The list below represents a short list of the spices and ingredients used in the preparation of Southeast Asian cooking. Take a few moments to go over the list as many of the items are unique.

This section is not yet complete. Please be patient and check back from time to time.

Fish Soy
Fish soy is the staple salting ingredient used through out Southeast Asia. Typically made from fermented anchovies but other fish stock and even squid are used. Used sparingly in soups, curries, meat marinades and dipping sauces. Known as Nuc Mam (Viet Namese), Duk Trei (Cambodian), Nom Pla ( Thailand and Laos) and widely available at well stocked Asian grocery stores.

Thick Sweet Black Soy
Used for adding and flavor color to fried rice. Also used for a technique known as Red Roasting or Braising, wherein a duck or a chunk of pork is slowly simmered in a flavorful black sauce with star anise and rice wine. The thick sweet black sauce adds a slight red hue to the braised duck.

Nom Prik Pow
A paste made from charred chili peppers. Pow means to burn, Prik is the Thai word for Chili peppers. Alone, it is not the least bit hot and imparts a somewhat smoky flavor to the dish.

Thai Chili Peppers

Dried Crushed Thai Chili

Thai Basil

Star Anise

Rice Wine

Rice Vinegar

Mint

Roasted Rice

Seseme Seeds

Ginger Root

Galanga Root

Bamboo Shoot

Straw Mushroom

Oyster Mushroom

Bean Sprouts
Bean sprouts are generally grown from mung beans or soy beans. Mung bean sprouts are typically smaller and on occasion you will come across the green husk of the bean in the bag of sprouts. Soy bean sprouts are usually larger and the bean end of the sprout is a brighter yellow than that of the mung bean sprout.

All cities with a Chinatown have a wholesale bean sprout grower. The process of growing bean sprouts is actually very interesting and is essentially a very low tech endeavor. So low tech in fact that you can set up your own bean sprout growing operation in the basement of your own house. The entire process from germination to finished product takes just 6 to 7 days. Here's a description of how to do it in your own home. You will need 6 plastic buckets. On day one, fill one of the buckets with tap water and put a half cup of green mung beans into the water. Put the bucket in a dark place in your basement. On day two, fill a second bucket with tap water and put a half cup of green beans into the water. Take the first bucket and replace the water with fresh water. Place both buckets in line, with the newer bucket to the left of the older bucket in the dark place you have set up for your production process. On day three repeat the process of setting up a thrid bucket and replacing the water in the first two buckets. Day four, day five, and day six are all repeats. On the 6th day, you should have fully developed bean sprouts in the oldest bucket. Remove the bean sprouts to a clean colander and into that bucket add new water and a half cup of green mung beans and place it in the leftmost position in your bucket line up. You have just produced a batch of bean sprouts. If you keep the process going you will get a new crop of bean sprouts every day.

As I mentioned, this is real low tech. In commercial bean sprout operations each bucket in your home operation would be replaced with a 55 gallon plastic drum. Depending upon the wholesalers amount of business, he might have dozens of 55 gallon drums in a group representing one day of growth. In the much more sophisticated operations, there might be 6 super sized 16 foot round by 3 feet deep vats, each vat representing a days growth. A slow moving arm over the top of the vat and automatic water valves ensure that the sprouts get new water daily and the movement tends to separate the bean husk casing from the fully grown sprout. For what it is worth, I find the subject interesting.

Dried Rice Noodle

Fresh Rice Noodle

Yellow Noodles

Rice Paper Rounds

Won Ton Skins

Spring Roll Skins

Bean Thread

Tofu
The production of tofu is another one of those things that I find interesting and again, it is a very low tech operation. Tofu is made from soy beans.

Three Layer Pork (Pork Bellies)

Fermented Fish Sauce (Pla Dak)

Bai Gra Pao

Hola Pa

Coconut Milk

Fermented Yellow Beans

Garlic

Salt

Sugar

Black Pepper Corns

White Rice

Jasmine Rice

Sticky Rice

Black Rice

Red Rice