1. Home
  2. Food & Drink
  3. Chinese Food

Asian Ingredients - List of Alternative Words

Alum - Potassium aluminum sulfate
Amaranth - Chinese spinach (refers to the red-colored species only) 
Angles or Angled Luffa - Silk Squash, Chinese Okra, and "Dishwater Gourd"
Aubergine - Eggplant
Baby Bok Choy - Shanghai Cabbage
Bitter Melon - Foo Gwa, Balsam Pear
Chinese Sausages - Lop Cheong
Chinese White Radish - Lobak, Daikon, White Lobak
Choi Sum
- Chinese Flowering Cabbage
Cilantro - Chinese Parsley, Mexican Parsley, Coriander leaves
Cloud Ears - Black Fungus, Tree Ears
Cornflour - Cornstarch
Dried Lily Buds - Golden Needles
Fish Sauce- Fish Gravy, Nuoc mam (Vietnam)
Fuzzy Melon - mao gwa, hairy melon
Ginger  - Gingerroot
Groundnut Oil - Peanut Oil
Napa Cabbage - Sui Choy, Chinese, Peking, or Celery Cabbage
Rice Wine - yellow wine, Shaoshing or Shaoxing wine (this is the most popular type of rice wine)
Sea Cucumber  - Beche de mer, Sea Slug
Snow Peas - Mangetout (french for "eat it all")
Soy Bean Curd - Doufu (China), Tofu (Japan)
Winter Melon - Dong Gua, Wax Melon or Gourd, Ash Melon or Gourd. Also, in Indian cuisine you may find references to white pumpkin. 

Return to the Main Asian Culinary Dictionary Index

 

Subscribe to the Newsletter
Name
Email

Explore Chinese Food

About.com Special Features

Holiday Central

What to eat, where to go, fun things to do and how to save money on the perfect gifts. More >

All-Star Football Food

Try these gameday recipes that are sure to please any fan. More >

  1. Home
  2. Food & Drink
  3. Chinese Food

©2009 About.com, a part of The New York Times Company.

All rights reserved.