Accompaniments Category

This is a Spanish and South American delicacy that's similar to quince jam, only thick enough to cut into slices. It's terrific which cheese or nuts.

These are for the rare cook who's intrepid enough to cure olives from scratch. Do not eat them raw.

This mild Puerto Rican specialty is made from peppers and cilantro.

Red currant jelly is tart and often served with lamb and venison.

Red pepper sauce is a mild sauce made from roasted red bell peppers and other spices.

This is made from azuki beans, and Asian cooks use it to fill buns and dumplings and to make puddings. Like peanut butter, it comes in both creamy and crunchy versions. The creamy version also comes in powdered form. Don't confuse this with sweet bean paste, which is made from sweetened fermented soybeans.

These thin, fragile sheets are used to make spring rolls, but they also make good all-purpose wrappers, baking pan liners, and even lasagne noodles. The sheets are brittle, so you need to moisten them with water before wrapping foods in them. Keep them moist while you work with them by covering the stack with a damp towel. Rice paper doesn't need to be cooked, but it's sturdy enough to be steamed or deep-fried. Look for it in Asian markets. It can be stored in a cool, dark place for many months.

This moderately hot Peruvian sauce is made from rocoto chiles.

This is grown in Africa.

This is large brown Greek olive is brine-cured.

To make your own: See the recipe for Sambal Blachan on Recipecottage.com

This Indonesian sauce is used for dipping and stir fries. It's fairly spicy, but milder than sambal oelek.

This is a spicy red sauce from Vietnam.

These are traditionally made from intestines, but synthetic casings are now more common. You can order them online, or prevail upon a friendly neighborhood butcher.

This is a large, green, brine-cured olive.

Look for this in Southeast Asian markets.

These are large, green, sour olives that are usually marinated with herbs. They sometimes pitted and stuffed with pimento, garlic, or jalapeño pepper.

This Japanese tofu is soft and creamy and it's the preferred tofu for shakes, dips, custards, puddings, and dressings. It's available either fresh in tubs or in aseptic packages that don't need refrigeration. When working with silken tofu, it's a good idea to make a dish ahead of time so as to allow the tofu to absorb other flavors. Don't freeze it.

Soy sauce is made from soybeans that have been fermented and salted. It's used throughout Asian, with different regions producing quite different variations. Japanese soy sauce = shoyu is sweeter and less salty than Chinese soy sauce. Chinese soy sauce comes in light and dark versions. Lite soy sauce has 1/3 less sodium.

These make exquisite garnishes, but they can also be stuffed with fillings and fried, or else sautéed very briefly and put into omelettes or quesadillas. The best source of the blossoms is a garden, but non-gardeners can sometimes find them in farmers' markets or specialty markets. They don't store well, so try to use the blossoms soon after you get them.

This is a hot sauce used as a condiment by Thais and Vietnamese.