10 essential Chinese ingredients to keep in your kitchen, from rice to soy sauce to dried mushrooms

If you’re planning a trip to 99 Ranch, Tang Frères or any other Chinese supermarket, these are the basic ingredients you should look to pick up

Sometimes the choices can be overwhelming: soy sauce, for example, comes in many types, including thin, light, superior, premium, traditional and dark

Reading Time:5 minutes

Chilli is an essential buy at a Chinese supermarket. Photo: SCMP

Published: 5:00am, 17 Jan 2020Updated: 9:50am, 17 Jan 2020

We occasionally get emails from overseas readers asking for advice on what essentials to buy from Chinese supermarkets.

They explain that they don’t live in big metropolitan cities, so visiting 99 Ranch, Tang Frères or whichever Chinese market is in their state or country is something they can do only a few times a year, so they want to know what staples to fill their home pantry with.

Of course, it depends on the type of Chinese cooking you do. If you make a lot of Sichuan food, you’ll need a few more ingredients in addition to the Sichuan peppercorns listed here.

Some of these ingredients are obvious; others may be more unusual.

Rice

Rice is the staple grain for Chinese people in southern China (in the north, grains such as wheat and millet are consumed). Chinese people tend to eat long-grain rice, which cooks up into light, separate grains. Jasmine rice – usually from Thailand – is also a popular variety, while others prefer basmati, from India.

A well-stocked Chinese supermarket will have many types of noodles. Photo: SCMP

Select Voice

Choose your listening speed

Get through articles 2x faster

1.25x

250 WPM

Slow

Average

Fast

00:0000:00

1.25x