Serves: 5

agar-agar:
Unflavored gelatin.

anise (either powdered or star anise):
Cinnamon in powdered or stick form or anise extract, which is sold in some markets and drugstores. Use only a few drops of the latter.


bamboo shoots:
Coarse-textured vegetables such as celery, green pepper, carrots, young cabbage, rutabagas and string beans. Chop or shred these for stir-frying.

bean paste, red (for desserts):
Coconut or chopped California dates.

bean paste, yellow:
Japanese Miso, half-white, half-dark.

bean sprouts:
Shredded onions or parboiled and shredded string beans.

beans, black fermented:
Salt.

bitter melon:
Cucumber.

brown bean sauce:
Bovril.


cabbage, Chinese:
Spinach, lettuce, young celery, young cabbage.

chili peppers (fresh):
Dried crushed chili peppers (allow about 1/2 teaspoon for each pepper).

chili sauce, Chinese:
Tabasco Sauce or Louisiana-type hot sauce.

cornstarch:
(Never substitute flour in cornstarch pastes. It will make sauces cloudy and heavy rather than smooth and clear.)


doilies (for Peking Duck or Moo Shoo Pork):
Wheat tortillas.

dragon's eyes (dried):
White seedless raisins.

duck liver:
Smoked ham.


Five Spices:
Allspice or a combination of powdered cinnamon, cloves, ginger and nutmeg.

flour, glutinous rice:
(Never substitute ordinary rice flour. It turns hard when steamed.)

flour, water-chestnut:
Cornstarch. fuzzy melon: Cucumber or zucchini.


ginger root:
Preserved ginger with the syrup washed off. Dried ginger in smaller quantities. (Never substitute powdered ginger. It's too strong and is better omitted entirely.)

ginkgo nuts:
Blanched almonds.


ham, Smithfield:
Any good-quality smoked ham or Italian prosciutto.


lettuce, Chinese:
Celery, Swiss Chard, young white turnips, young carrots.

long beans:
String beans.

lotus seeds:
Blanched almonds.


mushrooms, black dried:
Dried mushrooms from central Europe and Italy. Use in smaller quantities since their flavor is stronger.


noodles, peastarch:
Vermicelli.

noodles, seaweed:
Vermicelli.

noodles, wheat-flour:
Number 8 or 9 spaghetti or Japanese somen.


oil, hot pepper:
Chinese chili sauce.

oil, peanut:
Corn oil or any clear, tasteless and odorless vegetable oil. For stir-frying lard can be used, particularly with vegetables. (Never substitute butter, which will burn olive oil, which is too strong or shortenings, which congeal and spoil the texture of food.)


pepper, Chinese red:
Tabasco Sauce.


red dates:
Prunes. (Never substitute California dates.)


scallions:
Chopped onions in smaller quantities.

sesame paste:
Peanut butter with a few drops of sesame oil added. (See page 707')

shrimp, dried:
Shelled and cooked shrimp. Use 1/2 cup for every 6 dried shrimp.

shrimp sauce:
Anchovy paste.

snow peas:
Fresh green peas. (Don't use the pods, which are invariably too tough.)

soy sauce:
Salt or a bouillon cube. For every 2 tablespoons of soy sauce, use either 1 teaspoon salt or 1 beef bouillon cube dissolved in 3 tablespoons hot water. (Never substitute bouillon when large quantities of soy are called for: its taste is too different.)

squash, Chinese:
Cucumber or zucchini.


taro:
Sweet potato or white potato.

turnips, Chinese (for cold dishes):
White radish.


vinegar, rice (white):
Cider or wine vinegar.


water chestnuts:
Crisp vegetables such as green pepper, celery, cabbage hearts, rutabagas or small young potatoes (all diced). In pork dishes, apples sometimes can be substituted. (Use 1/2 cup apples, peeled and diced, for 10 water chestnuts.)

wine (for cooking):
Medium-dry or pale-dry sherry (never cream or cooking sherry). Also white wines such as sauterne or the German Liebfraumilch and brandy, cognac, gin, or Japanese sake.

wine (for drinking with Chinese food):
Premium white wines from California dry French Graves or Chablis the Italian Soave Bolla the Rhine wine, Spatlese or the German Liebfraumilch. (Medium-dry sherry is too heavy. Red wines are not recommended but can be served with specific dishes such as slow-cooked duck in rich gravy.) Japanese sake, slightly heated, can be served for formal dining.

NOTE: Beer is also fine with Chinese food.

The Thousand Recipe Chinese Cookbook. ©1994 by Gloria Bley Miller.

More Recipes from the Thousand Recipe Chinese Cookbook Cookbook:
13- Preparing a Complete Meal
14- Serving a Chinese Meal
15- Setting a Chinese Table
16- Chopsticks and How to Use Them
17- Guide to Stir-Frying
18- Chinese Teas
19- Chinese Wines
20- Glossary of Chinese Ingredients: A-K
20- Glossary of Chinese Ingredients: L-S
20- Glossary of Chinese Ingredients: T-Z
21- Substitutions
22- Storing Information
23- Soaking Information
24- Chinese Terminology
25- Mail Order Sources