The Steamy Kitchen Cookbook. Jaden Hair

      Dried rice noodles, egg roll wrappers, square wonton wrappers, round potsticker wrappers, jasmine rice tipped in the bowl, short-grained rice (popular in Japan and Korea) and dried rice paper wrappers for Summer Rolls.

      Coriander, fresh. See Herbs.

      Coriander, ground and whole Coriander is the seed from the coriander herb (better known as cilantro in the United States) and it can be found whole or ground. It’s got a sweet, citrusy aroma and tastes nothing like the fresh cilantro/coriander! The spice is used in lots of Indian and Southeast Asian cooking and I love using it my Quick Vietnamese Chicken Pho (page 58). If you want to make your kitchen smell amazing, toast a tablespoon of the seeds in a dry frying pan!

      Curry paste, Thai Thai curry paste is sold in little cans, pouches or tubs. I recommend the little 4-ounce (125-g) cans or pouches as they are easy to store and use. If you do buy the larger tubs, curry paste does keep well in the refrigerator for several months if you store it properly and keep it covered. There are many different types of curry paste: red, green, yellow and masaman. Each is made from a different combination of herbs and spices such as garlic, ginger, kaffir lime leaf, lemongrass, galangal, and of course chillies. If you’re new to working with curry paste, it’s best to add just a bit first into the dish, taste and then adjust. With coconut milk and curry paste in my pantry, I can make a fabulous seafood dish, like Mussels in Coconut Curry Broth (page 70), or the spicylicious Thai Coconut Chicken Curry (page 103), both ready in just 15 minutes.

      Dashi / Instant Dashi (Hon Dashi) is like the backbone of Japanese cuisine, flavoring everything from miso soup to braised chicken. It’s a stock made of seaweed and dried bonito flakes. Instant dashi or Hon Dashi, is used in a lot of quick home cooking in Japan, and making it so convenient to whip up a bowl of miso soup in minutes! There are vegetarian versions of dashi made from dried shitake mushrooms—though I haven’t found a vegetarian instant dashi. Also, instead of boiling frozen edamame pods in plain water, I add a couple spoons of instant dashi granules in the pot. You’ll notice the difference in the taste tremendously!

      Fish sauce is an essential ingredient in my pantry. It has a nice salty-sweet flavor to it, and you use it very sparingly, like Anchovy paste. A little goes a long way! There are several brands of fish sauce, the best one I’ve found so far is called “Three Crabs”. Good fish sauce should be the color of brewed tea. Anything darker (like the color of soy sauce) is a lower quality brand. If you think that “fish sauce” sounds like a weird ingredient, guess what? A big chuck of the most popular Thai and Vietnamese dishes call for fish sauce! After opening, you can store fish sauce in your pantry or refrigerator.

      Five Spice Powder Chinese five spice powder is a mixture of fennel, star anise, cinnamon, cloves and Sichuan pepper-corns. But there are different spice blends and sometimes with more than five spices. It balances all 5 flavors of Chinese cooking: sweet, salty, bitter, sour and pungent. Just a pinch is all that’s needed—it’s a strong spice and can take over the entire dish if you use too much! It’s great when mixed with sea salt to season chicken for the grill or just a few dashes can be added to any Chinese stir-fry. Five spice powder is a popular spice mix, you can probably find it at your regular grocery store.

      Ginger is actually a root, the rhizome of a name of a plant I can’t say 10 times fast, “Zingiber Officinale”. It’s one of the ingredients that I use in my everyday Asian cooking. When shopping for fresh ginger, look for ginger with smooth skin (wrinkled skin means the ginger is old and dried). For tips on how to prepare ginger see Jaden’s Ginger Tips on page 33.

      Green Onion (Scallion or Spring Onion) is part of my holy trinity of Chinese cooking, along with ginger and garlic. I use green onion in many of my dishes, either stir-fried with the garlic and ginger as an aromatic or sliced super-thinly on the diagonal as a raw garnish. To store green onions, remove the rubber band and place them in a small cup or glass jar that’s filled with an inch (2.5 cm) of water. Insert the green onions, root side down and cover loosely with a thin, plastic grocery bag (I store fresh herbs this way too).

