Asian cuisines: Chinese, Thai and Japanese

In short

Chinese, Thai and Japanese cooking are the three Asian cuisines taught as a block in Indian culinary degrees under "Oriental" or "Asian cuisine", because they dominate India's hotel speciality restaurants and the QSR market. They differ in heat source and flavour logic: China cooks fast over fierce dry heat and balances five tastes through fermented sauces; Thailand pounds fresh aromatics into pastes and balances sour-salty-sweet-hot in every dish; Japan removes rather than adds, building flavour on dashi, seasonality and knife work. The topic is examined as theory papers (Cuisines of the World, Quantity Food Production) and practicals (wok handling, paste-making, rice and fish cutting), and is asked in every F&B production interview at Taj, Oberoi, ITC, Marriott, Hyatt and on cruise lines. Food-safety answers must be anchored to the FSS Act, 2006 and FSSAI's current regulations, which govern MSG labelling, raw-fish handling and imported ingredients.

Explained

Chinese cuisine: the four to eight great schools

• Classically the four great cuisines are Shandong (Lu), Sichuan (Chuan), Cantonese (Yue) and Jiangsu (Su); the eight schools add Zhejiang, Fujian, Hunan and Anhui.
• Cantonese (Yue, Guangdong): mildest and most refined; steaming, roasting and quick stir-frying; light sauces — oyster sauce, light soy, rice wine, ginger-spring onion. Home of dim sum and roast meats (char siu, roast duck). Most Indian "Chinese" fine dining is Cantonese-based.
• Sichuan (Chuan): *ma-la* — the numbing tingle of Sichuan pepper (huajiao) with chilli heat; doubanjiang (fermented broad-bean chilli paste), preserved vegetables, dry-frying (gan bian). Dishes: mapo tofu, kung pao chicken, dan dan noodles.
• Hunan: hotter and more sour-salty than Sichuan but without the numbing; smoked and cured meats, fresh chillies.
• Shandong: birthplace of northern technique — clear and milky stocks, braising, wheat noodles and buns, scallion flavour.
• Jiangsu / Zhejiang (including Shanghai): "red cooking" (hong shao) in dark soy, sugar and rice wine; sweeter, braised, delicate — Shanghainese hairy crab, soup dumplings.
• Fujian: soups and seafood, red wine lees; Anhui: wild herbs and simple braises.
• Indian-Chinese (Hakka/Calcutta Chinese) is a distinct Indianised hybrid — Gobi Manchurian, chilli chicken, Hakka noodles, Schezwan sauce — created by the Hakka Chinese community of Tangra, Kolkata. Exams ask you to distinguish it from authentic regional Chinese, not to dismiss it.

Chinese technique, equipment and seasonings

• Wok (kuo): carbon-steel, round-bottomed, seasoned and never scrubbed with detergent; its thin wall gives instant response. Wok hei ("breath of the wok") is the smoky aroma from food searing on metal above ~200 °C — needs a high-BTU burner, a hot dry wok, a dry surface on the food and small batches.
• Methods: *chao* (stir-fry), *bao* (explode-fry, very fast), *zha* (deep-fry), *zheng* (steam), *hong shao* (red braise), *lu* (master-stock poaching), *shao kao* (roast), *chao mian* (pan-fried noodles).
• Velveting (shang jiang): marinate sliced meat in egg white, cornflour, rice wine and salt, then blanch in warm oil (~120-140 °C) or water before the final toss — the starch-protein coat holds moisture and gives the silky texture expected in exams.
• Cuts: shredding (si), slicing (pian), dicing (ding), mincing (rong), flower cuts on squid and kidney — uniformity matters because cooking time is seconds.
• Seasonings: light and dark soy, oyster sauce, hoisin, Shaoxing rice wine, black (Chinkiang) vinegar, sesame oil (finishing, not cooking), fermented black beans, chilli-bean paste, five-spice powder (star anise, cassia, clove, fennel, Sichuan pepper).
• Thickening: cornflour slurry added at the end in a boiling sauce, in stages, to a coating (*nappé*) consistency; over-thick gluey sauces lose marks.
• Stocks: superior stock (shang tang) from chicken, pork bones and ham; clear stock for soups; vegetarian stock from soy beans, mushrooms and cabbage.
• MSG (monosodium glutamate, E621): permitted in India as a food additive, but FSSAI requires a declaration on the label of packaged food containing it and it is not permitted in foods for infants; menus in many hotels declare "no added MSG". Umami can be built instead with dried shiitake, kombu, fermented beans and reduced stock.

