Out of the box, out of the packet

[spaghetttti]

chan25 and Tepee made delicious looking rendang out of a box. I just saw a slew of Brahim's products at the supermarket and bought some along with a packet of Asian Home Gourmet spice paste for Hainanese Chicken Rice that I plan to try tonight.

What do you think of these convenient pre-mixed spices/pastes? Do you like to use them?

Edited November 10, 2005 by spaghetttti (log)

[SuzySushi]

As with any other convenience foods, I think the quality (and "authenticity") of Asian convenience foods varies.

I definitely use Thai curry pastes as it's not worth assembling all the fresh spices and grinding my own for the small amounts I need. I also use boxed Japanese curry mixes because the flavor and consistency of Japanese curries is almost impossible to replicate without them.

Strangely enough (or maybe not so strangely!) I also like the House brand (Japanese) seasoning paste for Ma Po Dofu, a Chinese dish. The flavor appeals to me, and it's easy to use.

Of the several Asian Home Gourmet products I've tried, the one I like best is the spice paste for (Indian) Rogan Josh -- which now that I've discovered it, I can't find any more in my local stores!!!

I'll be curious to hear what you think of the Asian Home Gourmet products.

[Tae.Lee]

i like the mae ploy brand thai curry pastes, they seem very fresh and natural

[hzrt8w]

Strangely enough (or maybe not so strangely!) I also like the House brand (Japanese) seasoning paste for Ma Po Dofu, a Chinese dish. The flavor appeals to me, and it's easy to use.

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I do the Thai curries (red, yellow, green) from ready-made paste because I don't know the raw ingredients. I do the Japanese curry from their curry cubes. Again, not sure how they make it.

But Ma Po Tofu can be made easily with chili bean sauce, hoisin sauce, garlic and chicken broth. I plan to do a pictorial on it. Pictures have already been taken.

[SuzySushi]

Ma Po Tofu can be made easily with chili bean sauce, hoisin sauce, garlic and chicken broth.  I plan to do a pictorial on it.  Pictures have already been taken.

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I'm waiting! The recipes I've tried for ma po tofu from scratch don't taste like the dish I'm familiar with from restaurants -- something's been off or missing!

[trillium]

We tend to be mostly purists at our house, Thai curry pastes are made from scratch, fried in coconut oil, and tucked in the freezer in portions, for later use. Rempah is made once a year and portioned out for the freezer. It gets used with modifications for nonya chicken curry, laksa lemak, sayur lodeh, soto ayam, sop kambing etc. Chilli sauces and sambals (XO, olek, sweet, ginger/vinegar, belecan and Thai roasted chilli sauce) get made and stashed in the freezer or fridge too. I remember we used to use Asian Home Gourmet a lot when the partner just moved here from Singapore, before he learned to cook his favorites. The laksa lemak isn't bad, nor is the satay sauce or the sayur lodeh packets. When you're homesick and don't know how to cook, they taste pretty good. I think they taste best when you've been away from home a long time. My mum likes those little packets of LKK mixes for Cantonese food, they're easy for her to just make dishes for one with.

We do occasionally use Mae Ploy curry pastes in a pinch, but I always add little extra of this or that, especially for the green one, which loses the fresh herbal taste.

As for Ma Po, I can't resist adding in my own two cents. It's one of those dishes from Sichuan that has spread to almost every corner of Asia and mutated in the process. The Japanese and Cantonese versions barely resemble the Sichuan original... which doesn't contain hoisin sauce or pork and does contain beef, chillies and Sichuan pepper! The Sichuan version is delicious, and I like the Cantonese version in it's own right, but I always find the Japanese one a little too sweet.

regards,

trillium