5 essential cookware items to create an oriental feast

When experimenting with the cooking of oriental foods there are a variety of items of cookware will help you to improve the quality of your cooking, as well as making it easier and more authentic to create great feasts. These items are simple and traditional, but will bring your cooking on leaps and bounds, most of which can be ordered online from our website.

1. Wok

A wok is a staple item of oriental cookware in many forms of cooking, from creating a simple stir-fry to much more complex dishes. The depth of this type of pan means that you can not only shallow fry things such as spring rolls, meat bases and spices without risk of spilling the oil, but it also opens up possibilities for steaming and indoor smoking. The way it is designed is to hold a large quantity of both liquid and solids without making much mess; this makes it a widely versatile tool. When buying a wok there are many aspects to consider, from the style of the handle and the depth of the wok to the weight and base, which may depend on personal preference. They come in a large bracket of prices, starting from around £20 up to around the £300 mark. A cheap wok for around £30 in a medium weight is your best option for beginners so that you can manoeuvre it easily.

2. Bamboo steamer

Owning your own bamboo steamer opens up a whole new breadth of recipes you can create, such as steamed dumplings and buns as well as delicious vegetables. This is great for anyone trying to eat more healthily as this form of cooking requires no oil, and you can cook several things at once if you purchase a bamboo steamer of a large size. For those who are more experimental, rather than steaming your meat, vegetables or dumplings with water, you can instead use vegetable stock, wine, beer or sake to add subtle flavours through the cooking process. Bamboo steamers are incredibly cheap and perfect for experimenting, so take a look at our online shop and invest in your own today!

3. Mortar & Pestle

A mortar and pestle is a kitchen essential regardless of whether you plan to cook many oriental dishes or not, as they are a great tool increase the great depth of flavours within your feasts. They can be used to crush fresh garlic and herbs to a paste for a crust or a dressing, as well being great for crushing peppercorns, pine nuts and other whole spices. A mortar and pestle of high quality will usually be made from a form of stone and will weigh a substantial amount, this ensures that every morsel of flavour is activated in each and every one of your ingredients, particularly handy for making spice bases for your flavours and sauces.

4. Chinese cleaver

A cleaver is a type of knife with a large service area, usually holding quite a lot of weight in both the handle and the blade, these are mainly used to cutting meat in the UK, however are a greatly versatile tool that can be used for the preparation of all ingredients. A Chinese cleaver is essentially a meat cleaver, however, used in a wider range of ways to ensure that every dish is packed with flavour and cooked to perfection. The large surface area means that it is great for not only slicing and dicing to your specification, but also for crushing garlic cloves, spices, fresh herbs, and even for tenderising meat!

5. Serving tools

If you are going through the effort to whip up an authentic feast, then you should certainly ensure that you have all the necessary serving tools! This will largely depend on what it is you are serving, for example with rice dishes, you will want to invest in a selection of Chinese rice spoons, for ramen or soups a wooden ramen spoon and for other dishes such as dumplings and noodles you will of course, need chopsticks! Oriental dishes are largely served in bowls due to the addition of sauces, making them simple and easy to eat and some of the Chinese, Japanese and Thai designs are quite stunning, meaning that they are both practical and aesthetically pleasing!