The popularity of Asian cuisines outside of traditional Chinese and Japanese dishes has exploded in North America during the last few decades.
“Dianne Jacob, author of Will Write for Food: The Complete Guide to Writing Cookbooks, Blogs, Memoir, Recipes, and More, adds, “The American palate and sophistication have evolved considerably since I was a youngster.” Jacob was born and reared in China to Iraqi-Jewish parents. Jacob’s mother used to prepare Chinese and Japanese dishes when he was growing up in Vancouver, Canada, but now he also cooks Thai, Cambodian, Filipino, and Korean dishes.
Fortunately, Asian food is generally adaptable to changing seasons, ingredient availability, and the preferences of the cook or diner. Asian cuisine are very simple to adapt for a kosher kitchen because dairy ingredients are rarely used. Cooking Asian foods in a kosher kitchen is explained by seasoned chefs.
Pork can be substituted with beef, veal, or lamb. Molly Yeh, a food blogger, recalls how her family was always “stayed with chicken We’d cook chicken buns instead of steamed pork buns,” she explains. Yeh also produces ground turkey potstickers.
To simulate pork, freelance writer Allaya Fleischer uses a one-to-one ratio of ground turkey and ground beef. “To help give it a boost, I add a little extra sugar, some Bragg’s Liquid Aminos, and nutritional yeast,” she reveals.
Because many brands sold in Asian markets lack a hechsher (kosher certification), finding kosher products can be difficult.
A good assortment of kosher-certified ingredients can be found at a mainstream supermarket or kosher market, according to Wendy Bazil, a cooking consultant and instructor. “I also concentrate on what we can have rather than what we can’t,” she adds. “Making some of the sauces yourself…is a terrific method to ensure that foods contain only the ingredients you want…while leaving out the ones you don’t.” Bazil favors ginger, garlic, Sichuan peppercorns, and sesame seeds as spices, herbs, and aromatics. She even plants Thai basil and shiso leaves herself.
Despite the fact that fish is pareve, Red Boat is the only fish sauce brand with kosher certification (at the time of writing). Fleischer’s family owned a farm and was self-sufficient in Thailand, where she was bornthey even produced their own fish sauce! She no longer makes fish sauce because she now lives in a tiny New York apartment, but she does offer this kosher substitute: “I use one part shiro (white) miso to two parts Bragg’s Liquid Aminos to replace fish sauce. The miso imparts a fermented ‘fishiness’ quality to this dish, while the Liquid Aminos contribute saltiness while rounding out the tastes.”
Shellfish is widely used in Asian cuisine. In a meal like lobster Cantonese, however, fish fillets (sole or flounder) are just as good without compromising flavor or texture. Mock shrimp, crab, and scallops (made from fish or vegetables) work well as substitutes as well.
Oyster sauce is a popular condiment that is not kosher. However, mushroom sauce is as delicious. Bazil recommends serving roasted mushrooms with any dish that calls for oyster sauce, such as baby bok choy or cabbage.
If you don’t want to mix fish and meat in the same dish, the simplest option is to cook fish in vegetable broth instead of chicken broth, and meat dishes in soy sauce (or vegan fish sauce, as described below). However, because fish sauce is a key component in many Southeast Asian recipes like pad Thai and Vietnamese pho, things may get problematic.
Fleischer would rather forego the meat and concentrate on the flavor (when kosher fish sauce is available). In these meals, Bazil utilizes white fish, tofu, or simply veggies. “A lot of people nowadays don’t mind skipping meat,” she explains. “Pad Thai with tofu is my favorite.”
Tofu is neither dairy nor meat, and it can be used with any meal in a kosher kitchen. Some companies sell pre-packaged pareve tofu.
Jacob enjoys making her mother’s zongzi (rice dumplings often filled with pork) without the filling. “No filling is present. Dinner is similar to pancakes, but with fluffy, hot, sticky rice and sugar. So good!
