with oyster extract and contains a lot of umami flavor. Like soy sauce, it can be used in every type of Asian cuisine and Western cooking as a substitute for salt.
Hoisin sauce is a thick dark sauce made of fermented soybeans with a sweet and savory flavor. “Hoisin” means “seafood” in Chinese. Despite its name, it actually doesn’t contain any seafood in it, (nor does it taste like seafood).