Grab Your Chopsticks!

There are only a few basic tools when it comes to Asian cooking which vary slightly between the Asian cooking styles, and most of the utensils are available in some or other form in the Western kitchen. However, due to the fact that Asian utensils have been time tested over thousands of years and usually serve a special funtion and as a result may not always be fulfilled by their modern counterpart.

We will list the utensils below:

Chappati Griddle – A very thick based but shallow pan for the cooking of Chappati. Usually made from iron, it’s thick base and construction allow it to become hot without warping and to cook chappati and other breads without burning.

Chopping board – A large piece of wood or other suitable material used for the chopping of food. Generally, thicker boards make better boards and will last longer.

Cleaver – Used in most forms of Asian cooking, the cleaver is a heavy flat knife used for a variety of tasks from hacking, choping and bashing to delicately slicing. The blade is very sharp.

Colander – Common in Western kitchens the colander is used for straining water from vegetables and other foods.

Cooking chopsticks – While most modern chefs will use spatulas to stir around food in the wok or pan, the more classical method is to use cooking chopsticks. These are similar to ordinary chopsticks but are much thicker and longer.

Food processor – Food processors while being relatively modern technology have found their way into many modern Asian kitchens. They are used to grind up spices and to shred foods.

Karai – The Karai is the Indian equivilent of the wok but is made from heavier metal.

Ladle – Very similar to a modern day soup ladle, used for dishing curries and soups.

Mortar and Pestle – A very popular method of grinding spices however this method is being replaced by the food processor. A mortar is a heavy stone bowl and a heavy stone pestle is held in the hand and used to crush the spices placed in the mortar.

Rice paddle – A rice paddle is a bamboo spoon with the end cut off at an angle. It is used for ‘fluffing’ newly cooked rice. Fluffing as the name sounds makes cooked rice fluffy which is a very common practice in Japan.

Sandpot – The sandpot is used for slow cooking. Made of earthware, dishes requiring slow cooking can be placed upon a stove over a very low heat.

Sharpening stone – Used for sharpening knives, particularly the cleaver.

Spatula – The scooped ladle has a curved blade which matches the contours of the wok. Used primarily for stir frying, with quick swift movements the food can be moved around the wok in such a way that the maximum heat can be gained from the sides and bottom of the wok.

Steamer – Steamers are used for cooking food in a very healthy method. With the power of hot steam, food can be cooked without the introduction of oils. Traditional Chinese steamers are made of bamboo. Modern equivilents vary from simple stainless steel versions to complete ‘steam machines’.

Strainer – Usually a loosely woven round wire mesh attached to a bamboo handle, but more modernly a large metal spoon with holes in it. Its purpose is to strain foods removed from hot oils or stocks.

Wok – The Wok is the single most utilised Asian cooking utensil. Although the different cultures have different names for the utensil it is usually only slightly varied from the Chinese Wok. The Wok is a round bottomed pan with high sides usually with some sort of handle. It’s main function is for stir frying, but is equally adept as a deep fat frier, a standard frying pan, it can be used for braising, boiling, steaming and poaching. So much can be done in this one utensil that many find that they do not need any other pans.

Wok scoop – The wok scoop is a hybrid of a spoon, a ladle and a spatula, and is shaped to the contours of the wok, it allows for the rapid stiring of foods in the wok, but may be used for other purposes as well.

Zesting tool – A small implement that removed thin pieced of zest (rind) from citrus fruits, which can be used in many South-east Asian foods.

There are of course many more utensils that can be used and have been used, however these that have been detailed above are the most common.

It would be hard to define the basics of Asian cooking. In China alone there are many different styles ranging from the fertile North where the crops are watered by the Yangtze River, to the South’s Cantonese Guangdong Province style and the West’s Szechuan and Hunan Provinces. Our scope of Asian food goes farther afield even than this, including Chinese, Indian, Indonesian, Japanese, Malaysian, Philippine, Thai, Vietnamese and the latest in the family, Fusion.

Fusion isn’t strictly Asian food, but since it has an Asian influence we decided to include it. Fusion, for those who don’t know, is the literal fusion of Asian cuisines and that of the rest of the World. Known also as East meets West, this delicious combination marries the foods of the West with the spices and presentation of the East and vice versa.

Asian cooking is an art spanning many centuries. As early as 3000BC, the Chinese were practicing their cuisine, though not as elegant as modern Asian cooking it was way ahead of its time. Along similar lines the Indians developed their cuisine and all the provinces and countries between were influenced by both sides, although merit to their own cuisines should definitely not be discounted.

Looking at a map of Asia, you have India on the far left, and China and further afield on the far right. Imagine a pot of curry spices next to India and a bottle of Soy Sauce next to China. You can start to get the idea of how two different cooking techniques came to merge across the countries in between. For instance, the Indians use lots of curry in their dishes, but very little (if any at all) Soy Sauce. China however, uses lots of Soy Sauce, but very little (if any at all) curry. Thailand however, and those in between use both and more, in essence a kind of fusion occurred in this region over time. Now that Asian food has become quite popular, the West has borrowed some techniques from the East and no doubt the East from the West. True fusion cuisine takes the best of the best.

Cutting techniques also differ between the Asian countries, the Indians prefer a chunky, cubed sized piece of meat, about 2.5cm x 2.5cm, while the Chinese and most of the East Asian countries prefer their meat to be sliced into strips. These small subtle differences are what sets the cuisines apart.