World cuisine Asian

Over the past decade, ethnic food has become one of the most dynamic sectors and is scheduled to reach £792 million in 2003.

In the Asian category Indian is the largest sector, which isn't surprising with 25 per cent of people having curry at least once a week and nearly 50 per cent every fortnight.

It is, however, worth pointing out that over 90 per cent of the cuisine labelled Indian is, in fact, Bangladeshi.

Sauces

Nestle Food Services - Maggi's "The World of Tastes" paste sauce range.

There are six varieties: Spicy Fajitas (Mexican Style), Red Cajun (New Orleans style), Hot Chilli (Thai style), Jamaican Spice (Caribbean style), Lemon and Ginger (Shanghai style) and Tikka Masala (Indian style).

The paste format means that it can be mixed straight into the pan to create authentic flavours. The products can be used as a sauce base, flavour booster or as a pour on sauce just by adding a teaspoon or by using the whole jar depending on the quantities. The pastes are bain marie stable and suitable for vegetarians.

What's more, there is no need to refrigerate as the pastes are ambient after opening. Each variety lasts 12 months and at 16p per portion, yields between 20 to 35 portions depending on usage.

Samples and recipe ideas are available.

Porters: "Classic Thai" includes simmer sauces to which meat or vegetables can be added, as well as green and red curry pastes, satay and fish sauce.

The Curry Sauce Co: Jalfrezi is a medium spiced Kashmiri sauce which can be served with chicken, lamb or vegetables and garnished with fresh coriander leaves. In 475g pots (serving four), 2.7kg catering jugs (serving 25) and 10kg or 15kg pails (serving 100 or 150).

Wessex Fare: the Viceroy range of fresh curry sauces in six varieties: Rogan Josh, Tikka Masala, Korma, Madras, Vindaloo and Jalfrezi. In 1.22kg plastic jars with a minimum 28 day shelf life, packed six per outer.

Van den Bergh Foodservice: Make authentic curry with one of the Garde d'Or sauces. These are a concentrated liquid that can be added to stock, water or any other hot liquid and simmered for two minutes to provide a good sauce base.

All the sauces are in 1 litre bottles and make the following quantities: Curry; Cheese (both of which make five litres); Brown base (1 litre bottle makes seven litres); Hollandaise; Tomato (both of which make three litres); White base sauce (six litres) and White Roux (10 litres).

MasterFoodServices: The Uncle Ben's range of Indian sauces means you can make spicy authentic meals in minutes.

The range includes Rogan Josh, Balti, Madras, Tikka Masala, Korma and Jalfrezi.

There's also Signatures Base Sauce for Biryani to add flavour to a classic dish.

Knorr: The Indian Collection of ready-to-use pastes and sauces include Korma and Tikka Masala.

Tilda: Indian cooking sauces developed with Madhur Jaffrey which include Tikka Masala, Balti, Vegetable Sabzi, Rogan Josh and Sweet and Sour. Recipe ideas can be found in a free recipe leaflet "Treasures of the Orient".

Philpot Foods: Splat! is a range of pour over sauces in the following varieties: hot, sweet and sour (Suck), fish (Tay), red garlic (Hook) ginger and chilli (Karma), lemon and lime (Raha) and rich soya (Ketjap Nias).

They are available in single serve sachets or one litre wipe clean plastic squeeze bottles.

Asian Home Gourmet: the Pan Asian SpicePaste range consists of Thai Green Curry, Thai Red Curry, Thai Basil Stir Fry, Indonesian Satay Meat Marinade; Szechuan Chilli Ginger and Garlic Stir Fry; Cantonese Black Bean Stir Fry and Singapore Laksa Curry. Shelf life, once opened, for four to five weeks in a refrigerator. Available in 350g tubs, yielding 35 portions.

Rice

Tilda has a basmati brand share of over 80 per cent in the UK.

The range of Easy Cook rices have been pre-steamed to cook up fluffy and separate. Choose from Easy Cook Basmati; Basmati and Wild Rice blend; American Easy Cook Brown Wholegrain and Easy Cook American Long Grain.

Watson & Phillip: American Easy Cook Long Grain Rice from Orchard Farm.

