Mexican Ingredients
Mexican cuisine depends on distinctive flavours with a variety of chillis being used, therefore I have listed some of the ingredients needed to create these dishes. Most of these ingredients are available through specialist grocers and shops or supermarkets depending on where you live. Many of the required chillis are only available in their dried for in certain countries if your lucky, so why not try growing your own to get the different colours, flavours textures and heat strenghts.

Achiote
Achiote is a small red seed from the annatto tree, usually sold ground and mixed with spices. The powdered form can be used as a rub for fish and meat, or can be made into a paste for marinating giving a red/yellow colouring to the dish with a earthy fragrant flavour. Try using orange juice to mix to a paste.

Avocado
Avocado form the basis of Mexico's famous sauce - Guacamole. The black skinned variety seem to have the better flavour and should be bought when they give a little when pressed. Once cut open the flesh will need tossing or mashing in lemon or lime juice to prevent discolouring. Dried advocado leaves are available for using roasted and ground, or whole in sauces or beans dishes, which gives the dish a nutty flavour.

Beans
Beans are the main staple of mexican food, black, haricot, pinto, and kidney beans as well as chickpeas are used. Pinto's are probably the most common used in refried beans, which are mashed and fried in lard or butter after cooking and used as a filling.
All beans must be soaked overnight prior to cooking in fresh boiling water for two to three hours.

Chocolate/Cocoa
Chocolate, which originated in Mexico, is different from the chocolate familiar to most, the cocoa beans are roasted very dark and coarsely ground over heat with sugar and frequently cinnamon, almonds, and vanilla. Chocolate is then used in savoury dishes and mole sauces as well as sweet dishes and drinks. A hot chocolate drink, is made from roasted and ground cocoa beans, which is then sweetened with honey and flavoured with vanilla and whisked until frothy.

Try this as a starting point to a Mexican hot chocolate drink
6oz unsweetened chocolate
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1tbls sugar
2 pints milk
Bring all ingredients to the boil stirring constantly, take off heat and let bubbling subside. Return to heat, bring back to the boil whisking continuously until frothy. Serves 4-5.

Coriander/Cilantro
Fresh coriander is used in vast amounts and has no substitute. This herb will keep fresh for about a week in the refrigerator if you cut off the roots, wrap in kitchen paper and seal. It resembles flat leaf parsley but has a very distinctive taste, may be grown from seed in a sunny sheltered spot.

Cheeses
Queso blanco (white, fresh, salty cheese) and queso añejo (aged, salty, crumbly cheese) are Mexican cheeses, which can be substituted with Cheshire or Lancashire cheeses or Greek feta. Queso de Chihuahua is now eaten all over Mexico which is similar to a mild cheddar. Mixing cheddar with mozzarella will give the same sort of stringy consistency which is a must in the Mexican cooked cheese dishe

Epazote
This is a green herb used in mexican dishes which can be dried, giving a earthy flavour to dishes, if you can obtain it.

Maize Meal - Masa Harina
This is a treated stoneground flour made from maize, used for home made tortillas and tamales.

Tomatillos
These are not green tomatoes but a relation of the Cape gooseberry. They have a green outer husk while developing on the plant resembling a lattern, which as they develop, turns transparent and dries indicating the tomatillo is ready for picking. The tomatillos fruits are light green and add a tart freshness to a dish, the size varying form a small shallot to a lemon, also available in cans but can be easily grown as they do not need much looking after except pinching out when they reach about two foot in height. Growing season is the same as tomatoes.

Tortilla Recipe
12oz plain flour or wheat flour
2tsp baking powder
2tbls lard
8fl oz warm water
good pinch salt
Rub cubed lard into the sieved flour, baking powder and salt then gradually add the water to form a soft dough. Knead dough on floured surface for 10 minutes until smooth and stretchy, divide into golf ball sized bits and cover with a cloth for 20 minutes. Roll each ball out to about 7 inches on a floured surface and slap onto a hot flat griddle, and cook until it puffs up and slightly browns then turn over and cook other side pressing out any bubbles. All cooked tortillas should still be soft.

