ASIAN CUISINE

Module 1
ASIAN CUISINE

Module Overview: Asian cuisine includes several major regional cuisines:

Central Asian, East Asian, North Asian, South Asian, Southeast Asian,
and West Asian. A cuisine is a characteristic style of cooking practices
[1]
and traditions, usually associated with a specific culture. Asia, being
the largest and most populous continent, is home to many cultures,
many of which have their own characteristic cuisine.

Module Outcomes: At the end of this module, the learners are expected
to be familiarized and perform different Asian cuisine such as;
• Influence of Asian Cuisines

• Influence of China in Asian Cuisine.

• Influence of Japanese Cuisine.

Lesson 1

Influence of Asian cuisine

Introduction

This part will introduce the influence of China in Asian cuisine

Learning Outcomes

1. Students will acquire knowledge in skills in Chinese cuisine.

2. Student will be familiarized with essential ingredients commonly
used in Chinese cuisine.
3. Perform different cuisine in different region of China.

ACTIVITY
• Practiced in personal hygiene.
• Implement the standard sanitation practices in your laboratory.
• Perform different Chinese cuisine

ANALYSIS
• Why do you need to practice in personal hygiene?
• How you will implement the standard sanitation practices in your
laboratory?
• Present you output performance in different Chinese cuisine.
ABSTRACTION

The major influences on Southeast Asian cuisines have been

exerted by China from the east (the wok, noodles) and India (curries)
from the west. Perhaps the most profound impact on the region's cooking
was made in the 16th century, when Portuguese traders brought the chili
pepper from their colonies in the Americas.

Asian Cuisine
We can define Cuisine as a style of cooking and tradition
associated with a specific culture. Asia is the largest continent in the
world shelters many cultures and cuisines. Some of the major regional
cuisines are East Asian, Southeast Asian, South Asian, Central Asian and
Middle Eastern cuisines. Besides the difference, all of these varieties of
Asian foods share some common features. Ingredients like Rice, Ginger,
Garlic, Tofu, Chilies, Dried Onions, Soy and Sesame seeds are used in
almost all Asian foods. Cooking practices like Steaming and Stir frying
are common in every Asian restaurant.

Rice is a staple ingredient in every Asian food; Different varieties

are popular in various regions. Basmati is a popular rice variety in
subcontinents while long grain rice is popular in China and short grain in
Japan and Korea. Curry dishes with its origin in South Asian countries are
also common in Southern, Western and Southeastern regions. These are
Yogurt based soup with meat or vegetables as optional ingredients.East
Asian Cuisine
Cooking is one of the oldest of human activities; indeed it may be
the oldest above basic animal survival. At the wandering hunter-gatherer
level of society, cooking is very simple – kill something, throw it on the fire
along with whatever vegetables and fruits were found that day, eat. No
one specialized in cooking, since every able body was needed to find the
food in the first place. Cooking equipment consists of a few sticks for
skewering meat and vegetables, leaves for wrapping and baking, maybe
a hot flat rock.
Agriculture increases the selection of food stuffs available and also
increases the probability that any given foodstuff will be available when
wanted. Subsistence farmers rely on grain for their calories where hunters
rely on meat, but grain requires considerable effort to convert to an edible
form. As a matter of fact, it has been calculated that a farmer has to work
harder for his calories than a hunter. The relative abundance of food in a
subsistence farming society compared to a hunter-gatherer society is at
least partly offset by the amount of effort required to prepare the food. A
settled existence allows the development of arts such as pottery and
metal working, which in turn allows new cooking techniques such as
baking and boiling. It is in subsistence farming societies that the regional
cuisine begins to take shape, usually referred to as a “peasant” cuisine.
These peasant cuisines usually consist of a limited number of relatively
simple dishes, since a wide variety of ingredients is not available, nor is
the time to spend on fancy preparation.

