Ssamjang is a Korean seasoning sauce. The most basic version of ssamjang is a blend of doenjang and gochujang, two seasoning pastes that have been around for centuries. Doenjang is a fermented soybean paste and gochujang is chili pepper paste with sugar and fermented soybeans for flavor. Ssamjang was invented …
Doubanjiang is a fermented paste consisting of broad beans and chili peppers. While it comes from the Sichuan province, versions of doubanjiang are used all over China, with properties that vary from region to region. Doubanjiang is one of the main seasonings in food from Sichuan, so much so that …
Currywurst sauce is the condiment for currywurst, a popular German street food. Currywurst consists of a regular grilled bratwurst over which currywurst sauce has been poured. Currywurst sauce is commonly described as ketchup with curry powder added to it and is sometimes referred to as curry ketchup; however, purists claim …
Prahok is a Cambodian staple. It is a paste typically made from the freshwater fish called trey riel. The fish has the same name as Cambodia’s currency, which is the Riel. The fish’s English name is mud carp. Records show that for much of its history, fresh and saltwater fish …
Sweet bean sauce or sweet soybean sauce is known in China as tianmianjiang — sometimes written in English as tian mian jiang. It is a Chinese sauce made from fermented wheat flour, fermented soybeans, and sugar. The Korean version of sweet bean sauce is called chunjang. Even though it is …
Mentsuyu is a Japanese sauce — sometimes described as a noodle stock — used on noodles and other dishes. The word mentsuyu is a Japanese word consisting of two shorter words: men means noodles and tsuyu means stock or sauce so mentsuyu translates literally to noodle sauce. Mentsuyu may have …
Doenjang is a Korean seasoning paste consisting mostly of fermented soybeans. Korea has had a long history with soybeans. According to some sources, it has been in use there for about 4,000 years even though the earliest document connecting Korea with soybeans is from 544 CE. Because of the vegetable-heavy …
Chinese sesame paste is made from sesame seeds, which come from the Indus Valley located in the region now known as Pakistan. Historians consider the sesame plant to be one of the oldest cultivated crops in the world. The seeds were first cultivated for their oil (a valuable lamp fuel) …