Spicy!

 

It's been on my mind lately to start running down my storecupboard and freezer in readiness for moving.  I have a lot of stuff that I could use up and it will save me money too!  I started with my herbs and spices.  Despite getting a new kitchen 2 years ago (September 2021!!) I had spices dated 2017!!  I must have just put them back in the cupboard without checking!

So I chucked out the really old ones and sorted the rest.  My cooking seems to fall into categories so I sorted my spices into those.  The above photo is of my Tex Mex spices.  I make up my own fajita and taco seasoning mixes, much cheaper than the ready made packets and no fillers.

Basic curry spices (cumin does double duty!)

Baking spices, although I tend to just use mixed spice for most things.  No idea why I have cinnamon as I don't like it.  I can only think I bought it for a school project and didn't use that one.  The whole nutmegs are dated 2019 but they'll still be fine.

Standard cooking herbs/spices.  The saffron was a gift but I've only used it once.  Any ideas on what to use it for??  It's too expensive to just throw out!

This is my most recent purchase.  I used to live on stir fries when I was working as they were quick and easy to throw it together when I was tired.  I've not really had many recently.  I want to start again as it's a great way to stretch a little meat with loads of veggies.

Photo from BBC food

I did a search on YouTube for some authentic Chinese sauces as the ready made ones have got too many processed additives for my liking.  I found a few channels that suggested these 5 basic ingredients were the base of most sauces:

1.  Soy sauce 
2.  Sesame oil
3.  MSG  
4.  Starch (something like cornflour)
5.  Scihuan pepper

I've always got Tamari soy sauce and cornflour.  I used to have sesame oil so I'll look out for a decent priced one again probably in Aldi or Lidl.  I've found some Scihuan peppercorns on Amazon at a decent price so I'll order some next month.  I'm going to pass on the MSG though!  

I found that these 5 extra essentials were a common suggestion too:

1. Oyster sauce
2. Rice vinegar
3. Chinese cooking wine
4. 5 spice powder
5. Chilli sauce

A bit of research suggests apple cider vinegar (which I always have) is a good sub for rice vinegar.  And dry sherry is a decent sub for Chinese cooking wine.  So in my March supermarket shop I'll add some Chinese cooking ingredients to my shopping list 😋

With the addition of garlic and ginger that I normally keep in the freezer, I'll have the basics to start making decent Chinese fakeaways again! 😋😋