Central authority implies castles and palaces, a ruling class who

like to indulge their whims and show off for their neighbors and subjects.
The rulers need professional cooks, not only because they are too
important to do their own cooking, but to provide them with the delicacies
that only skill and experience can produce. Trade implies towns and
cities, specialization of labour, exotic foodstuffs from far away, and
processed food products. Taverns appear in the market place, and food
is served, creating the first restaurant. The up-scale restaurants serving
the lesser nobility and rich merchant classes often mimic the cooking of
the palace. It is in the kitchens of the palaces and restaurants that
sophisticated combinations of exotic ingredients are prepared with
complicated techniques. It is in these kitchens that recipes are codified
and written down.

The Three Cuisine Areas of Asia

• The South East – Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam,

Indonesia ,Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei
• The South West – India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Burma
• The North East – China, Korea, Japan

Curries are very important to the cuisines of the South East and
SouthWest, less so in the cuisine of the North East. South Western curries
are generally based on yogurt, whereas the curries of the South Eastand
North East are generally based on coconut milk.
Rice is a staple starch in all three cuisines areas. In addition to rice,
South Western cuisines include a variety of leavened and unleavend
breads and South East and North East cuisines include rice and egg
noodles.
In the South West, the major oil used in frying is ghee, or clarified
butter. In the South East and North East, the major oils are vegetable
oils.
 Garlic and ginger are used in all three cuisine areas, as are
chilipeppers, although chilies are much more common in the South
Westand South East. The North Eastern cuisines use soy sauce in nearly
everything; the South East substitutes fish sauce; there is no equivalent
in South Western cooking. In the South East, there are two additional
flavorings that are not used in the other cuisines – galangal and lemon
grass.

Southeast Asian Cuisine

Southeast Asian foods emphasize on light dishes with strong aromatic

element featuring flavors as citrus and herbs such as lime, coriander, and
basil. Going to the Far East, the Fish sauce is substituted with Soy sauce and
more ingredients like Galangal, Tamarind and Lemongrass become part of the
cuisine. Cooking process includes a balanced combination of Stir frying,
steaming and boiling.

South Asian Cuisine

Cuisine from the Indian sub-continent makes the South Asian cuisine. Food in
this part of the world is flavored with spices and herbs. Flavored Oil and Ghee
are stapled element in South Asian cuisine. Yogurt and Coconut milk makes
the base of South Asian curries. Chicken, Mutton, and Fish are the common
meats used. Beef and Pork are available only in some part of the continent
since these meats are forbidden for certain religious community.

Central Asian Cuisine

Central Asian Nations have very similar cuisines. They share many features with
their neighboring cuisine of Western and Eastern Asia. Many of the country’s
use horse meat and mutton as the most common meat. Kumis is a popular
drink among Turkic people.

West Asian (Middle East) Cuisine

West Asian Cuisine is the Cuisine of the Middle East nations excluding Egypt.
The cuisine of this region is unique in its own way. Some commonly used
ingredients are olives and olive oil, pitas, honey, sesame seeds, dates, sumac,
chickpeas, mint, and parsley. Wheat and rice is the base of any meal in West
Asian cuisine. Barley and maize are slowly getting popular in some regions.
Bread is a major element in every Middle East cuisine. It’s eaten by everyone
almost at every meal irrespective of their class or groups

North Asian Cuisine

Most of the North Asia comes under Russian Federation Hence North Asian
cuisine can be closely related to Russia cuisine. However, some cultures of
Siberia have unique and profound cuisine such as the Yakuts an yamai
cuisine. Peimeni, a dish of permic or ugric origin has entered into mainstream
Russian cuisine as a popular dish. Meat preservation for the winter is common
in these regions. In Siberia pelmeni are frozen outdoors to preserve meat
inside through the long winter. Fish and cowberries are key ingredients in most
of the North Siberian cuisine.
APPLICATION

Activity One

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1. Define Asian Cuisine.

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2. Enumerate and discuss the types of Asian Cuisines.

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3. What are the three cuisine areas in Asian.

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Closure

Since, you understood the influence of Asian cuisine topic, we will

explore in the next lesson the influence if China in Asian Cuisine.