Westmill Foods: Guru Basmatic rice, an authentic Indian Basmati, in packs from 2kg to 20kg.

Soups

Porters: Tom Yum and coconut-based Tom Kha.

Baxters: Frozen soups such as Spicy Thai Chicken Soup with Lemongrass. Other varieties include Mushroom Soup, Potato and Leek Soup, Lobster Bisque and Royal Game Soup.

Multi and individual portions are available in 24 x 200g pouches and 6 x 1kg pouches which make 30 200ml servings.

All products can be reheated in minutes and are suitable for pan, bain marie or microwave methods. They have a shelf life of 18 months from frozen.

Marinades

Jethro's: Lemon, Chilli and Coriander Marinade for chicken; Lime, Chilli and Oregano Marinade for fish; Ginger, Soy and Molasses Marinade for pork.

Main meals:

Ready2: five takeaway style curries in a plastic container, which can be heated in a microwave.

Fairway Foodservice: Tandoori Vegetable Masala and Goan Chicken Curry, which can be microwaved from frozen in minutes or cooked in a conventional oven in 30 minutes. Other products include Bajan Pasties, Chicken Jalfrezi and Minted Lamb Balti.

Westler Foods' Multi Menu range of ready meals include exotic dishes such as Balti Chicken, Balti Vegetable Curry and Spicy Vegetable Chili. In 3lb cans providing about 12 x 4oz portions. The Singles range, 963, comprises 300g individual portions, in several ethnic varieties, can be microwaved in three minutes.

Brake Bros: everything you need to create an Indian meal: onion bhajis; vegetable samosas; chicken curry with rice; Rogan Josh; Turkey Jalfrezi; Uncle Ben's Pilau Rice and Naan Bread.

Plusfood, Friki brand: THAI Kebabs can be prepared and cooked in minutes using Thai butterfly chicken breasts. The breast is cut into strips and threaded onto skewers or bamboo kebab sticks. They are grilled or oven cooked until golden brown and served with satay sauce and white rice.

The Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute offers many Asian recipe ideas such as Thai Style Wild Alaska Salmon Cakes, which can be served as a starter or as part of a main meal.

The dish is made from rice, coconut milk, Thai curry paste and chunks of wild Alaska salmon. It can be serve hot or cold, garnished with spring onions, fresh coriander and prawns.

Wild Alaska canned salmon is high in protein, calcium and vitamins. It is also low in cholesterol and high in Omega 3 oils.

Thomas Morel: frozen ready meals include Chicken Tikka Masala, Chicken Korma, Beef Madras and Lamo Rogan Josh.

Coconut

Coconut is an essential ingredient in many ethnic dishes, but it has traditionally been difficult to use.

So far it's been a choice of flaking from a block, reconstituting powder or using tinned coconut milk.

Pritchitt Foods' Millac Coconut Cream can be used in all kinds of cooking from Thai and Indian to Malaysian and Caribbean.

It can be mixed with ready-to-use sauces to enhance flavour, to add an exotic touch to desserts and can be used behind the bar for a super pina colada! It is bain marie stable, microwaveable and freeze thaw stable.

Available in 12 x 500ml pack with a shelf life of 14 months.

According to Pritchitt Foods, although coconut milk is cheaper, twice as much milk is required.

For example, to make four portions of korma you need 400ml of coconut milk at a total cost of 56p compared to 200ml of Millac Coconut Cream at a total cost of 54p.

Chicken Korma, Thai Green Chicken Curry and Pina Colada are just some of the recipes from "A New World of Flavour", a free recipe booklet demonstrating how to use Millac Coconut Cream.

Snacks

RHM Foodservice: mini frozen Indian snacks under the Sharwood's brand in either a vegetarian or meat option. Items include Aloo Tikki, Lamb Samosa, Vegetable Pakora and Chicken Tikka Samosa.

Wicken Fen: meat free finger food includes Thai Style Noodle Burgers, Thai Style Cigaras; Mediterranean Rolls; North African Couscous Cakes and Triple Cheese Croquettes.

Philpot Foods: Bapows are a range of pre-cooked fillings inside a bread case. The Indian-style varieties are made of naan bread with Chicken Balti and Chicken Masala fillings. Packed in 25s, they cost about 90p each.

