World cuisine Oriental

Oriental food is booming with an annual turnover of £1.9 billion, representing 40 per cent of all ethnic food sales in the UK, so it makes sense to capitalise on this sector. Chinese New Year is an appropriate occasion for a theme night, but there's no reason why you can't hold an Oriental themed day or evening at any time of the year.

Sauces

The Oriental range of sauces from RHM Foodservice, under the Sharwood's brand, can spice up stir fry dishes, marinades, dressings and dips. Varieties include:

Thai Green Curry Sauce, based on authentic Thai curry paste, with a creamy, coconut taste and complements Thai Red Curry sauce, also from the range.

Lemongrass and Coriander Sauce can be poured over pork, poultry or seafood, especially poached and grilled fish for main entrees.

Honey and Ginger Sauce can be served as a hot dip for crudités, prawn crackers, wings ‘n' ribs or used in stir fry dishes. It also works well as a glaze and coating sauce, as well as basting grilled and barbecued foods.

Also from Sharwood's are three noodle sauces:

Chow Mein with Chinese Mushroom Noodle Sauce, a rich oriental sauce with shitake mushrooms, garlic and ginger.

Sweet Chilli and Garlic Noodle Sauce, a fruity spiced sauce with tomato, tamarind and coriander; Malaysian Mild Curry Noodle Sauce, an aromatic Malaysian-style sauce with coconut and Asian spices.

Recipe suggestions from Sharwood's include Great Wall Three Mushroom Chow Mein, (Chinese Mushroom Chow Mein); Malaysian Lamb and Mango Curry, (a mild and creamy Malaysian curry of tender lamb with sweet mango pieces) and Crispy Pork With Chilli and Noodles Stir Fry), crispy pork strips stir-fried with noodles, dressed in a fruity chilli sauce.

Sco-Fro: range of ambient Chinese, Thai and Indonesian sauces, pastes and seasonings. All products give recipe ideas, either on the labels or on swing tickets.

Products include: King Hong Rich Sour Plum Sauce; Kin Hong Spicy Garlic Bean Paste (Chinese products produced in Malaysia); Ying Thai Green Chilli Dipping Sauce, Ying Thai Red Curry Paste (Thai products produced in Thailand); Surabaya Nasi Goreng (Fried Rice Paste), Indonesian product from Indonesia. In addition, there is the Kitchen Feast of nine chilled ethnic sauces, produced in the UK, from Indian Balti Sauce to American Salsa, as well as Kimie Instant Noodles, produced in Malaysia.

MasterFoodServices: the Uncle Ben's range of Oriental sauces, which includes Sweet and Sour, Sweet and Sour with Vegetables, Black Bean, Spicy Szechuan, Chinese Stir and Thai Red.

Knorr - a wide selection of ready to use highly concentrated pastes and marinades such as Black Bean, Szechuan Sauce, Satay Marinade and Thai Green Curry sauce, as well as egg noodles and giant prawn crackers.

Trustin Chilled: Kylin's fresh stir fry range comprising six traditional flavours: Black Bean; Thai Green Curry; Chinese Curry sauce; authentic Hong Kong Sweet and Sour Sauce; Peking-style Spare Rib sauce and a spicy Thai Red Curry sauce

Getting pickled

Under the Well Stirred name, the company Well Pickled offers Oriental Sauce with Mangoes, Coconut Milk, Coriander and Chillies for serving on its own with rice or noodles or added to meat or fish. Other sauces in the range: Mediterranean Sauce with sun-dried tomatoes and fresh herbs; Moroccan Sauce with aubergines and peppers. Available in 300g jars or in 2kg packs.

Noodles

HP Foods: Make authentic Chinese meals in minutes with Amoy Straight To Wok noodles. Simply add them to stir fried meat and vegetables with a stir fry sauce, also from Amoy, for a quick and convenient meal.

The noodles are available in 12 x 4 x 150g, individually packed. According to Amoy, the cost per case is about £18.19 and 38p per serving.

The sauces are in a wide range of varieties including Sweet and Sour, Black Bean and Black Pepper. Packed in pouches, a case costs £9.27 and costs under 20p per serving.

Lemon Chicken, Cod in Yellow Bean Sauce and Shanghai Stir-Fried Vegetables are just some of the dishes featured in a new Chinese recipe cookbook from Amoy, which includes tips for preparation from chef Terry Tan.

