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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

 

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