Uses:
Burritos: stuffed tortilla parcels
Enchiladas: tortillas dipped in chilli sauce, filled and baked
Flautas: fried rolled filled tortillas
Quesadillas: folded with cheese and fried
Tacos: warmed tortillas stuffed and eaten soft
Tostadas: crisp fried tortillas topped with chilli or beans
Tortilla Chips: tortillas cut into wedges and deep fried.

Oriental Ingredients
Far Eastern cuisines depend on their own distinctive flavours, therefore I have listed some of the ingredients needed to create these dishes. Most of these ingredients will be available from an oriental grocers or they are now becominge more widely available through supermarkets.

Aubergines
Many varieties of aubergine are used in Thailand from the small green pea aubergine to the white/yellow/purple golf ball sized aubergine right up to the full size common purple aubergine in everyday use.

Bamboo Shoots
Usually available in cans these are the shoots of young bamboo plants cultivated in China. Rinse before use and they add texture to stir-fry's, can be kept covered in daily water changes in the refrigerator for a few weeks.

Basil - Holy and Sweet
Fresh holy basil has darker leaves and a deeper sharper aniseed flavour than the sweet basil normally found. Usually added at the end of a dish for flavour and garnish, can be kept frozen. If unavailable use the ordinary sweet basil.

Bean Curd
Usually sold in blocks in liquid which is discarded, it is made from puréed and pressed soy beans. Readily absorbing other flavours it can be added to soups and stir-fry's but as it has a texture like soft cheese it needs careful stirring so not to break it up.

Bean Sauces
Available as black bean, red bean and yellow bean, these sauces are made from crushed soy beans adding a spicy-salty, flavourful and colourful addition to stir-fry's. Available in cans or jars.

Bean Sprouts
Tender young sprouts from the mung bean, use only the freshest white looking sprouts. Can be eaten raw in salads or slightly cook them in stir-fry's to keep their light and crisp qualities. Can be kept bagged in the refrigerator for up to 3 days, avoid the canned varieties which are just too soggy.

Chillis
Some of the hottest chillis are grown in Thailand, including the tiny birds eye, mainly added to stir-fry's whole or split longways, or ground into curry pastes.

Chilli Paste & Sauces
Various chillis and ingredients go into all the different pastes and sauces available. Usually ground and roasted the chillis are then made into sauces and pastes with oil, vinegars, sugars, salts, garlic, etc. The sauces can be used as seasoning in stir-fry's or as a dip to deep fried crisp snacks.

Coconut
Coconut milk can now be prepared from coconut block, powdered, desiccated and frozen coconut flesh, or poured straight from a tin, but try making your own coconut milk, pour hot water over grated coconut flesh and let stand for 15-20 minutes and then strain and squeeze out through a piece of muslin. If kept for a while the thicker cream will eventually rise to the top and can be skimmed off to use separately.

Coriander / Cilantro
Fresh coriander is used extensively to flavour and garnish food, roots and stems should be kept washed and dried for marinades and making pastes. Fresh coriander will freeze well if needed to flavour a dish but will be too limp after freezing to use as a garnish. Coriander seeds are used ground to flavour curries.

Curry Leaves
These fresh leaves are often available at oriental grocers, being light olive green they add a fresh aromatic taste to a dish, can be added whole or tour into the final stages of a dish. Also available dried.

Dried Shrimp
These small, shelled shrimps are salted and dried in the sun and are strongly flavoured. Best washed and rehydrated before use they are used for seasoning for vegetables and meat and often used in stuffing. Choose the pinkiest freshest looking variety.

Fish Sauce
This sauce is a must for all Thai and Vietnamese cooking as there is no satisfactory substitute. Available in bottles in different varieties, anchovy, squid and prawn etc with different flavour and strengths, it will add a savoury salty taste to any dish. Used in the making of many dipping sauces.

Galangal
Looks similar to ginger but with a pinkier tinge and less of a pungent flavour. Bought either fresh or dried and needs to be peeled and sliced before using. If not available use fresh ginger instead but cut the quantity by about half.

Ginger
Always use fresh root ginger not the powder, the root is peeled and sliced thinly and will give a wonderful refreshing, pungent, citrus-like aroma to any dish with also a hotness.