      Herbs, fresh Fresh herbs are used as a major part of the ingredients, especially in Vietnamese dishes. I like to stir in fresh herbs at the very tail end of cooking, to keep its vibrancy and flavors. I also use fresh herbs as a garnish on top of a dish. Yes, the garnish makes a dish look prettier, with a pop of green, but my main reason is that I love snagging sprigs of the fresh herbs onto my plate to eat with the dish. Plus sprinkling the herbs on one side of the dish or on top makes everyone at the table happy. I can scoop a portion of the dish that doesn’t have the garnish for my kids (they’ll just pick out and waste the herb) and I make sure my big spoonful includes loads of herb, whether it’s cilantro, mint or basil. To store fresh herbs, grab a glass or a ball mason canning jar. Add about an inch or two of water and stick the herbs in the glass like a bouquet. Cover loosely with a plastic bag (one of those thin plastic bags from the produce section of supermarket works just fine) and it should keep in the refrigerator twice as long as when normally kept suffocating in a plastic bag in your vegetable drawer! Cilantro (Coriander): Cilantro is what I call this fresh herb! When I was little, I didn’t like the taste of fresh cilantro, picking every little itty piece out of the dish (mom loved it). Then one day, just out of nowhere, I craved the taste of cilantro and now can’t get enough of it! (Okay, truth be told, I was preggers with Andrew and I think that had something to do with my tastes changing!) It’s the most consumed fresh herb in the world and Asians use the leaves as well as the stems. Mint: This herb is so flexible—it can be used in savory dishes, desserts, cocktails and teas. It’s refreshing and brightens any dish up. Thai Basil has a bit stronger taste than regular sweet basil that you find in supermarkets. But honestly, you can’t really tell the difference in a dish! It’s got purple stems and really beautiful purple flowers that look pretty as a garnish. Substitute sweet Italian basil if you can’t find Thai basil.

      Hoisin This Chinese sauce is made of soybeans and it’s sweet, sticky and garlicky—which is why I describe it as “Chinese sweet BBQ sauce”. It’s used as a condiment for smearing on pancakes or buns for the popular Peking Duck and Moo Shu Pork dishes. I like hoisin sauce, but when I use it, it’s with a light touch and in combination with other sauces.

      Kaffir Lime Leaves are used in a lot of Southeast Asian dishes—the double leaves of the tree are incredibly fragrant and one whiff will instantly remind you of Thai dishes. You can use them like bay leaves, just tear the leaf (keeping it whole) in several places and drop in your soup or dish. If you can’t get kaffir lime leaves fresh, check the freezer section or you can buy dried leaves. I also like to julienne fresh kaffir lime leaves into the thinnest slivers possible and add to a stir-fry. Substitute with a couple wide strips of lime peel. Grab a vegetable peeler and peel a strip of the thin outer green skin off the lime (avoid the white pithy part).

      Kimchi I don’t think I’ve ever been in a Korean family’s home without the sight of kimchi in their refrigerator. Kimchi, or kimchee, is pickled or fermented vegetables and there are hundreds of different kinds. The one most popular is made of Napa cabbage, garlic, carrots and lots of chilli powder. It stores pretty well in your refrigerator and for me, the more it ages, the better it tastes! It’s used as a spicy condiment, though I can make an entire meal out of white rice, kimchee and a few sheets of seasoned seaweed sheets (nori).

      Lemongrass I grow lemongrass in the backyard because I use it so much! Lemongrass is well, a grass, that’s native to Southeast Asia. You only use the bottom 4–6 inches (10 to 15 cm) of the thick stalk, as it’s got a wonderful light lemony fragrance and taste. Look for lemongrass that is light green and fresh looking. Lemongrass is very fibrous and tough, so you’ll either smash the stalk to release flavors and add to soups (remove and discard before serving) or mince it very finely. To use, cut the bottom 4 to 6 inches (10 to 15 cm) of the stalk (discard the rest) peel away the outermost layers of the stalk and discard. To infuse for soups, curries: slice stalk in half lengthwise. Use something heavy to bruise the stalk just a bit to release flavors. Rings: slice the stalk into super-thin rings. Mince: run your knife through the rings, back and forth to finely mince. Grated: my favorite way is to grate the lemongrass with a microplane grater. You’ll get incredibly fine lemon-grass without the fiber. I don’t like lemon-grass paste or powder (yuck). The frozen stuff is not bad, but I’d rather substitute with