A food paste is a semi-liquid colloidal suspension, emulsion, or aggregation used in food preparation or eaten directly as a spread.[1] Pastes are often highly spicy or aromatic, are often prepared well in advance of actual usage, and are often made into a preserve for future use. Common pastes are some fruit preserves, curry pastes, and nut pastes. Purées are food pastes made from already cooked ingredients.
Some food pastes are considered to be condiments and are used directly, while others are made into sauces, which are more liquidy than paste. Ketchup and prepared mustard are pastes that are used both directly as condiments and as ingredients in sauces.
Many food pastes are an intermediary stage in the preparation of food. Perhaps the most notable of such intermediary food pastes is dough. A paste made of fat and flour and often stock or milk is an important intermediary for the basis for a sauce or a binder for stuffing, whether called a beurre manié,[2] a roux[3] or panada.[4] Sago paste is an intermediary stage in the production of sago meal and sago flour from sago palms.[5]
Food for babies and adults who have lost their teeth is often prepared as food pastes. Baby food is often very bland, while older adults often desire increased spiciness in their food pastes.
Preparation
Blenders, grinders, mortars and pestles, metates, and even chewing are used to reduce unprocessed food to a meal, powder, or when significant water is present in the original food, directly into a paste. If required, water, oil and other liquids are added to dry ingredients to make the paste. Often the resultant paste is fermented or cooked to increase its longevity. Often pastes are steamed, baked or enclosed in pastry or bread dough to make them ready for consumption.
Preservation
Traditionally salt, sugar, vinegar, citric acid and beneficial fermentation were all used to preserve food pastes. In modern times canning is used to preserve pastes in jars, bottles, tins and more recently in plastic bags and tubes.
While many of the pastes listed below may be made particularly spicy or aromatic or not, some pastes are specifically intended to deliver intense flavor rather than bulk.
Pâté is finely chopped, finely ground or pureed highly seasoned meat, whether fish, beef, pork, liver, or other organs.[10]
Shrimp paste is made from fermented ground shrimp, either from fresh shrimp or dried ones, with the addition of salt. Prepared shrimp paste often has oil, sugar, garlic, chili, and other spices added.
Grain
Farina --often prepared as a hot cereal or porridge
Pamonha is a traditional Brazilian paste made from fresh corn and milk.
Pasta is prepared from wheat food pastes often with the addition of egg.[11][12][13]
Marzipan, made from almonds, with the addition of sugar and sometimes egg whites,[15] is used as a center-fill in confections, or hardened to serve as a candy itself.
Walnut paste (საცივი) is a Georgian specialty, and is used unsweetened as a bread dip, or sweetened as a center-fill in a baklava-like pastry.
Sugar
Sugar pastes are usually used for frosting and icings, or sweet centers in pastry. Sugars are often combined with cream, oils and egg whites as well as water to make pastes.
Fondant is a basic sugar paste used as an intermediary in the production of candies and icings.[18][19]
Vegetable and fruit
Tomato paste
Àmàlà is a Nigeria specialty paste, thick and brown, made from yams.
Tomato paste is made from boiling tomatoes until they form a thick paste which is stored for later use in soups, sauces and stews.[22]
Qizha is a Palestinian paste made from crushed black fennel seeds.[23]
Yeast extracts
Yeast extracts, usually as byproduct from brewing beer,[24] are made into food pastes, usually dark-brown in colour. They are used to flavour soups and sausages, in the preparation of salad dressings, and directly as spreads.
↑ Russell, Percy (1995). The Nutrition and Health Dictionary. New York: Chapman and Hall. p.383. ISBN978-0-412-98991-9.
↑ Bayless, Rick (2007). Authentic Mexican 20th Anniversary Ed: Regional Cooking from the Heart of Mexico. New York: HarperCollins. p.99–101. ISBN978-0-06-137326-8.
↑ Lee, Cherl-Ho; Steinkraus, Keith H. & Reilly, P. J. (1993). Fish Fermentation Technology. New York: United Nations University Press. ISBN978-89-7053-003-1.
↑ Akinrele, I. A. (2006). "Fermentation studies on maize during the preparation of a traditional African starch-cake food". Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture. 21 (12): 619–625. doi:10.1002/jsfa.2740211205.
↑ Zubaida, Sami (2000). "National, Communal and Global Dimensions in Middle Eastern Food Cultures". In Zubaida, Sami; Tapper, Richard (eds.). A Taste of Thyme: Culinary Cultures of the Middle East. London: I.B. Tauris. p.35. ISBN978-1-86064-603-4.
↑ Sombutyanuchit, P.; Suphantharika, M.; Verduyn, C. (2001). "Preparation of 5′-GMP-rich yeast extracts from spent brewer's yeast". World Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology. 17 (2): 163–168. doi:10.1023/A:1016686504154.
