‘It’s perfect for everything’: Dumpling king Brendan Pang’s essential Asian supermarket ingredients

Most Asian cuisines focus on a balance of four key tastes – sweet, spice, sour and salt. This rice wine vinegar brings the acid for the sour component, the equivalent to apple cider vinegar in Western cuisine, Pang says. “It’s not harsh at all,” he says. It is his trusted ingredient in myriad dipping sauces – his go-to for dumplings is: 3 tbsp rice wine vinegar, 1–2 tbsp light soy sauce, 1 tsp finely minced or julienned ginger. “The vinegar cuts through the fattiness of the dumplings.”

Then there is Chinkiang vinegar which is a black rice vinegar with a rich, almost smoky taste, and a malty sourness like balsamic vinegar, he says. He uses this in his famous biang biang noodles, in hot pots, stir-fries and in a dressing for things like his signature smashed cucumber salad:

Black vinegar and soy dressing

Combine all the ingredients in a small bowl and stir until the sugar has dissolved. Cover and refrigerate until required.

“This is just a great umami hit, I put it in heaps of dishes to bring an instant hit of flavour and depth, even Western foods like say, a lasagna meat sauce,” Pang says. The south-east Asian salty condiment is made from anchovies, salt, water and a tiny bit of sugar.

Just as many Italians wouldn’t be without pancetta in the fridge, many Chinese cooks could not live without lap cheong (or lup chong) sausage. Pang uses it in everything: as a base in fried rice, in stir-fries and, of course, noodle dishes. It is a dried, hard sausage usually made from pork and pork fat. It is usually smoked, sweetened, and seasoned with rose wine, rice wine and soy sauce. The wines in particular gently perfume whatever it’s added to, and you fry to render it like you would bacon to add depth and flavour, Pang says.

Many Chinese dishes call for Chinese cooking wine, or Shaoxing rice wine, to add depth of flavour and a mild saltiness to dishes. With about 16 per cent alcohol (not meant for drinking the company warns!) it’s also used to deglaze pans and in marinades to tenderise meats.

Chilli flakes, Korean chilli flakes (gochugaru), dried bay leaves, star anise, Sichuan peppercorns

These spices are always in Pang’s pantry because they are the essential ingredients in a chilli oil that “will change your life”. “I am never without this, I spoon it over dumplings and noodles, it’s perfect for everything.”

Life-changing homemade chilli oil

Place the vegetable oil, cinnamon, star anise, Sichuan peppercorns and bay leaves in a small saucepan over low heat. Cook gently for about 25 minutes to infuse, taking care not to burn the spices.

Meanwhile, place the chilli flakes and salt in a medium heatproof bowl.

Once the oil is fragrant, increase the heat to high and cook for a further 1 minute. Carefully strain the hot oil through a fine sieve directly over the chilli flakes. Stir well and allow to cool.