1. Asian service Asian meals are enjoyed communally, whether at home or in restaurants. Large platters of food are placed in the middle of the table for sharing all at once, and diners reach across to take what they want from any dish at any time. Occasionally, for special occasions or banquets, individual courses are served in a specific order.
Most cooks try to create a balance of dishes. Typically, a meal may include vegetable dishes, meat dishes, seafood dishes and/or combination dishes. Also important is a range of flavours, textures and temperatures. There are also one-dish meals such as noodle soups, chow mein, udon, donburi (Japanese rice bowl) and stir-fried rice that are served as quick lunch items.
2. Dietary preferences Religion plays an important part in the dietary preferences of many Asians. Muslims don’t eat pork, some Buddhists don’t eat any animal products and avoid the “pungent spices” in the garlic, leek and onion family, and some Hindus don’t eat beef or garlic and onions. Many Asians also abstain from meats or other foods for health or other reasons. Adapt any of these dishes to suit your own dietary preferences, such as using tofu, kaofu, seitan, tempeh and/or grains in place of meat or substituting seafood for pork or making dishes with spices instead of garlic and onions. You can also make a delicious aromatic-free soup stock from rinsed and rehydrated Chinese black mushrooms, soy bean sprouts and corn.
If possible, reserve one board for meat and seafood, another for roots and vegetables. Otherwise, use the front of the board for meat and the back for vegetables. Clean cutting boards with a mild detergent and warm water, rinse them well and towel dry them before and after use. Some Asians also maintain a separate board for cutting cooked foods. Thick wooden boards are most popular, but bamboo and plastic ones are fine, too.
3. Timing Serving all your dishes at once requires planning. Start the braised and stewed dishes well ahead of time. Steam the rice while you’re making the quick-cooking recipes. For stir-fried, pan-fried or grilled dishes, have all your ingredients ready to go before you begin so that you can add them immediately, to keep everything fresh, hot and properly cooked. Set up your work area so that the seasonings, sauces and spices are close at hand.
4. Drinks and beverages Typically, meals are accompanied by cups of hot tea or cold water; however, Taiwanese bubble tea is meant as a snack rather than a drink served with food. Beer is the most popular alcoholic beverage in Asia, and you can serve it cold with many meals. In social situations, drinking distilled Chinese rice wine with a high alcohol content (50% or more) is popular in China; in Japan, many people sip sake, hot or cold, with their meal. Increasingly, Asians are drinking cocktails, wine, Scotch and brandy with their food, so feel free to do the same.
5. Rice, bread and buns Throughout Asia, rice is the staple grain. Most people eat steamed long-grain rice, including jasmine rice, as an accompaniment to the meal, though in India, firmer, more fragrant basmati rice is favoured, and in Japan, short-grain rice, which is more glutinous, is preferred. Most Asians have traditionally eaten white rice, but brown and wild rice are now making their way into restaurants and households, especially in North America. Large bowls of plain, steamed rice are served on the side, family-style, with every meal.
Rice can easily be prepared on the stovetop, but most Asians use an electric rice cooker. If you’re not sure about the appropriate ratio of water to rice, the rice cooker contains markings that make this step easy. Add a few drops of freshly squeezed lemon juice to the pot of uncooked rice and water for fluffier and more fragrant rice.
Breads and steamed buns are also an integral part of some meals. Like rice, they are served communally so diners can help themselves, and it’s not uncommon to find rice and bread at the same meal. In India, breads are commonly served to soak up rich curries. In China and other parts of Asia, steamed buns and breads typically accompany saucy dishes.
6. Sauces and condiments Just as salt, pepper and ketchup are served with many meals in North America, Asian cooks offer staple sauces and condiments to enhance the flavour of their meals. Serve sambals with Indonesian meals, XO sauce with Chinese dishes, soy sauce with Japanese food, chutneys with Indian curries, kimchi and other such small dishes of cold or room-temperature food (called banchan) with Korean meals. Refrigerate all store-bought sauces in airtight containers.
7. Oils Many Asian dishes are cooked over direct heat rather than in an oven, so the most common methods are searing, pan-frying, stir-frying, deep-frying, blanching, roasting and grilling. Consequently, Asians use a fair amount of oil in their dishes, to prevent foods from sticking and to bring out their flavour. Canola oil is preferred, but peanut oil and corn oil are common, too. Butter is rarely used, though ghee (clarified butter) is popular in India. Unless a recipe specifically says to start cooking in cold oil, heat it first before you add any other ingredients! The hot, sizzling oil cures the food, preserves its texture and imparts “wok energy,” an umami flavour derived by cooking food in a red-hot wok.
For a crispy texture when pan-frying, use a small amount of oil. When deep-frying, use enough oil to just cover the ingredients and cook them in batches. You can filter and reuse frying oil, but when you’re done with it, allow it to cool completely, transfer it to a disposable container and discard it in the garbage or at a recycling facility (never pour hot oil down the drain).
8. Spice mixtures For best results, buy the best, freshest spices you can to make these dishes. You can buy whole spices and roast and grind them yourself (do this in batches and store leftovers) or buy premade mixtures. Store ground or whole dry spices in an airtight container in a cool, dark place for up to 6 months. Be sure to label them with the name and date. Place leftover spice pastes in an airtight container and refrigerate for up to 7 days. Drizzling a thin layer of oil over the paste before covering it will prolong its shelf life by another week.
9. Leftovers Most Asians make their food fresh for each meal and consume it immediately or at least the next day. If there’s too much food, invite more people to join the meal! Most of these dishes are not designed to be made ahead, refrigerated or frozen; however, you can certainly keep leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for a couple of days. Some delicate ingredients, such as bean sprouts or deep-fried foods, may become soggy, and starchy ingredients, such as noodles, rice, breads and buns may become tough. Having said that, some dishes, like stews and curries, taste even better the next day, once the seasoning and spices have had a chance to mingle.
At the end of the meal, loosen and fluff any unused cooked rice left in the rice cooker or pot to prevent it from setting into a starchy mass. Reheated rice loses some of its original taste and texture, so many Chinese refrigerate it in an airtight container and then use it to make fried rice or congee. Other options, though less traditional, are to add it to soups or stews or to make rice pudding. Freezing rice is not recommended, because it loses its fluffiness when thawed.