Sybaritica

Maesri Panang Curry Paste

Maesri Panang Curry Paste Review

Maesri™ is a company in Thailand that produces a decent range of food products, including a series of traditional Thai curry pastes. I actually tried one of their Curry Pastes quite a few years ago and, though I do not remember a great deal about it, I do recall that it was very good. The Panang Curry Paste, pictured above, is not quite as hot as I remember the other paste being, but I am happy to report that the overall quality is every bit as high.

LKK Chili Black Bean Sauce Review

When it comes to using Chinese Salted Black Beans, I generally prefer to use the actual beans when making a sauce as most of the commercial Black Bean Sauces are not very good, in my opinion. Fermented black beans have a rather distinct ‘chocolaty’ under taste that is usually quite mild but this usually seems to be much more pronounced in commercial preparations. Commercial sauces also tend to have a rather nasty black color to them that can make a finished dish unattractive. Lee Kum Kee’s own version of regular Black Bean sauce (which may no longer be available) was no better than any of the others in these regards but this particular version with Chili added is excellent. The addition of chili does perhaps limit its use to spicier dishes, but it is still a very useful and versatile sauce nonetheless.

Oil Sizzled Shrimp Recipe

Oil Sizzled Shrimp is a Cantonese dish featuring shell-on Shrimp steamed over ginger and scallion and drizzled with smoking hot oil.

This little appetizer is adapted from a Chinese recipe I first tried many, many years ago. I can’t quite recall where I saw it, but it is very Cantonese in spirit. Although it is ‘oil sizzled’ the shrimp are actually first steamed with some aromatics, and hot oil is drizzled over them just before serving to really enhance the flavour. Once you have done the finicky part of ‘prepping’ the shrimp, the process is pretty easy.

LKK Spicy Bean Paste – 麻婆醬 – Ma Po Sauce

The Lee Kum Kee Company is known worldwide for high quality cooking products, and I always have at least a few of their specialties on hand. Their Spicy Bean Sauce is described as being a ‘Ma Po Sauce’, and even has a recipe for a simple version of the classic Chinese dish Ma Po Tofu on the label (and also at the website). Unfortunately, even a review of the ingredients makes clear that this sauce departs considerably far from the traditional Ma Po composition and, in that sense at least, Lee Kum Kee has rather failed here. That being said, though, as a generic ‘Spicy Bean Sauce’, it has terrific flavor and makes for a very useful and versatile sauce base for all sorts of other dishes.