Snacks

Cranswick Country Foods: the Chinese Selection Pack consists of 12 sausages - four Duck with Plum and Spring Onion, four Sweet and Sour Pork and four Chicken Szechuan.

Oasters has launched a new Chinese Soya sandwich filling, made using GM-free soya, mixed with pineapple and bamboo shoots, blended in mayonnaise flavoured with Chinese herbs and spices. The price is £7.95 for a 1kg pack.

Main meals

Brake Bros: a wide selection of Chinese dishes from Sesame Prawn Toast; Dimsun; Chicken Sweet and Sour; Chinese Vegetable Stir Fry, as well as Jumbo Vegetable Spring Rolls, filled with Chinese style vegetables such as beansprouts, julienne carrot, onion, sweetcorn and peas and the Jumbo Curry Vegetable Spring Roll, 205, is flavoured with a curry sauce and spices.

Vegetables

Add authenticity to Chinese-style meals with a touch of seaweed. Larderfresh has three washed seaweeds, which are simply cooked by plunging into boiling, salted water for eight to 12 minutes until tender or gently fried in olive oil.

The varieties are: Sea Thong, also known as "haricot de mer" for use in mixed salads and as a highly visual accompaniment to omelettes, casseroles and pasta or as a substitute for green beans.

Wakame is probably the best flavoured of the seaweeds while Neptune's Belt can be used for sushi or en-papillotes for cooking fish.

The price is £4.35 for 400g of any variety.

Aconbury Sprouts: Alfalfa, alfalfa and radish, mung bean and mixed bean sprouts. Free recipes available.

Hello ducks

Manor Farm Ducklings produce a Roast Peking Duck meal including noodles, stir fry vegetables and sauce and a Complete Crispy Aromatic Duck Kit for Pancakes including half a duck, hoi sin sauce and freshly made pancakes. Other products include Roast Peking Duck Halves and Aromatic Duck Halves. These products are prepared to a traditional Chinese recipe using Norfolk ducklings, cutting the preparation time for the duck to 15 minutes or less. The meat is supplied partially or fully deboned. China style or "head on" ducklings are also available.

Brake Bros: Twice Cooked Pork with Peking Plum Sauce - a boned and rolled belly joint is cooked in classic Chinese style with a red plum sauce. Serve with Fresh Chow Mein Noodles.

Get customers really hands on by making their own Chinese-style pancakes by wrapping Hoi-Sin Duck Filling in Chinese Pancakes, both from Brake Bros.

Manor Farm Ducklings: Roast Peking Duck Halves (de-boned) and Aromatic Duck Halves (partially de-boned) are supplied pre-cooked in Chinese spices to reduce preparation time to less than 15 minutes. In packs of two, with 12 packs per case. Boxed, ready meals include Roast Peking Duck with noodles, stir fry vegetables and sauce and Crispy Aromatic Duck with Pancakes and Hoi Sin Sauce.

New from Cherry Valley are ready-to-serve Oriental Duck Wings. Each serving comprises four lightly seasoned and cooked duck wings with an individual sachet of Cantonese barbecue sauce.

There are 20 servings per case. Other products include Boneless Chinese Roast Duck, Whole Peking Duck and Ho Choi Chinese pancakes.

Blue Dragon, distributed by G.Costa & Co: the noodle range includes Egg Noodles, Wholewheat, Spinach, Chilli, Crispy, Stir Fry Rice Noodles and Udon Noodles, as well as a range of three minute noodles. Also from Blue Dragon are beansprouts in three different sizes - 410g, 525g and 800g tins. Other produces include Bamboo Shoots, Water Chestnuts, Straw Mushrooms, Dried Oyster Mushrooms and Dried Shiitake Mushrooms.

Japanese

Brake Bros: Teriyaki Butterfly Chicken Breasts - chicken breasts have been marinated in an authentic teriyaki Japanese sauce. It can be shallow fried, griddled or oven baked. The 200 to 230g products are available in boxes of 10 at £22.55 or £2.55 per chicken breast.

Nakano Europe produce Mitsukan Sushi Vinegar to capitalise on the latest trend of sushi. Also available is Misukan Rice Vinegar and Seasoned Rice Vinegar.