What makes Asian food ...

Asian food differs greatly from region to region – Central, North, South, East and West Asian food has different characteristics and each country has its own specialities. Rice is a common factor, but even  rice changes throughout regions, for example, Basmati rice is common in India while Jasmine Rice is more popular in Southeast Asia.  

When it comes to meat, different countries also have their preferences. Japan has the highest per capita consumption of seafood while pork is considered a taboo food for Muslims and is avoided by some Hindus. 

We’ll be focusing on SouthEast Asian and Chinese foods, as that’s what we serve at P’Nut Street Noodles. SouthEast Asians love to have bowls of rice or rice noodles with almost every meal. Aromatic and fresh ingredients are frequently used – think sesame seeds, chilies, dried onions, soy, tofu, aromatic spices and herbs like ginger, garlic, coriander and basil. 

Meanwhile, China is big on using mung beans, soybeans and black beans. You can even find black beans in our current special at P’Nut Street Noodles restaurants – the Black Bean with Egg Noodles. Many foods are also symbolic in Chinese culture, for example dumplings can symbolise wealth and long noodles can symbolise long life.

If you take a close look at Western cuisines compared to Asian cuisines, you’ll notice that European, Western dishes often feature complimentary flavours and food pairings with similar characteristics. On the contrary, Asian recipes often create distinctive flavours by using ingredients that contrast each other. In fact, the more differences the ingredients have in Asian food, the better, creating a dish that packs a punch. Take Pad Thai for example, a delicious balance of sweet and sour flavours. 

This is one element that makes Asian food quite unique – mixture of salt and sugar in savoury dishes. In other cultures, sugar and salt can work against each other. In Asian dishes it finds a nice balance. 

Southeast Asians eat a large amount of vegetables and cook with a wide variety of fruit and veg that is not easily found in the rest of the world.  

They are not big on frozen or long-life foods – everything is bought fresh and from fruit, veggies and ‘wet’ meat markets.  It’s very common to visit the markets in the early morning before or after visiting the temple, to collect fresh food for that day. 

Food is less processed and cooked quickly – stir frying, steaming, deep fry, common cooking methods. That’s the philosophy we go by at P’Nut  Street Noodles – each dish is made to order – with fresh produce and meats tossed with our made-from-scratch sauces in a hot wok!

Fragrant herbs and spices are the heroes of the dishes – you’ll find these ingredients in P’Nut dishes –  

Galangal,  ginger, garlic, chilli and kaffir lime are some of our favourite ingredients to make dishes pop with flavour!  There’s no wastage as we cook everything to order with fresh ingredients. Low wastage – bones used to make delicious broths.  

The great thing about P’Nut is that it has a range of hero dishes from South East Asia – so you can get a taste of China, Thailand, Mongolia, Indonesia and Malaysia all in one place! Sauces that are made from scratch using real Thai spices and fresh produce like bok choy, broccoli, carrot, snow peas, mushrooms and so much more! 

Next time you eat at P’Nut have a think – can you pick out the key flavours to balance – sweet, sour, salty, bitter, and spicy?