Sugar

Sugar has been used sparingly in the cooking of savoury dishes in China for a thousand years. Properly used, it helps balance the various flavours of sauces and other dishes. Chinese sugar comes in several forms: as rock or yellow lump sugar, as brown sugar slabs, and as maltose or malt sugar. I particularly like to use rock sugar because it is rich and has a more subtle flavour than that of refined granulated sugar. Chinese rock sugar also gives a good lustre or glaze to braised dishes and sauces. You can buy it in Chinese shops where it is usually sold in packages. You may need to break the lumps into smaller pieces with a wooden mallet or rolling pin. If you cannot find rock sugar, use unrefined demerara or coffee-sugar crystals (the amber, chunky kind) instead.