Thai cuisine: regions, the taste balance and pastes

• Balance rule: every Thai dish is tuned across sour (manao/lime, tamarind), salty (fish sauce, shrimp paste), sweet (palm sugar), hot (chilli) and often bitter; the chef tastes and corrects at the end — this *is* the examinable principle.
• Four regions: Central (royal cuisine, coconut-milk curries, Bangkok refinement); Northern/Lanna (mild, sticky rice, dill and turmeric, nam prik ong, khao soi — Burmese influence); Northeastern/Isaan (sticky rice, fiery salads, som tam, larb, grilled meats, fermented fish *pla ra*); Southern (hottest, turmeric-yellow curries, fresh seafood, Malay-Muslim influence — massaman, gaeng som).
• Core aromatics: lemongrass, galangal (kha — not ginger), kaffir lime leaf and zest, coriander root, Thai basil (horapha), holy basil (kraphao), bird's-eye chilli (prik kee noo), shallot, garlic, turmeric, white peppercorn.
• Curry pastes are pounded in a granite mortar (*krok*) in order — hard and dry first, wet last — then fried in cracked coconut cream until the oil separates and the paste smells cooked:
  • Green (gaeng kiew wan): fresh green chilli — usually the hottest.
  • Red (gaeng phet): dried red chilli, base for panang and choo chee.
  • Yellow (gaeng kari): turmeric, curry powder, Indian influence, mild.
  • Massaman: dried spices (cinnamon, clove, cardamom, cumin), Persian-Muslim origin, mild and sweet.
  • Panang: thick, peanut-rich, nearly dry.
  • Sour curry (gaeng som): no coconut, tamarind-sour, turmeric.
• Coconut milk: *hua kati* (thick first press) for frying the paste and finishing; *hang kati* (thin second press) for the body of the curry. Never boil hard after the thin milk goes in, or it splits.
• Signature preparations: tom yum (clear, hot-sour, no coconut), tom kha (coconut, galangal), som tam (green papaya salad pounded in a clay mortar), pad thai (rice-noodle stir-fry with tamarind and palm sugar), satay with peanut sauce, larb, mee krob, sticky rice with mango.
• Condiments: *nam pla* (fish sauce), *nam pla prik*, *nam prik pao* (roasted chilli jam), tamarind water, palm sugar, dried shrimp, shrimp paste (kapi).
• Service style: all dishes to the table together with rice at the centre — not coursed; eaten with fork and spoon, chopsticks only for noodles.

Japanese cuisine: washoku principles and the rules of five

• Washoku is built on *shun* (seasonality), restraint, and letting the ingredient speak. The traditional rules of five: five colours (white, black, red, yellow, green), five tastes (sweet, sour, salt, bitter, umami), five cooking methods (raw, simmer, grill, steam, fry).
• Ichiju-sansai — the standard meal plan: rice + one soup + three dishes (one grilled/raw main, two smaller).
• Dashi is the foundation. Ichiban dashi (first dashi): kombu steeped at ~60-65 °C and removed before the boil, then katsuobushi added off the heat for ~30-60 seconds and strained without pressing — clear and delicate. Niban dashi (second) re-simmers the solids for simmering liquids. Variants: kombu dashi (vegan), shiitake dashi, niboshi dashi. Umami comes from glutamate (kombu) plus inosinate (katsuobushi) — a synergy that multiplies perceived umami.
• Cooking methods by suffix: *sashimi* (raw), *nimono* (simmered), *yakimono* (grilled — *teriyaki* is glaze-grilled, *shioyaki* salt-grilled, *yakitori* skewered chicken), *agemono* (fried — *tempura* in cold thin batter, *karaage* flour-coated), *mushimono* (steamed — chawanmushi), *aemono/sunomono* (dressed salads), *nabemono* (one-pot — sukiyaki, shabu-shabu), *menrui* (noodles — ramen, soba, udon, somen).
• Seasonings: shoyu (koikuchi dark, usukuchi light-but-saltier), miso (shiro/white sweet, aka/red salty, awase blend), mirin (sweet rice wine), sake, rice vinegar, sesame, wasabi, yuzu, ponzu, shichimi togarashi.
• Sushi rice (shari): short-grain japonica washed until the water runs clear, soaked, cooked, then cut with *sushi-zu* (rice vinegar : sugar : salt) while hot, fanned and held at body temperature — never refrigerated hard.
• Sushi forms: nigiri (hand-pressed), maki (rolled — hosomaki, futomaki, uramaki/inside-out), temaki (cone), gunkan (battleship), chirashi (scattered bowl), oshizushi (pressed box). Sashimi is not sushi — sushi is defined by the vinegared rice.
• Knives: single-bevel carbon-steel — *yanagiba* (sashimi slicer), *deba* (fish butchery), *usuba* (vegetables; the similar nakiri is double-bevel), sharpened on water stones. Cuts: *hira-zukuri* (straight slice), *usu-zukuri* (paper-thin), *kaku-zukuri* (cubes), *sogizukuri* (angled).
• Food safety for raw fish: sashimi-grade fish must be species that are safe raw, ultra-fresh and parasite-controlled. International practice (and FSSAI's general requirement that food be safe) calls for freezing fish intended for raw consumption at about −20 °C for ~7 days or −35 °C for ~15-20 hours to kill *Anisakis* larvae; tuna is often exempted in practice. Reconfirm the exact temperature-time in the current FSSAI/Codex text before quoting it in writing. Cold chain, separate boards and sanitised knives are non-negotiable.