As blogger Yeh did as a child, picky eaters can cling to “simple, carby cuisine.”
Matzah balls, challah, noodles, and dumplings were my favorites from both Ashkenazi and Chinese cuisines.”
Of course, cooking plant-based meals can make kosher cooking a lot easier. Some recipes from my new booklet, Farm to Table Asian SecretsVegan and Vegetarian Full-Flavored Recipes for Every Season, can be found in the Recipe Collection.
Wendy Bazil recommends the following kosher brands: “Trader Joe’s, Eden, Marukan, San J, Pearl River Bridge I routinely check the labeling since companies change and either stop or start selling kosher products.”
San-J reduced sodium tamari, Roland roasted sesame oil, Roland coconut milk, sriracha chile paste, and Lee Kum Kee vegetarian hoisin sauce are among the goods Allaya Fleischer keeps in her cupboard.
Is fish sauce permissible for Jews?
It’s ideal for adding umami depth to chopped liver for kosher Jews (I call for some in the gateway chicken liver pate recipe on page 46 of the Banh Mi Handbook). It may be a good starting point for individuals new to fish sauce because of its pleasant flavor and high quality.
Is kosher Worcestershire sauce available?
The use of fish as a meat sauce is a famous example of the ban against eating meat and fish together, thus it is prohibited. As a result, genuine Worcestershire sauce is marked “Kosher -Fish.”
Is anchovy used in all fish sauces?
Modern fish sauce is made up entirely of anchovies and sea salt in its purest form. Anchovies are traditionally crusted in salt and placed in barrels to ferment. Natural bacteria then uses magical alchemy (or fermentation) to break down the fish, changing it into a highly foul, briny drink. Fermentation might take months or even two years to complete. All enzymes and omega-3 fatty acids are preserved when raw kinds are treated at room temperature.
As is typical with mass-produced products, firms begin to deviate from the original recipe in order to save money. Fillers or enhancers like water, sugar, or other flavorings are found in lower-quality items. The vegetarian alternative, which completely replaces anchovies, is the only exception. The following is a list of well-known brands and their ingredients:
- Vietnamese Fish Sauce “Flying Lion” anchovy extract, water, salt, fructose, and hydrolyzed vegetable protein
- Anchovy extract, water, salt, fructose, and hydrolyzed vegetable protein make up Three Crabs Brand Fish Sauce.
- Organic seaweed, pineapple essence, rice wine, vinegar, and other components make up Vegan Fysh Sauce.
What can I replace fish sauce with?
Fish sauce can be replaced with soy sauce, which is prepared from fermented soybeans, water, salt, and wheat. It’s also vegan-friendly (5).
Soy sauce has a strong umami flavor with a hint of sweetness thanks to the amino acids found in soybeans.
You can replace fish sauce with soy sauce 1:1, or combine other components with soy sauce for added flavor:
- Anchovy, minced 1 minced anchovy fillet and 1 tablespoon (15 mL) soy sauce
- Vinegar of rice. For added freshness, use a 1-to-1 mixture of soy sauce and rice vinegar.
- Lime juice is a refreshing drink. For every 1 tablespoon (15 mL) of soy sauce, add 1/2 teaspoon lime juice.
Is Worcestershire sauce suitable for fish?
To make 1 tablespoon fish sauce, combine 1 tablespoon soy sauce with one finely minced anchovy fillet.
“If a meal doesn’t have fish sauce, it can’t be deemed Thai,” according to Thai culinary tradition. A good fish sauce is made up of fish (mostly anchovies), salt, and water that has been fermented for 12 to 18 months. It gives the meals a strong, salty flavor.
Thai Thin Soy Sauce
In Thai, it’s known as “see ew cow” or white soy sauce. It has the salty, savory flavor of fish sauce, making it an excellent alternative. Soybean, wheat flour, salt, water, sugar, and preservatives are the key ingredients. Because the soy flavor combines well with the other ingredients, it’s best used in fried rice, noodles, and stir-fried foods.
