Discover incredible ingredients that will lift and enhance your adventures into Asian cooking.
Gone are the days of travelling far and wide to experience foreign cultures – especially food. Globalisation, and the fact that Durban’s port is halfway between Eastern and Western civilisation, has meant that pockets of exotic cultures are evolving on our doorstep all the time. As is the norm, expats will usually settle in the same neighbourhood, in an effort to create what they miss most about home – which will almost always be food. Because of this, over the past few years, Chinese produce stores have popped up north of Durban – much to the delight of local restaurateurs and food enthusiasts.
My local is Sun-Sun Fresh Market on Umhlanga Rocks Drive, where I shop weekly for fresh produce, noodles, sauces vinegars and such, and the good news is that exotic produce such as Chinese cabbage, bok choy, yams, bamboo broccoli, sprouts, mustard leaf and Chinese celery are now all being farmed locally – a good enough reason to browse around and have a look.
Favourites of mine are a large selection of dumplings and wontons, great to cook at home if you have a steam basket; many varieties of dried mushrooms which are easily resurrected by adding hot water (and don’t forget the left-over water makes a quick and easy stock); a huge variety of soy, oyster and fish sauces; as well as rice and egg noodles in just about every shape, length and texture imaginable.
The beauty of Sun-Sun is that attached to the shop is a take-away, and if you have any doubts about the produce, you can ask them to cook you dishes with them so you can experience the ingredients first hand. It must be said that this is not Americanised Chinese, and is as close to authentic as you’ll get this side of the Great Wall – so keep this in mind and try something different. My “go to” at the moment is their crumbed pork chop with unidentifiable bitter veggies on the side – excellent!
Now that things are getting a little cooler I think that making a good Asian chicken noodle soup would be a great way to use a whole host of ingredients from your local Chinese food shop.
ASIAN CHICKEN AND NOODLE BROTH
600g chicken breast, skin removed and chopped into chunks
4 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon sesame oil
2 tablespoons tahini paste
1 tablespoon chilli and garlic sauce (from the Chinese shop)
splash of rice wine vinegar
1 tablespoon grated palm sugar
200g Chinese cabbage, chopped
half a cup of chopped spring onions
2 large cloves garlic, diced
half a large finger of ginger, peeled and diced
1,2-litres chicken stock
1 cup of bean sprouts
2 bunches bok choy, leaves removed and sliced
1 packet yakisoba or any other noodles, pre-cooked
half a cup of chopped coriander
Marinade the chicken in the soy sauce, sesame oil, tahini paste, chilli and garlic sauce, vinegar and sugar. Put a splash of sesame oil in a pot over a low heat. Sauté cabbage, spring onions, garlic and ginger gently until the cabbage becomes tender. Raising the heat to medium, add the stock. Once the stock has started bubbling, lower the heat to a simmer, add the chicken with marinade, the sprouts and the bok choy. Simmer slowly until the chicken has cooked – about 8 minutes. Add the pre-cooked noodles while piping hot and stir in the coriander just before serving.