Comparing the three, and the Indian context

• Fat and heat: China — oil, fierce wok heat, seconds; Thailand — coconut fat, simmering and pounding; Japan — minimal fat, gentle heat or none at all.
• Umami source: China — soy and fermented beans; Thailand — fish sauce and shrimp paste; Japan — dashi, miso, soy.
• Sour source: China — black/rice vinegar; Thailand — lime and tamarind; Japan — rice vinegar, yuzu, ponzu.
• Starch staple: China — long-grain rice in the south, wheat noodles and buns in the north; Thailand — jasmine rice (sticky rice in the north-east); Japan — short-grain sticky japonica.
• Vegetarian adaptation (vital in India): replace oyster sauce with mushroom "oyster" sauce, fish sauce with light soy + salt + fermented bean or seaweed brine, shrimp paste with fermented soy bean paste, dashi with kombu-shiitake dashi. Jain versions need no onion, garlic, galangal substitution strategy — use asafoetida-free aromatic oils and declare the change on the menu.
• Indian regulatory practice: the FSS Act, 2006 and its regulations govern licensing (FSSAI Central licence for most star hotels), labelling, additives and imports; imported ingredients (kombu, katsuobushi, mirin, Shaoxing wine) need importer licensing and compliant labels. Alcohol-containing ingredients (sake, mirin, Shaoxing) bring State excise rules into play — many hotels buy them through their excise-licensed beverage store. HACCP/FSSAI Schedule 4 hygiene and ISO 22000 are standard in hotel kitchens; ISO 22000 certification is voluntary, FSSAI licensing is not.
• Menu engineering reality: Asian speciality outlets in Indian five-stars commonly target a food cost of ~25-32%; teppanyaki and sushi counters carry higher wastage, so yield testing of fish is a graded practical exercise.

Key points

• Wok hei - smoky aroma from searing in a very hot, dry, lightly oiled wok in small batches.
• Velveting - egg white + cornflour + wine marinade, oil- or water-blanched, for silky meat.
• Ma-la - Sichuan's signature numbing (Sichuan pepper) plus hot (chilli) combination.
• Eight great cuisines - Shandong, Sichuan, Cantonese, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Fujian, Hunan, Anhui.
• Dim sum - Cantonese small steamed/fried items served with tea (yum cha).
• Hong shao - red cooking: braising in dark soy, sugar and Shaoxing wine.
• Five-spice powder - star anise, cassia, clove, fennel, Sichuan pepper.
• Thai balance - sour, salty, sweet, hot corrected by tasting at the end of cooking.
• Krok and sak - granite mortar and pestle; hard ingredients pounded first, wet last.
• Cracking the cream - frying curry paste in thick coconut cream until oil separates.
• Galangal ≠ ginger - kha is woody, citrus-piney; substituting ginger is a marked error.
• Nam pla - fermented fish sauce, Thailand's main salt and umami source.
• Ichiju-sansai - rice, one soup, three dishes: the Japanese meal structure.
• Ichiban dashi - kombu below the boil, then katsuobushi off the heat, strained unpressed.
• Umami synergy - glutamate (kombu) + inosinate (bonito) give far more umami than either alone.
• Shari - sushi rice seasoned hot with vinegar-sugar-salt, held at body temperature.
• Sushi vs sashimi - sushi needs vinegared rice; sashimi is raw fish alone.
• Yanagiba - long single-bevel knife; one smooth pulling stroke per sashimi slice.

