Asian sauces, dressings, marinades

I'm realizing, I probably make Asian dishes more often than Indian ones. I
think it might be because they're easier when you're cooking for just one or two people. I
don't have pre-made sauces, although I do often use pre-made Thai curry pastes. I use the following ingredients a great deal:

fish sauce (nam pla)
raw soy sauce (nama shoyu)
rice vinegar (I have one that's flavored with yuzu!)
sesame oil
peanut oil
olive oil

chilli oil

rice wine (mirin)
red and green Thai curry pastes
fermented black beans and fermented hot mung beans
tamarind

And I add other ingredients I have at the time, like fresh citrus juice, palm sugar, fresh peanut butter, etc.

I try to make sure that all flavors are in the mix -- sweet, spicy, salty, umami (the taste of protein), tangy, and aromatic/bitter.

So I can make a Thai dressing with peanut oil, palm sugar, bird's eye chillies, fish sauce, lemongrass and lime leaves, lime juice, and galangal. I can make a peanut dressing with a bit of maple syrup, chillies, nama shoyu, peanut butter, mirin or rice vinegar, tamarind, and ginger and/or garlic. I can stir-fry vegetables and/or seafood in sesame oil, sesame seeds, red chilli flakes, hot fermented mung bean paste, nama shoyu, mirin, ginger, scallions, and garlic.

And I vary it up. Maybe instead of mirin, I'll use fresh tangerine juice and zest. Etc.

If you like this kind of thing, check out Mark Bittman's blog in the NYTimes. His goal in life seems to be to get Americans back to cooking without recipes, which used to be a widespread skill but has fallen away. Bittman will write things like, "Take some pita pockets, break them into little pieces, mix them into a salad of chopped cucumber, tomatoes, olive oil, lemon, and red onions or shallots. Call it fattoush."

I think's it great because I think about cooking in a very similar way -- you don't need things to be exact for most dishes, you can take a concept and make substitutions or customize it, and with a good repertoire of oils, vinegars, condiments, herbs, spices, and base ingredients like onions, ginger, garlic, and tomatoes, you can make a meal out of what happens to be in your fridge in terms of main ingredients.

Food Poem Fridays: ODE TO THE POTATO by Barbara Hamby

Ode to the Potato  
by Barbara Hamby

"They eat a lot of French fries here," my mother
   announces after a week in Paris, and she's right,
not only about les pommes frites but the celestial tuber
   in all its forms: rotie, puree, not to mention
au gratin or boiled and oiled in la salade nicoise.
   Batata edulis discovered by gold-mad conquistadors
in the West Indies, and only a 100 years later
   in The Merry Wives of Windsor Falstaff cries,
"Let the skie raine Potatoes," for what would we be
   without you--lost in a sea of fried turnips,
mashed beets, roasted parsnips? Mi corazon, mon coeur,
   my core is not the heart but the stomach, tuber
of the body, its hollow stem the throat and esophagus,
   leafing out to the nose and eyes and mouth. Hail
the conquering spud, all its names marvelous: Solanum
   tuberosum, Igname, Caribe, Russian Banana, Yukon Gold.
When you turned black, Ireland mourned. O Mr. Potato Head,
   how many deals can a man make before he stops being
small potatoes? How many men can a woman drop
   like a hot potato? Eat it cooked or raw like an apple
with salt of the earth, apple of the earth, pomme de terre.
   Tuber, tuber burning bright in a kingdom without light,
deep within the earth where the Incan potato gods rule,
   forging their golden orbs for the world's ravening gorge.

Recipe: Spicy Lemony Carrot Tahini

Spicy Lemony Carrot Tahini

We had a whole bag of carrots just crying out to be eaten in some novel way, and so I made this spicy lemony carrot tahini to keep around as a spread for sandwiches, crackers, or to dip other vegetables into. I think could also be good to plate a lightly prepared filet of white flaky Mediterranean fish into. The sweetness of the carrots comes into play with the nutty astringency of the sesame tahini, and you're left with a bit of a kick of an aftertaste from the lemon juice and chilli / cayenne.

1 lb carrots

dash salt

juice of 1 lemon

2 tbsp sesame tahini

red chilli powder / cayenne to taste
za'atar to taste

Peel and trim the carrots, rinse, and cut each in half. Put them in a pot with about two inches of water, cover, and bring to a boil, then let simmer and steam until the carrots are tender (about 10 minutes). Check on them to make sure caramelization isn't forming on the sides of the pot. When the carrots are tender, remove the pot from the heat, add the rest of the ingredients, and puree using a hand / stick blender (alternatively, you could move the carrots and cooking liquid into a blender and blend everything).

How I store my excess spices

Spices keep best dry and away from light, so I put my stores in coffee bags in the freezer.  For daily use I have a spice carousel near the stove.