Ingredients Series: Instant Sauces

I am of course a fan of preparing sauces from scratch. Gathering ingredients, storing them, using them and finishing them of course. But when time is your question, then having instant sauces for various cuisine help in your preparation for a meal. This trend in actual fact has taken the world by storm with instant curry sauces to even having prepared pasta sauces at your leisure. For a typical Asian, I look for instant sauces linking me to my heritage. 

My loyalty tends to lie towards Malaysian made sauces but Asian Home Gourmet is quite good. Manufactured in Singapore, it has a really nice spread of options for the asian in you. From Singapore Laksa to Vietnamese Pho, including mixes for Fried Rice. I like Brahim's because it has a selection of curries that somehow links the Malaysian in me to my homeland. So nationalistic...:)

However, there are plenty of other instant sauces. Thailand produces quite a number of brands that provides everyone the opportunity to cook thai food. Mae Ploy is probably the single most popular brand for Thai curry pastes. Other instant sauce brands include Mae Pranom and Nittaya. Malaysia does not lack either. Adabi and Baba's are quite staple in the UK. I have yet to find it in Germany but then again, I have not explored all the oriental stores available in Germany.

Going back to the reason why this blog exists, instant sauces does considerably shorten your cooking time. An average proper curry does take up to four hours to prepare with the right ingredients and the proper preparation method. Using an instant sauce satchet would mean only having to cook for 30 minutes to 1 hour. How's that for a quicker cooking process?

So check out your nearest oriental supermarket and see what you can find!

Go instant for a shorter cooking time,

The Innovative Baker