Cooking Tools (Part 1)

(The first part of 灶王 [zao wang] - The Kitchen God Series)

Chinese people believe that there are several domestic gods that guard ones household life. One of them is the Kitchen God (In Chinese known as 灶王 [read zao wang] or 灶君 [zao jun]，灶神 [zao shen]…), who makes sure (if you are good to him, of course) that your food doesn't burn or tastes bad, that your fridge is always full and your guests never hungry. Even today’s homes, hotels or restaurants place a little Zao Wang statue up on their shelves in the kitchen, just to make sure… The Kitchen God Series of 6 articles deal with the Spice Mixture Basics – the basics of what kitchen equipment, spices and herbs you should keep in, various methods of preparation and finally, the maintenance and storage of herbs and spices. With these little tricks, together with your day-to-day kitchen performance, I am sure, you will keep Zao Wang a pleasant company.

Okay, let us get down to the business.
In order to start making all these wonderful curries just like grandmas do, you might want to evaluate your kitchen equipment. This is the first thing I thought of after I moved up here, to Sweden (couple of weeks ago, to be accurate). My hedonistic habits were confronted. Are couple of rusty knives, a pair of scissors (what for, anyway ? Aaah, clipping the chives, you mean… hm, I guess) and a crappy frying pan REALLY enough to make wonders? Sorry, Tom, I didn’t mean to dis your kitchen :)

Anyway, after couple of minutes of a serious self brain-storming, I came to conclusion:
If it was me, I would suggest having the following in my Spice Magician Starting Kit:

• Chinese cleaver – the number one essential kitchen equipment from all the essential kitchen equipments. Plus, great for loud chopping (I just loooove the tum, tum, tum, tum, tum sound). If chopping is not for you, cooking is not for you.

• Mortar and pestle – grinding spices by hand is the most effective way of preparing any kind of pastes. It provides an even blend of different flavours and aromas and turns it into a perfect consistency. I prefer stone heavy mortars, for I love the way they sound. Do not forget to wash it each time used with plain water. Do not use soap or any washing detergent (particularly with the wooden ones), because all the grinding afterwards will adopt the soapy aftertaste.

• Cutting board – my absolute most favourite is the Chinese wooden one with 4 little legs underneath (again, the sound…. Ahhhh). But I am also just a regular young woman with a regular Ikea bought wooden chopping board.

• Containers and jars – the airtight ones are the most suitable for storing all your yummy condiments.. Teaspoon and a tablespoon – good for measuring (I assume most of the readers are not restaurant chefs or mega hungry giants) Measure cup – anything that lets you know how much liquid you are about to mix in.

• Frying pan – most of the curries require dry roasting seeds, frying onions or sautéing tomatoes… I prefer the one made of cast iron, because it holds the heat and spreads it evenly (great for simmering, sautéing, Hindu curries or European sauces).

• Beer – pickling or paste grinding is a tough job, u really need to replenish your body with lots of liquid.

Other fancy (or should I say useless?) little helpers would include :

• Peeler - apparently you can use a regular knife
• Or better - fancy lime, lemon or orange peelers - Who uses those anyway ? Apart from my mum, who proclaims to use everything what is in the house, so she doesn't have to throw it away. And two days ago, I even saw a pineapple peeler here, in a local store ....

• Juicer - squeezing lemons by hand is not a big deal, just cut them in eights first…

• Garlic press - use a mortar or a regular cleaver: crush the garlic clove with the side of a cleaver blade and chop finely

I am sure you can come up with other what-is-this-thing-for kitchen equipment...

Anyway, I would strongly suggest considering my additional vanity essentials:

• Lots of cute little ‘spice cups’ – this is my key equipment during the prep-phase. I like to peel, grate, chop and otherwise prepare all the ingredients first, place them in little cups and only after then start cooking.

• Red scale – some things need to be measured (especially when you are following the recipes) and there is no cooler tool to do that than a red scale.

• Crappy old grater - anything that can be chopped can be also grated (but grating saves lot more time)

• ‘One-button’ red blender – widely use all over the world. How wonderful is this machine? Forget all chopping, grinding, peeling, just press the button and ignore it all (The only reason why I do not have one (yet), is because I deeply inside believe in the hidden magic of grinding stuff in mortar (but I am soooo tempted by my evil laziness every time I cook).

• Fancy labels and ‘container hats’ – come on, you just spent hours of making a paste (or pickles), don't you just want them to look yummy as well ? (tr: no logical explanation)

• Cheap traditional Chinese Wok – we have just bought our first wok and became fairly addicted to it. Made of steel with round bottom it slides perfectly on the stove, so nothing burns. Perfect for dry roasting seeds or frying onions. Plus, you can show off with your newly self-taught flipping omelettes or stir fried stuff skills.

I know, excuses, excuses, excuses…. But trust me, the outcome is worth every penny (or öre, to be politically correct), for we all know that love goes through stomach… Just have a look at what I happened to achieve with my cooking :)
From left to right in four rows :
Chinese wok, cast iron frying pan, grater, scissors, mortar and pestle (wooden chopping board behind), scale, beers, ... juicer, spatula, fancy spice cups, airtight glass jar, measuring cup, glass jar with fancy hat and 'empty jar' label, ... garlic press, big spoon, grater tablespoons and teaspoons, ... and knives.

Not bad, eh ? Well, there is always a lot out there to learn, but I am getting there（慢慢来)..