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Asian
Food Glossary
| Water Chestnuts
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The knobby vegetable with brown skin is a staple in Chinese cooking. However, the water chestnut is not a nut at all, but an aquatic vegetable that grows in marshes. This is why the ones that you purchase in the store may have a bit of muddy coating. Drain and rinse canned water chestnuts before using. You may also want to rinse them briefly in boiling water to get rid of any canned or "tinny" taste. They can be eaten raw or added to stir-fries.
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| Wakame |
Lobe-leaf seaweed. It is often used in miso soup and salad.
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| Winter Melon or Dong Gua |
Winter melon, with its dark green skin, resembles a large watermelon. The white flesh inside looks as if it has been lightly covered with snow and the seeds are white as well. Grown during the summer, it stays fresh for a long time and thus can be eaten during the winter. Winter melon has a very mild sweet taste. It is used in soups and stir-fries, where it absorbs the flavors of the other ingredients.
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| Wok |
The most important piece of Chinese cooking equipment, a wok can be used for stir-frying, deep-frying, steaming and roasting. A wok has numerous advantages in shape, design and material. While there are several types of woks on the market, from stainless steel to aluminum, carbon steel is best.
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| Wood Ears |
Often confused with cloud ears, wood ears are actually a distant relative of the cloud ear fungus. Larger and somewhat tougher, they lack the delicate taste of cloud ears. Storage and preparation of wood ears is virtually identical to cloud ears, except that they can be soaked in cold instead of warm water. They are used in soups and stir-fries.
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| Yokan |
Japanese confection which is made from agar, sugar and azuki-bean.
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| Yuzu |
Japanese citrus fruit. The zest is used for cooking.
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