Greens
Chinese greens are boiled or stir fried very briefly to retain colour, crispness and vitamins. Often a small amount of meat is used to enhance the taste of vegetable dishes.

Chinese Chives- Similar to ordinary chives but are thicker and darker in colour, with a stronger taste
Chinese Flowering Cabbage - usually stir-fried or blanched
Chinese White cabbage - sweet and juicy cabbage looking similar to swiss chard, can be stir-fried or put in soups
Chinese Celery Cabbage - Sweet, mild flavoured cabbage, usually stri-fried or braised
Mustard Green - various varieties of mustard green varying in pungency, usually stir-fried, blanched or used in soups, sometimes pickled

Kaffir Lime Leaves
These leaves are dark green and glossy coming from the kaffir lime tree, they keep well in the refrigerator and can also be frozen. Best cut with scissors if needed in fine strips they add they add a pungent lemony lime flavour to a dish.

Kaffir Limes
These limes are roughly the same size as normal lime but they have a darker skin which is all knobbly. The skin is often zested in curry pastes, substitute normal limes if they are not available.

Karachai
Same family as the ginger, galangal and turmeric, but with a thinner root. Can be found fresh or dried and has a fiercer, wilder flavour than ginger.

Lemon Grass
These stalks are about the same size as spring onions but are hard skinned and fibrous, usually bought in bundles. The ends should be trimmed off and outer wrap removed if tough, they will add an intense lemon flavour and scent to cooking. Will last up to 3 weeks in a refrigerator or can be frozen.

Oyster Sauce
This thick liquid is made from a concentrate of oysters with soy sauce, it is dark brown and has a rich but not fishy flavour. Features mostly in Chinese cooking.

Mushrooms
Various mushrooms are used in Chinese cooking to provide texture and taste. Black mushrooms, Wood Ear and Cloud Ears not only provide taste but they also absorb the flavours of the dish, but they also need cooking longer so are best used in soups adding a slimy buy crunchy texture. All dried mushrooms will need rehydrating in hot water before slicing and cooking.

Straw mushrooms - tinned, cultivated on rice straws in paddy fields
Oyster mushrooms - fresh or dried
Shitake mushrooms - fresh or dried
Wood ears - dried
Cloud ears - dried
Black mushrooms - dried

Palm Sugar
A thick brown sugar with a strong slightly bitter caramel taste made from palms. Usually sold in a block but if unavailable use a soft dark brown sugar as a replacement.

Shrimp Paste
Made from shrimp and salt that have been fermented and mashed to a paste. Found in jars and tins and mostly used in the making of Thai curry pastes. Anchovy paste could be used as a substitute.

Sesame Oil
Thick, aromatic oil which is pressed from roasted sesame seeds. Not used in cooking with, but more for marinating or adding the final flavour to a dish just before serving.

Soy Sauces
Made from soy beans, wheat or barley, salt, sugar and yeast
Light Soy - Best used in cooking, light in colour full of flavour and a bit saltier
Dark Soy - Thicker and stronger tasting due to its longer fermentation, used for dipping sauces
and colour as well as flavour.
Other country brands available with varying thicknesses and sweetness.

Star Anise
Pungent star like liquorice-tasting spice used to add flavour to meat and poultry, Available whole or in powdered form.

Szechwan Peppercorns
These tiny reddish brown peppercorns should be bought whole and dry roasted and ground up when needed to add aroma and a slightly numbing hotness to dishes.

Tamarind
These are the pods taken from the tamarind tree, usually found compressed into blocks. To extract the tamarind juice pour over hot water and gradually break down the tamarind block, as it starts to dissolve sieve out the seeds and any other bits to be left with a thick sauce. The longer it is left to dissolve the stronger and thicker the juice. It has quite a sour acidic taste and lemon juice may be substituted if unavailable. Also available as a paste in bottles.

Turmeric
Member of the ginger family and sometimes can be found fresh, having a brownish skin and a vivid orange flesh, needing peeling and grating before use. Most often it is found in its bright yellow dried form and will add a hot flavour to a dish.

Water Chestnuts
Crisp, sweet-tasting walnut sized bulb from the sedge, cultivated in paddy fields. Can be eaten raw or used to provide a sweet crunchy texture to stir-fry's.