Cornflour

In China and Asia many types of flour and starch — water-chestnut powder, taro starch and arrowroot, for example — are used to bind and thicken sauces and to make batters. Traditional cooks used a bean flour because it thickened faster and held longer. In Hong Kong, sauces are light and barely coat the food. Food is never swimming in a thick sauce.

Cornflour is now also widely used in the new Hong Kong cooking. As part of a marinade, it helps to coat the food properly, and it gives dishes a velvety texture. It also protects food during deep-frying by helping to seal in the juices, and gives a crisper coating than flour. It can be used as a binder for minced stuffings. When used in sauces cornflour is invariably blended with cold water until it forms a smooth paste and added at the last moment. It will look milky at first, but when the sauce is done, turns clear and shiny as it thickens.