Formulas and examples

Example 1 — Fish yield and portion cost for sashimi. A 6.0 kg whole yellowfin tuna costs ₹1,100/kg. Butchery gives 2.70 kg of sashimi-usable loin.

• AP cost = 6.0 × 1,100 = ₹6,600.
• Yield % = (2.70 ÷ 6.0) × 100 = 45%.
• Usable cost per kg = 6,600 ÷ 2.70 = ₹2,444/kg.
• A 90 g sashimi portion (5 slices of 18 g) = 0.090 × 2,444 = ₹220 of fish.
• At a 28% target food cost, with ₹25 of garnish, wasabi, shoyu and daikon, plate cost = ₹245 → selling price = 245 ÷ 0.28 = ₹875 (menu ₹895 before GST).

Example 2 — Sushi rice batch and sushi-zu. 2.0 kg raw japonica is needed for a buffet.

• Cooked yield at about 2.2× = 4.4 kg shari.
• Sushi-zu at 11% of cooked weight = 0.11 × 4.4 = 0.484 kg ≈ 484 g.
• At 10 : 5 : 1, total parts = 16 → vinegar = 484 × 10/16 = 302.5 g, sugar = 151.3 g, salt = 30.3 g.
• Nigiri at 18 g rice each → 4,400 ÷ 18 = 244 pieces.

Example 3 — Green curry for 40 covers, costed. Standard portion: 180 ml curry.

• Total curry = 40 × 180 = 7,200 ml = 7.2 litres.
• Recipe ratio per litre: 120 g green curry paste, 400 ml thick coconut milk, 450 ml thin coconut milk/stock, 120 g protein-free aromatics, plus 150 g chicken per portion.
• Paste = 7.2 × 120 = 864 g; thick milk = 2.88 L; thin milk/stock = 3.24 L; chicken = 40 × 150 = 6.0 kg.
• Cost: chicken 6.0 kg × ₹280 = ₹1,680; coconut milk 6.12 L × ₹110 = ₹673; paste ingredients ₹520; fish sauce, palm sugar, basil, kaffir lime ₹260 → total ₹3,133, i.e. ₹78.3 per portion.
• At 30% food cost, selling price = 78.3 ÷ 0.30 = ₹261 (menu ₹275 before GST).

Example 4 — Dashi scaling. Ichiban dashi for 60 bowls of clear soup at 150 ml each, allowing 10% evaporation and strainer loss.

• Finished dashi needed = 60 × 0.150 = 9.0 L → start with 9.0 ÷ 0.90 = 10.0 L water.
• Standard: 10 g kombu + 20 g katsuobushi per litre → 100 g kombu and 200 g katsuobushi.
• Kombu steeped at 60-65 °C for 30-60 min, removed before boiling; katsuobushi added off the heat, 45 seconds, strained unpressed.
• Seasoning for *suimono*: about 1% usukuchi shoyu + 0.5% salt + a dash of sake → ~90 ml usukuchi and ~45 g salt for 9 L, corrected by tasting.

Example 5 — Wok batch size. A single 36 cm wok on a 15 kW burner holds about 400-500 g of mixed vegetables for a true stir-fry. For 50 covers at 120 g each = 6.0 kg → 6,000 ÷ 450 ≈ 14 batches; at ~2.5 minutes per batch including re-heating, one cook needs ~35 minutes. Two woks halve it. Loading 1.5 kg at once drops the wok below searing temperature and the vegetables stew — the standard practical-exam failure.

Where it is used

• Hotel speciality restaurants: House of Ming and Pan Asian (ITC), Wasabi by Morimoto (Taj), Threesixtyone and China House (Hyatt/Oberoi), Mamagoto, Yauatcha, Megu — commis to chef de partie roles on wok, dim sum, sushi and teppanyaki sections.
• QSR and cloud kitchens: Wow! Momo, Chinese Wok, Berco's, Mainland China (Speciality Restaurants) — standardised sauces, batch wok production, high-volume noodle lines.
• Cruise lines, Gulf and East Asian hiring: Indian culinary graduates are recruited heavily for Asian sections on Royal Caribbean, Carnival, and hotels in Dubai, Doha, Singapore and Tokyo; sushi and wok skills are the differentiators.
• Food manufacturing and retail: Schezwan chutney, curry pastes, noodle and sauce bases, ready-to-eat Asian meals (ITC, Veeba, Ching's Secret) — product development and FSSAI-compliant labelling roles.
• Training and assessment: NCHMCT/IHM faculty, Tourism & Hospitality Skill Council (THSC) qualification packs, and practical examiner roles grade exactly these techniques.
• Catering and banqueting: live wok, teppan and sushi counters at weddings and corporate events — where batch sizing, mise en place and holding temperatures decide success.