Malaysian cuisine consists of cooking traditions and practices found in Malaysia, and reflects the multi-ethnic makeup of its population. The vast majority of Malaysia's population can roughly be divided among three major ethnic groups: Malays, Chinese and Indians. The remainder consists of the indigenous peoples of Sabah and Sarawak in East Malaysia, the Orang Asli of Peninsular Malaysia, the Peranakan and Eurasian creole communities, as well as a significant number of foreign workers and expatriates.
Malay cuisine is the traditional food of the ethnic Malays of Southeast Asia, residing in modern-day Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Brunei, Southern Thailand and the Philippines as well as Cocos Islands, Christmas Island, Sri Lanka and South Africa.
Tempoyak, asam durian or pekasam is a Malay condiment made from fermented durian. It is usually consumed by the ethnic Malays in Maritime Southeast Asia, notably in Indonesia and Malaysia. Tempoyak is made by taking the flesh of durian and mixing it with some salt and kept in room temperature for three or five days for fermentation. Tempoyaks are usually made during the durian season, when the abundance of durian and excess production are made into fermented tempoyak.
Shrimp paste or prawn sauce is a fermented condiment commonly used in Southeast Asian and Southern Chinese cuisines. It is primarily made from finely crushed shrimp or krill mixed with salt, and then fermented for several weeks. They are either sold in their wet form or are sun-dried and either cut into rectangular blocks or sold in bulk. It is an essential ingredient in many curries, sauces and sambal. Shrimp paste can be found in many meals in Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. It is often an ingredient in dip for fish or vegetables.
The generic term for condiments in the Filipino cuisine is sawsawan. Unlike sauces in other Southeast Asian regions, most sawsawan are not prepared beforehand, but are assembled on the table according to the preferences of the diner.
Chili sauce and chili paste are condiments prepared with chili peppers.
Peranakan cuisine or Nyonya cuisine comes from the Peranakans, descendants of early Chinese migrants who settled in Penang, Malacca, Singapore and Indonesia, inter-marrying with local Malays. In Baba Malay, a female Peranakan is known as a nonya, and a male Peranakan is known as a baba. The cuisine combines Chinese, Malay, Javanese, South Indian, and other influences.
Thai curry is a dish in Thai cuisine made from curry paste, coconut milk or water, meat, seafood, vegetables or fruit, and herbs. Curries in Thailand mainly differ from the curries in India in their use of ingredients such as herbs and aromatic leaves over a mix of spices.
Fermented bean paste is a category of fermented foods typically made from ground soybeans, which are indigenous to the cuisines of East, South and Southeast Asia. In some cases, such as the production of miso, other varieties of beans, such as broad beans, may also be used.
Javanese cuisine is the cuisine of Javanese people, a major ethnic group in Indonesia, more precisely the province of Central Java, Yogyakarta and East Java.
Sundanese cuisine is the cuisine of the Sundanese people of Western Java, and Banten, Indonesia. It is one of the most popular foods in Indonesia. Sundanese food is characterised by its freshness; the famous lalab eaten with sambal and also karedok demonstrate the Sundanese fondness for fresh raw vegetables. Unlike the rich and spicy taste, infused with coconut milk and curry of Minangkabau cuisine, the Sundanese cuisine displays the simple and clear taste; ranged from savoury salty, fresh sourness, mild sweetness, to hot and spicy.
Nam phrik is a type of Thai spicy chili sauce typical of Thai cuisine. Usual ingredients for nam phrik type sauces are fresh or dry chilies, garlic, shallots, lime juice and often some kind of fish or shrimp paste. In the traditional way of preparing these sauces, the ingredients are pounded together using a mortar and pestle, with either salt or fish sauce added to taste.
Mắm nêm is a sauce made of fermented fish. Unlike the more familiar nước mắm, mắm nêm is powerfully pungent, similar to shrimp paste. Many of the regions that produce fish sauce, for example Central Vietnam, also produce mắm nêm. It is commonly mixed with sugar, pineapple, and spices to make a prepared sauce called mắm nêm pha sẵn, the key ingredient in neem sauce.
This is a categorically-organized list of foods. Food is any substance consumed to provide nutritional support for the body. It is produced either by plants, animals, or fungi, and contains essential nutrients, such as carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins, or minerals. The substance is ingested by an organism and assimilated by the organism's cells in an effort to produce energy, maintain life, or stimulate growth.
Sambal is an Indonesian chilli sauce or paste, typically made from a mixture of a variety of chilli peppers with secondary ingredients such as shrimp paste, garlic, ginger, shallot, scallion, palm sugar, and lime juice. Sambal is an Indonesian loanword of Javanese origin. It originated from the culinary traditions of Indonesia and is also an integral part of the cuisines of Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei, and Sri Lanka. It has also spread through overseas Indonesian populations to the Netherlands and Suriname.
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