Sesame oil

Rosyrain

Rosyrain

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I recently bought a bottle of sesame oil for an Asian dish I was making and the oil looks and smells amazing when it is in the pan. I would like to use it for other dishes, but do not have much experience with this kind of oil. What do you use sesame oil for?
 
Rosyrain said:
I recently bought a bottle of sesame oil for an Asian dish I was making and the oil looks and smells amazing when it is in the pan. I would like to use it for other dishes, but do not have much experience with this kind of oil. What do you use sesame oil for?
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It is mainly used in Asian cooking, especially for Chinese stir-fries & for Chinese fried rice dishes. It adds kind of of a nutty odor & taste to the food that makes it taste so exotic!!
I had some, but I ran out of it and haven't gotten more yet. :wink:
 
I was shocked that it was not very expensive either. I am going to experiment with it some more because I think it is my new favorite oil. I bought the Sun Luck brand, so let me know if there is a different brand I should try.
 
As @Shermie says, its mainly used in Asian cooking. But you must use it sparingly, often sprinkled on the dish at the last minute. Here a great and very simple recipe from Nigel Slater. If you can't get Mirin (rice wine), use dry sherry.

Sesame seed salmon with mirin
Ingredients

Preparation method
Marinate the salmon in a bowl with the mirin, groundnut and sesame oils for 30 minutes.
Fill a plate with sesame seeds and place the salmon flesh-side down to cover evenly.
Pan-fry the salmon for six minutes skin-side down and then turn for three final minutes of cooking.
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What is mirin? And isn't groundnut oil peanut or walnut oil? These are ridiculously expensive!!
I'd just used veggie or olive oil as a cheaper alternative to the expensive ones!! :wink::headshake::stop:
 
Sesame oil is great ,heats to a high heat and makes the most simple of flavours come alive ,one of my first jobs I had to make cabbage cakes stir frying the cabbage for the centre in sesame oil,
 
Shermie said:
What is mirin? And isn't groundnut oil peanut or walnut oil? These are ridiculously expensive!!
I'd just used veggie or olive oil as a cheaper alternative to the expensive ones!! :wink::headshake::stop:
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Mirin is a low alcohol rice wine ,and nut oils have there use in light dressings ,I use a lot of rape seed oil as it is grown and pressed within 10 miles of home
 
Stir fry veggies..jpg
Lobster sauce..jpg


Here's my Veggie Stir-fry to be used for Lobster Sauce over cooked rice! Sesame oil was used during the stir frying of the veggies. :wink:
 
Berties said:
Mirin is a low alcohol rice wine ,and nut oils have there use in light dressings ,I use a lot of rape seed oil as it is grown and pressed within 10 miles of home
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I've heard of rice vinegar, but never rice wine. Maybe. Rape seed oil? That is new to me as well. :headshake::stop:
 
Rosyrain said:
I was shocked that it was not very expensive either. I am going to experiment with it some more because I think it is my new favorite oil. I bought the Sun Luck brand, so let me know if there is a different brand I should try.
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And from what I've seen of it so far, it only comes in small bottles. Buying more than one would be ok, but, like sesame seeds, it can start to go rancid & spoil rather fast, so it is best to keep it in the fridge, where it will last for a long, long, long time!! That is where I keep mine. :wink:
 
Shermie said:
What is mirin? And isn't groundnut oil peanut or walnut oil? These are ridiculously expensive!!
I'd just used veggie or olive oil as a cheaper alternative to the expensive ones!! :wink::headshake::stop:
Click to expand...

Mirin is a type of rice wine You buy it here in the UK, in quite small bottles. I'm sure you can get it in America. see: https://www.americastestkitchen.com/taste_tests/462-mirin?ref=TasteTest_browse_14
But you can use dry sherry in recipes as a reasonable substitute. I'd agree about the oil. I only use expensive oils sparingly, for specific tastes, like walnut or sesame. I think that groundnut oil (from peanuts as you say) is used a lot in Asian cooking. I'm not sure why. I don't think its to do with the taste. Perhaps groundnut oil is cheaper in Asia? Any mild oil will do for the Nigel Slater salmon recipe.:okay:
 
I cook a lot of asian/Chinese meals and I use sesame oil in marinades and sauces. It is very concentrated so you have to be careful not to use too much as it can overwhelm a dish. My favourite way to use it is in a sesame noodle dish. Use oil, rice wine vinegar, sugar, soy sauce and sesame oil. Heat on the stove and let reduce for 2 minutes. Pour over angle hair noodles, odon noodles, or rice noodles. If you want to enhance the sesame flavour, top your noodles with toasted sesame seeds.
 
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