Are you overwhelmed when you shop at the sauces aisle in Chinese groceries? I am. There are so many types of sauces that even as a Chinese I have not try all of them.

Ian Lai shared some of the more common sauces that he uses in the Healthy Asian Cooking workshop. They include soy sauce, oyster sauce, fish sauce, rice wine vinegar, sesame oil, hot bean sauce, etc.

One of the sauces that stands out is the Korean Gochujang Hot Pepper Paste because Ian Lai said it is MSG free. As for soy sauce, the Japanese Tamari is also MSG free.

The last recipe in the Healthy Asian Cooking is Broccoli and Beef. Ian’s Lai take for the popular Broccoli and Beef you find in Chinese restaurants is very different. He cooks the beef separately and he added multigrains and goji berries into this dish.
Ingredients
- 1 flank steak
- 1 head of broccoli, cut into flowerets, slice stem to same bite size so that they cook evenly
- 1 package of snow peas
- 1 bunch of cilantro, rough chopped
- 1 bunch of green onions, chopped
- 1 bunch of water crest, rough chopped
- 1 handful of goji berries, re-hydrated in cold water for a few minutes until plump
- 1 or 2 cloves of garlic, chopped
- 1 whole garlic clove
- 2 slices of ginger
Marinate for flank steak
- salt to taste
- 1 tablespoon of sesame oil
- 1 big tablespoon Gochujang
- 1 big tablespoon of oyster sauce
- 1 tablespoon of rice wine vinegar
Sauce
- 2 red bell peppers
- 1/2 block of soft tofu
- 1/4 teaspoon of togarashi (Japanese spice mix)
- salt to taste
Grains
- 2 cups of multigrains
- 3 cups of water


The above is the package of multigrains that Ian used. You can get them from T&T or Osaka Supermarket. The 2 kg package costs around $1o to $12.
It’s a very cultural thing for Chinese to eat steamed white rice with dishes. The rice is usually washed a number of times until the water runs clear. Ian shared with us that their family gradually changed to not washing the rice as it’s his daughter’s responsibility to cook rice. After much complaints, they forgo the washing of the rice. Nowadays, they try to eat other grains instead of white rice. White rice has the least nutrients as all the good nutrients have been polished away.
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