Friends of Japanese, Chinesh and Thai backgrounds, where could I learn to cook your favorite receipes?!
Answers: I love to cook asian food. However, when going to most oriental stores, I get confused. I know of certain ingreditients and I know how to prepare them. But when it comes down to Palm sugar, or bamboo sprouts and roots, or wakisaba or sweet and sour ginger or sour mustard. And or that dried , and packaged sea fish that looks like a hering, I am dumb founded. What could I do to learn to prepare these delicious foods?
Buy a cook book written by a native and translated from their native countries. The translation does create challenges but work through it. I am Japanese American and when I want to cook "down home" "home boy" Japanese cooking, I look at my cook books written by Japanese cooks in Japan whose cookbooks have been translated into English. l do the the same for Chinese and Thai foods. For Japanese food, the bible is Japanese Cooking, A simple art by Shizuo Tsuji,
I'm not asian, but I make lots of asian foods too.
I make tons of dumplings...you can get the wraps cheap at Asian markets, and I fill them with bok choy, vermicelli noodles, onions, mushrooms and well, anything I feel like...
They can be a little time consuming, but once you get the hang of it, it's quick.
Sushi is another one that is fun...learning to make it can be frustrating, but again, get the hang of it and it can be pretty inexpensive, I like avocado rolls....mmmm
Coconut curries....so amazing, cook your veggies in coconut milk and add your fav. curry and meats or tofu, serve with noodles.
peanut sauce (for dipping and stir fries) I just go by taste but start with 3 tbsp of peanut butter, 1.2 cup of water and 1 tbsp of soy sauce and a pinch of cayenne....then I adjust it by how it taste...if its too much like peanut butter, I add more soya.
I buy all kinds of sauces and just experiment, some work, some well, don't :)
good luck
Ask Asian friends or cooks for help.
Otherwise, there's Google for recipes.
The best way to learn is to go to the stores and cook together with an asian friend.