Understanding Chinese Ingredients

When my mother Leeann immigrated to Minnesota in 1956, she couldn’t find bok choy or oyster sauce, let alone fresh ginger, at the grocery store. She improvised and still managed to make incredibly delicious Chinese dishes for us (I am still baffled by this and her other magician-like powers in the kitchen). Today, much has changed: it’s not uncommon to find black bean sauce, Asian eggplant and cellophane noodles at the regular grocery store, or daikon radish and Chinese long beans at your local farmer’s market. The majority of the ingredients needed for the recipes in this book can be found at your neighborhood market, with some recipes requiring an occasional trip to an Asian store or some on-line shopping. In this section, I’ve compiled the key ingredients used in Chinese cooking. Over time, you’ll discover the ingredients you’ll want to keep on hand to make your favorite Chinese dishes.