Recommended Proportion for Substitute
Use a small amount of Thai Thin Soy sauce with solids of two vegetable items, salted yellow beans, and fermented tofu, to keep the fish sauce flavor. Season with salt and chili powder to taste.
Worcestershire Sauce
Other ingredients include malt, vinegar, spirit vinegar, molasses, sugar, salt, onions, garlic, spice, and flavoring, as well as a blend of anchovies and tamarind (which gives some sourness to the taste). The addition of soy sauce, cloves, lemons, pickles, and pepper adds spice and flavor. The flavors of these mixes are developed over a period of three months in oak barrels. Fish sauce can be replaced with Worcestershire sauce. It does, however, include anchovies, so if you’re sensitive to fish or don’t eat fish at all, a healthy homemade substitute would be preferable.
Use a small quantity of Worcestershire sauce to keep the flavor of the fish sauce. Follow the recipe below for a nutritious vegan meal.
What kinds of fish aren’t kosher?
is that it has both scales and fins. Fish, unlike meat and poultry, does not need to be butchered or salted. Cod, flounder, haddock, halibut, herring, mackerel, pickerel, pike, salmon, trout, and whitefish are all kosher fish. Swordfish, shark, eel, octopus, and skate are all non-kosher fish, as are all shellfish, clams, crabs, lobster, oyster, and shrimp. See the Kosher Fish List for a complete list of kosher fish.
Is all fish considered kosher?
Although most kosher fish are identifiable by the presence of scales, the Orthodox Union (OU) maintains a long-standing policy of accepting all reddish-pinkish fillets as kosher, even if they lack a piece of skin to identify them. The foundation for this guideline is that no fish with a reddish-pinkish flesh beneath its skin is kosher, with the exception of salmon, trout, and probably some carp.
The use of an artificial vitamin supplement to redden the flesh of farm-raised salmon is one source of worry. The OU’s policy of accepting all reddish-pinkish fillets as kosher stems from Rabbi Yisroel Belsky, z”l, who wrote in the name of Rabbi Moshe Feinstein, zt”l, that a fish fillet with a reddish-pinkish color could be accepted as a siman-muvhak (an absolute sign) of kashrut if it could be reasonably certain that no non-kos
Rabbi Feinstein’s psak (ruling) could only be applied to fish with naturally red flesh, such as wild salmon and trout. If not for supplements, the flesh of farmed variants of these fish would be a sickly pale-white. The lack of astaxanthin, an antioxidant that wild salmon and trout get from their diet of lobster, shrimp, krill, plankton, and algae, is the explanation for farmed salmon’s natural lack of redness.
In their reddish-pinkish flesh, only salmon and trout preserve natural carotenes. Artificial carotenes, such as DSM’s astaxanthin “Carophyll-pink,” can only be retained in the flesh of fish that have the ability to store natural carotenes. Other fish are not red because they do not store carotenes in their flesh, whether natural or manufactured.
Because only salmon and trout have red or pink flesh, the OU Poskim maintain that red flesh is still a siman muvhak for a kosher fish, and therefore the OU policy of admitting reddish-pinkish fillets without the skin is appropriate.
What kind of fish are considered kosher?
For a fish to be deemed kosher, it must have scales and fins, according to the chok or divine decrees of the Torah and Talmud.
The definition of “scale” differs from biology standards in that kosher fish scales must be visible to the naked eye, present in the adult form, and easily removed from the skin by hand or scaling knife.
A shark with minuscule scales, a sturgeon whose scutes can’t be easily removed without cutting them out of the body, and a swordfish that loses all of its scales as an adult are all not kosher.
When a kosher fish is taken out of the water, it is deemed “slaughtered,” and ritual slaughter in the manner of kosher cattle is not required.
Kosher law, on the other hand, expressly prohibits the consumption of a live fish.
