SAUCES
SPICES
EQUIPMENT
Sauces
Gluten-Free Organic Soy Sauce
San – J Organic Tamari is our go to
Coconut Aminos (soy free)
Coconut Secret is yummy and easy to find go to. For a little more
flavor, try Big Trees
Mirin (rice wine)
Eden is a great and affordable brand. If you want to go fancy, try
Ohsawa Organic Sweet Rice wine (it's aged for 9 months).
Organic Rice Vinegar
San-J is our go to brand for high quality, 100% gluten free & organic,
soy sauce.
Red Boat Fish Sauce
We love this specially crafted Vietnamese Fish Sauce.
Gluten-Free Hoisin Sauce
San-J has a pretty clean label gluten-free hoisin sauce.
Happy Tummy Hoisin Sauce (soy free)
Our own special soy-free gluten-free organic hoisin sauce.
Chickpea Miso (soy free)
Miso Master is our go to for organic quality miso.
Spices
Five Spice Powder
We love Spicely's high quality and allergen friendly Five Spice Powder.
Szechuan Peppercorn
Our go to for fresh direct sourcing from Szechuan.
Equipment
Oven & Air Fryer
San – J Organic Tamari Gluten-Free Soy Sauce is 100% certified
gluten-free and certified-organic.
Things to Consider
Soy Sauce
Soy sauce has been used for over 2200 years, and is the most crucial
sauce for Asian cooking. Recently, it is made by fermenting soy beans
with wheat and bran. But this is not always the case – the wheat and
bran simply make the fermentation easier and cheaper, but don’t add
anything to the flavor. San – J Organic Tamari Gluten-Free Soy Sauce is
100% certified gluten-free, and tastes just the same.
Rice Vinegar
Asian vinegar, such as Chinese black vinegar (Chinkiang vinegar
镇江香醋), is hard to find gluten free as the fermentation process uses
wheat. Additionally, due to the sour taste, sugar is added for balance,
increasing the carb count over naturally fermented rice vinegar.
Instead, use Japanese pure rice vinegar (komezu 米酢). Very close in
taste, but keeps it healthy!
Cooking Wine
Unlike Western cooking wines, Chinese cooking wines all use wheat as a
part of the fermentation procedure. There are only a few options for
gluten-free Asian cooking wine. For example, you can use dry sherry,
Japanese Premium sake (only those labelled Premium are gluten-free), or
pure rice cooking wine. Dry sherry is the closet thing to Shaoxing wine,
the most famous traditional Chinese cooking wines. However, this
version of mirin (Japanese rice wine) also works well.
Fish Sauce
Fish sauce is the base ingredient of so many different Southeast Asian
dishes! It provides the super savory or umami flavor to many Thai and
Vietnamese dishes. That said, be super careful when shopping as you
want something that is 100% fish sauce. Many brands use additives that
take away from the authentic process. Red Boat is the best out there,
as it’s 100% pure fish with careful sourcing. And consequently, fish
sauce can be good for up to two years after opening in the fridge – so
splurge on the best!
Gluten-Free Hoisin Sauce
Hoisin sauce gives that sweet and tangy flavor to a lot of different
Chinese dishes. For example, it can be used in a mix of different
sauces or even on its own. That said, be careful when shopping, as
Hoisin Sauce is a combination of other sauces. As a result, sometimes
it can include not so great ingredients that come through one of the
mixtures in the sauce. San-J brand’s Hoisin Sauce is definitely the
closet thing to the real thing, consequently keeping the taste but
avoiding the gluten and other hidden allergens.
Five Spice Powder 五香粉
Five Spice Powder is literally that – five different spices that work
perfectly together for many Chinese flavors. First, it’s typically a
blend of star anise, cloves, Chinese cinnamon (which has a slightly
different flavor from Vietnamese or Indonesian cinnamon!), Sichuan
pepper, and fennel seeds. Second, it’s extremely fragrant given the
wide variety of sweet, savory, and spicy flavors. Third, just a little
bit can completely bring out the flavor of any dish. And lastly, when
buying, keep it simple, and make sure the ingredients are just the five
spices. For example, Simply Organic’s blend is a great option, with
organic spices and no additives.
Key Ingredient Swaps for Diets
Soy Sauce --> Coconut Aminos (soy free, low sodium)
- Removes all soy allergen from dishes
- Coconut aminos are naturally gluten free
- Significantly lower sodium! Soy sauce ~900mg/serving; Coconut Aminos ~300mg/serving
Dark Soy Sauce --> Make your own.
- Can use either soy sauce or coconut aminos depending on your diet.
- Added special organic additions to ensure taste is consistent with the the less healthy options available commercially
Regular Miso --> Chickpea Miso
- Can be used to fully replace soy in most ingredients
- Added special organic additions to ensure taste is consistent with the the less healthy options available commercially