Interview questions

• Q: What is wok hei and how do you achieve it? A: The smoky seared aroma of a true stir-fry; it needs a very hot dry seasoned wok, high burner output, dry ingredients, small batches and constant tossing so the food sears rather than steams.
• Q: Why is velveting done, and what goes into the marinade? A: To keep sliced meat tender and silky in a seconds-long cook; egg white, cornflour, rice wine, salt and a little oil, followed by a brief oil or water blanch.
• Q: Difference between light and dark soy sauce? A: Light soy is thinner, saltier and used for seasoning; dark soy is aged with molasses — less salty, used for colour and depth in braises.
• Q: How does Sichuan food differ from Hunan food? A: Both are hot, but Sichuan adds the numbing tingle of Sichuan pepper (ma-la) and fermented bean pastes, while Hunan is hotter, more sour-salty and smoky without the numbness.
• Q: Why do you fry the curry paste in thick coconut cream first? A: To cook out the raw aromatics and release the fat-soluble flavours; the paste is ready when the oil separates and splits out of the cream.
• Q: Can galangal be replaced with ginger? A: Not properly — galangal is woody, citrus-piney and sharper; ginger changes the dish's identity. If forced, use a smaller quantity of ginger with extra lime zest and say so on the menu.
• Q: What is the difference between tom yum and tom kha? A: Tom yum is a clear hot-and-sour soup with lemongrass, kaffir lime and chilli; tom kha adds coconut milk and leads with galangal, making it richer and milder.
• Q: How do you make ichiban dashi and what is the commonest mistake? A: Steep kombu at 60-65 °C and lift it out before boiling, add katsuobushi off the heat for under a minute, then strain without squeezing; boiling the kombu makes the dashi slimy and bitter.
• Q: What is umami synergy? A: Glutamate from kombu combined with inosinate from katsuobushi (or guanylate from dried shiitake) produces several times the perceived umami of either alone.
• Q: Is sashimi a type of sushi? A: No — sushi is defined by vinegared rice; sashimi is sliced raw fish served without rice.
• Q: How do you serve an Asian menu to vegetarian and Jain guests? A: Swap oyster sauce for mushroom sauce, fish sauce for light soy with fermented bean or seaweed brine, dashi for kombu-shiitake dashi, omit onion, garlic and shrimp paste for Jain, and use dedicated boards, woks and oil.
• Q: What safety steps apply before serving raw fish in India? A: Buy sashimi-grade species through a cold chain, keep it separate with dedicated knives and boards at 0-2 °C, and freeze fish intended for raw consumption to the prescribed low temperature and holding time to kill parasites — verify the exact figure against the current FSSAI/Codex requirement.

Common mistakes

• Overloading the wok, which drops the temperature so the food stews, greys and releases water instead of searing.
• Boiling kombu or pressing the katsuobushi when straining dashi — gives a cloudy, bitter, slimy stock.
• Adding cornflour slurry to a sauce that is not boiling, or all at once — gives lumps or a gluey, over-thick sauce.
• Using ginger for galangal, ordinary basil for holy basil, or lemon for lime in Thai dishes, and calling the dish authentic.
• Boiling a coconut curry hard after the thin milk goes in, which splits it; and seasoning a Thai dish once at the start instead of correcting the sour-salt-sweet-hot balance at the end.
• Refrigerating sushi rice, so the starch retrogrades and the rice turns hard and chalky.
• Writing "Chinese cuisine" as one thing in exam answers, or presenting Indian-Chinese dishes as authentic regional Chinese without naming the Hakka-Kolkata origin.

Related topics

• Indian cuisine · Continental cuisine · Garde manger: cold kitchen and charcuterie · Food costing, menu engineering and yield testing · Food safety, HACCP and FSSAI regulations · Kitchen equipment, knives and stocks.