In Chinese food is the starch, stir-fried vegetables for thickening, sizing, etc., there are a variety of, such as sweet potato starch, Sichuan cuisine in the use of water bean flour, as well as corn starch and other raw flour is starch, there can be many kinds of, generally refers to the corn starch thickening of academic concepts: with the help of starch in the case of heat pasteurization, has the characteristics of water absorption, adherence and smooth and clean. When the dishes are close to maturity, the adjusted powder juice is drizzled into the pot to make the marinade thick and thick and increase the adhesion of the marinade to the raw materials, thus increasing the powder and concentration of the dish soup and improving the color and flavor of the dishes.
1. Usage
Thickening is generally used two types. One is the starch juice and seasonings, commonly known as "to juice", mostly used for the fire power, the speed of simmering, popping and other methods of cooking dishes. One is simply starch juice, also known as "wet starch", mostly used for general fried dishes. Pouring juice is also a kind of thickening, also known as thin gravy, glazed gravy, mostly used for simmering, burning, steak and soup dishes. According to the cooking method and the characteristics of the dishes, there are generally the following kinds of gravy usage: 1. package gravy is generally used for stir-fry method of cooking dishes. Powder sauce is the thickest, the purpose is to make the gravy all wrapped up to the raw materials, such as shredded pork with fish, fried cashews, etc. are used to wrap the gravy, after eating the dishes, the bottom of the plate basically does not leave the marinade. 2. paste gravy is generally used for simmered, slippery, stewed, braised method of cooking the dishes. Powder than package gravy thin, the use of soup dishes into a paste, to achieve soup and vegetables fusion, taste smooth and soft, such as: sweet and sour pork, etc. 3. flow gravy thinner powder, generally used for large or whole dishes, its role is to increase the taste of the dishes and gloss. Generally in the dishes on the plate, and then the pot of marinade heating thickening, and then poured on the dishes, part of the dip in the dishes, part of the glazed state, after eating the plate can be part of the remaining juice.4. Milk soup gravy is the gravy in the thinnest, also known as thin gravy. Generally used for braised dishes, such as: spicy tofu, shrimp potpourri. The purpose is to make the dish soup a little thicker to achieve the color and fresh requirements.
2. Classification
Corn Starch
Corn Starch (Corn Starch), also known as cornstarch, corn starch, corn flour, cornstarch, there are some places to call it soybean meal (which is indeed rare), is extracted from corn kernels of the starch - the most abundant starch, but not as good as potato starch performance. It is not as good as potato starch. What is called raw flour in Hong Kong is mainly corn starch.
Taibai powder
That is, raw potato starch, potato starch - the most used in the household and the most stable quality of thickening starch, called Taibai powder (Potato Starch) in Taiwan. Characterized by viscous enough, fine texture, color white, gloss better than mung bean starch, but poor water absorption. Add water and heat will coagulate into a transparent thick, in Chinese cooking (especially Taiwanese cuisine) will often be too white powder with cold water to mix well and add to the cooked dishes to do thickening, so that the soup looks thick, while making the appearance of the food looks glossy. In Hong Kong cuisine, cornstarch is usually used to thicken the sauce. However, the soup thickened with cornstarch will become thinner when it cools, while the soup thickened with cornstarch will not change when it cools.
Powdered cornstarch should not be mixed directly with hot water or added to hot food, as it will immediately clump together and cannot be cooked. When the food is cooled, the gravy will become thinner, so it is called "watered down". Therefore, cornstarch is usually used in pastry making to make the ingredients thicker without the use of cornstarch.
PS: Note that Potato Flour (also known as "potato flour") is different from Potato Flour, which can be reduced to mashed potatoes by heating water and boiling. In addition, it is often used in western-style bread or cakes to increase the moistness of the product.
Sweet Potato Starch
Sweet Potato Starch (Sweet Potato Starch) - also known as groundnut starch, taro starch, characterized by strong water-absorbing capacity, but poor viscosity, no luster, dark red with black color. It is made of sweet potato starch and other powders, general groundnut flour is granular, coarse and fine two kinds, usually home to buy coarse groundnut flour is better. Groundnut flour, like white flour, melts in water and then heats up to a sticky consistency, and the viscosity of groundnut flour is higher than that of white flour, so groundnut flour is less commonly used in thickening Chinese cuisine because the viscosity is more difficult to control.
Groundnut flour is more commonly used in Chinese dim sum.
Kudzu Powder
Kudzu Powder is made from the underground stems of a perennial plant called kudzu (Arrowroot), because the entire nodules of kudzu are almost pure starch, which are shredded, cleaned, and dried, These are shredded, cleaned, dried, and ground to make kudzu flour (also known as Arrowroot, the same name as the plant). Kudzu powder can be used to thicken soups in a similar way to cornstarch and cornflour, but cornstarch and cornflour need to be at higher temperatures to thicken soups, while kudzu powder works at lower temperatures, making it ideal for thickening American puddings containing eggs, which tend to clump together at higher temperatures. Some recipes also call it Arrowroot Flour.
Tapioca Flour
Tapioca Starch (Tapioca Flour) - also known as diamond flour and Thai raw flour (because Thailand is the third largest producer of cassava in the world, after Nigeria and Brazil, and in Thailand it is commonly (because Thailand is the third largest producer of cassava in the world after Nigeria and Brazil, it is generally used to make starch in Thailand). Taiwan's imports from Southeast Asia are gradually increasing, so the Taiwanese originally called potato starch for too white powder, but also generally called tapioca starch for too white powder. It will be transparent when it is cooked with water and heat, and the texture is QQ with elasticity.
West Valley coconut starch
West Valley coconut starch (sago palm starch), this is not common here, but if I talk about sago, I believe we will not be unfamiliar with the sago, sago that is, sago rice is a specialty of Indonesia, is processed with tapioca, wheat starch, bracteate flour from the bead-shaped powder granules. Sago has the skin back to the natural moisturizing function.
In the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia and Papua New Guinea and other countries on many islands, growing a kind of tree called West Valley coconut. The trunk of the West Valley coconut is thick and straight and contains a lot of starch. The average West Valley Coconut tree lives for 20 years and dies after flowering. People in it is about to blossom before, cut down the trunk, remove the branches and leaves, sawed into sections, each section of about 1 meter, and then split lengthwise into two, with a knife will be scraped out of the starch within the stems, immersed in a bucket of water, starch is slowly sinking to the bottom of the bucket, (this is what I want to say to the West Valley Coconut starch), if you pour off the top of the water, drying can be processed into a rice-like particles, the local residents called the West Valley of rice. This is what we usually eat inside the coconut water sago dew sago.
Crystal Powder
Crystal Powder (Clear Roll Cake Flour) is mainly composed of cornstarch, diamond powder and other starches.
Starchy Flour
Starchy Flour (Starchy Flour)-strictly speaking, it is the general name of all kinds of starch, mainly used for thickening, dim sum, the north is known as dough powder, Shanghai is called diamond powder Starchy Flour is not exclusively referring to which starch, Starchy Flour is a term that often occurs in the mainland recipes and Hong Kong-style recipes, and is used to thicken the starch. It is mostly used for thickening. In mainland China and Hong Kong, cornstarch is used as cornstarch, while in Taiwan, the usual thickening powder is tai bai powder. In addition to thickening food to create a smooth texture in Chinese cooking, cornstarch is also commonly used as a marinade to soften meat.
Mung bean starch
The best starch for thickening food, but it is rarely used and not produced in large quantities. It is characterized by sufficient viscosity, small water absorption, white and glossy color.