Daloon Foods: 90g spring rolls, 70g samosas, as well as 60g exotic spring rolls and the Mini Savouries range of 20g mini spring rolls, 30g mini samosas, 35g onion bhajis and 22g vegetable pakoras.

Kettle Foods: Tandoori Masala potato chips under the Special Edition range. Boxes of 150g contain 12 packets of chips and 50g boxes contain 24 packets.

General

Don't forget the important accompaniments like Green Label Mango Chutney; Lime Pickle; Puppodums ready to deep fry in seconds and a choice of three naan breads. All from Sharwood's.

Spice up Chicken Pasanda by adding California Almonds, says the Almond Board of California.

Brake Bros suggests serving Chicken Curry or Beef Curry with side dishes of sultanas, desiccated coconut, chopped onion and tomato, yoghurt and mint dip, chopped banana and poppadoms.

Drinks

Serve Kingfisher Premium Indian lager with Indian meals.

Spices

T&G Woodware Ltd: Under the Crushgrind brand, spices such as Garam Masala Mix, Korma Mix, Chicken Tikka Mix, Dhansak Mix.

Thai

Brake Bros: Thai Green Chicken combines the Oriental tastes of green Thai curry with creamy coconut, chicken, spinach and peppers.

Porters Foods: Classic Thai authentic seasonings include sauces to which meat and vegetables can be added; green and red curry pastes; satay and fish sauces. There are also two soups - hot and sour Tom Yum and coconut-based Tom Kha.

Fridays: add a touch of Thai to sandwiches with Oasters' Red Thai Mayonnaise, a fragrant combination of Eastern spices, garlic and lemongrass. It can be used in recipes such as Egg and Thai Waldorf Salad, Red Thai Beef Bap and Thai Prawn Baguette.

Available chilled in 2.5kg containers at £4.95.

Blue Dragon, distributed by G.Costa & Co: a host of Thai products including Fish Sauce, Rice Noodles, Hot Ginger and Lime Sauce, Thai Spicy Sauce, Coriander and Lime Sauce and Lemongrass and Ginger Sauce.

Indian

Westmill Foods: Tolly Boy produces two varieties of rice - American Long Grain and American Easy Cook Rice. Both can be served as an accompaniment for most ethnic dishes, especially Indian curries. The rice is easy to cook and provides consistent results. Available in 5kg packs.

Brake Bros: Naan bread is a must for Indian meals, so spice it up with Brake Bros' Garlic and Coriander Chota Naan. Available in boxes of 30 at £11.40 per box.

Knorr: The Indian Collection of ready-to-use pastes and sauces include Korma and Tikka Masala. New to the range are Pasanda Ready-to-Use sauce, a mild, rich and creamy curry sauce; Vindaloo Ready-to-Use sauce, a hot, spicy curry sauce and Jalfrezi Paste, a medium Indian pasta with sweet peppers and coconut.

R.H.Amar: Geeta's range of traditional Indian Pickles and Chutneys: Mango Chutney, Lime and Chilli Chutney, Tomato Chutney, Mango Pickle, Aubergine Pickle and Garlic Pickle.

The new "Chip Shop Style" Curry Sauce from Dilita can be served hot or cold. Packed in 320g squeezy bottles and 2.5 litre packs.

Landauer: microwaveable frozen vegetable and soya mince samosas.

Korean

G.Costa & Co is importing the Nong Shim range of Korean noodles and snacks, which cook easily within three to four minutes.

Malaysian

Blue Dragon, distributed by G.Costa & Co, offers a choice of five coconut milks:

Coconut Milk, available in 400ml tins, can be used in Malaysian, Thai and Indian cuisine.

Reduced Fat Coconut Milk contains only half the fat in standard coconut milk. Available in 400ml tins with a fat content of six per cent.

Coconut Powder makes a rich creamy liquid when dissolved in hot water. It can be used in curries, ethnic dishes and desserts.

Creamed Coconut can be used as an alternative to desiccated coconut.

For best results, add a little at a time towards the end of cooking time. Available in a 200g block.

Creamy Coconut can be used in many Oriental dishes including Thai, Malaysian and Indian or as a sauce for puddings. Available in long life 200ml combibloc packs, which are easy to pour and store. Recipes are available.