In this post, I listed typical chinese ingredients that are often used in hot pot. You can buy them in asian groceries or order them on line.
Food
Black mushrooms 黑木耳
Maybe this most famous mushroom outside Europe. We sometimes even called it chinese mushroom. You can eat it in soups, hot pots are salads. Like fragrant mushrooms we often find it under dried form, which can easily been rehydrated. A bit expensive under dried form, but keep in mind that after humidification it will weight almost 6 times its dried mass.
Chinese cabbage 白菜
Large leaves which will quickly shrink and catch the taste of your soup.
Rice cake 年糕
Small white and transparent slices that need to be cooked a long time to become soft and eadible.
Wheat noodles 面条
Commonly eaten in the North, there is close to Italian pastas.
Rice noodles 米线
A classic dish from the south of China. Many diameters and shapes are available.
Bean sprouts 豆芽
Quite easy to find in our supermarkets.
Raviolis chinois 饺子
Not very common outside China but tasty and very chinese. People eats it during Chinese new year or in Beijing hot pot.
Tofu 豆腐
A typial asian ingredient. Just cut it into slices and add it to your pot, it will acquire the taste of it !
Spices and condiments
Rice alcohol 米酒
Used as cooking ingredient or drink, numerous form currently exists. One of them, the “white alcohol” is a national drink in China (55°)
Star anise 八点
It is a kind a star with 8 branches and a green color. The drying process gives it its brown color like on the picture. A spice we can use in dishes as well in desserts.
Goji berries 枸杞子
A small red berry with slight sweet taste which is supposed to have medecinal qualities especially anti-aging according to chinese tradition. His name comes from the chinese name 枸杞子 that is pronounced ‘gow dtchi”
Cardamome 小豆蔻
A spice which doesn’t come from China but India, cardamom is made of small green capsuls which countains small grains transporting aromas.
Fragrant mushrooms 香菇
A classical mushroom in chinese gastronomy. Even eadible, it is not tasty. Meanwhile, it is perfect to perfume sauces and soups. We generally find it under its dried form.
Ginger 姜
A root largely used in asian food. It is supposed to have aphrodisiacs effects. One thing is sure, it gives a feeling a warmth when you eat it.
Sesame oil 芝麻油
Regularly used in chinese food to flavour dishes, which is different from Colza oil mainly used for cooking.
Red date 红枣
With a red-brown color, it is a tropical froot. Meanwhile, its trees can resist ver low temperature down to -15°C.
Hot pepper 干辣椒
Sometimes difficult to find under its dried form outside Asia, this spice is the base of Sichuan, Hunan, and Guizhou gastronomies in the center of China.
Sichuan pepper 花椒
A red-green color spice oftently used in Sichuan gastronomy. Even we called it pepper, it doesn’t belong to the family of peppers. It tastes is very typical since it numbs the tongue when you eat it.
Red rice vinegar 红醋
A kind of vinegar produced from rice.
Soja sauce 豆酱
Le condiment phare de la cuisine Asiatique. De couleur ambrée, elle est fabriquée à partir de fermentation de pouces de soja et a un goût salé très prononcé. Parfait pour relever vos plats ou sautez le riz.
The main condiment of asian food. With its amber color, this sauce is fabricated from bean sprout fermentation and have a dtrong salty taste. The sauce is perfect to exhaust dishes or rice.
Light sauce sauce 生抽
A variety of the previous one, more transparent.