I can get dried california reaper peppers at the grocery store near my place. I either stir in or top most my food with slivers of the pepper. Literally almost every meal. I use scissors to cut them. As someone who likes their spicy food, well, spicy, the amount of basic red pepper that I'd need to get to the heat level I want means I'm basically drowning the food in the flavor of red pepper. By using a super hot pepper instead, I can get a lot of heat without much actual change in the flavor of the food because it doesn't take that much.
this post was submitted on 13 Nov 2025
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We found some carolina reaper powder. It's like cayenne pepper but for calorina reapers. Also ran into hatch green chili pepper for the first time. That's cool you can get dried whole reapers though, little jealous
I have a deep, torrid addiction to Sriracha ('rooster') sauce.
It's awesome.
I use it instead of ketchup.
Bonito flakes.
Aside from normal use in Asian cuisine, I like to grind it to a fine powder to add extra flavor to foods. Add to ramen, rice, soup, whatever. Grind it as is, or flavor it with soy sauce and/or sugar and bake till dry then grind. Make your own furikake (soy sauce, sugar, nori, sesame seeds, etc). Both cats and dogs love eating it too (as is, not ground).
Just remember its price to volume ratio when using in ground form :D
Gochujang and Miso. They are very versatile ingredients.
Oh, I love Gochujang. Goes very well with the sesame oil, too!
Smoked paprika
So amazing! Apparently there's a lady at the grocery store that will literally buy out the entire stock when it comes in sometimes.
That lady is not me, because I'm a sad lady when it happens and I can't buy any lol
Penzey's has outstanding smoked paprika if you're in the US! I'm not sure they ship elsewhere though.
Indeedy they do! They're pricey though so I don't order from them often. Mother will probably get me a gift card to them for the holidays so it's just a matter of time!
Smoked paprika is what made me go vegetarian without missing meat. That definitely has become a staple.
Hoisin Sauce - Umami bomb!
So here's what you do...
Marinate chicken breast in soy sauce a good couple hours or overnight.
Chop it into cubes, put them on skewers and grill until done.
Take an onion bun, paint one side with peanut sauce, the other with hoisin sauce. Stack up the chicken, top off with a slaw mixture, green and purple cabbage, shredded carrots.
Top all that off with sweet chili sauce. Put the top bun on and enjoy!
Lemon pepper. It's surprising what a little sweet kick can do for food. My personal favorite is to put lemon pepper on cream cheese on a bagel.
Canned chipotles in adobo are really good additions to anything savory. Add it to mayo or mac n cheese for a smoky & tangy depth of flavor. Plus where I live it's like 70¢ a can, which is a great price for how much it upgrades the dish.
Capers are more useful than one might think.
I love sumac. The spice. I put it on everything. Amazing lemony taste with a beautiful red colour.
Also a big sumac fan. And zaatar, which contains lots.
Oh yes zaatar is so good
I make a veggie version which is just fresh lime juice, thinly sliced red onions, thinly sliced habaneros, and fresh cilantro. It can be used to make ceviche, which is a delicious cold-cooked fish dish (and Latino counterpart to sashimi), or just use it as a zesty side that can be added to just about anything non-sweet.
Simple to make, stores for weeks, low cal and super-healthy.
Not really unusual, but I'll put Marmite on anything. Also, no matter what it is you're cooking, it'll taste better with a little garam masala added.
Bradj, an Algerian delicacy
Brit.
HP Sauce. Marmite. Worcestershire Sauce.
Mushroom bouillon for sure. Toss it into any rice and get an amazing flavor.
Speaking of roasted sesame oil, ever since moving to Japan I have fallen in love with roasted sesame dressing and now I won’t eat salads with anything else.
For me I really like minced dried onion when cooking ground beef.
I also make my own cinnamon sugar, which gets used in a lot of stuff. 😋
Maggi seasoning:
The flavor is a little bit like soy sauce, but it has 'umami' taste too.
It's pretty unique, but fucking delicious in things like banh mi sandwiches or stir fry.
A tiny little bit goes a long way - don't overdo it!
Check out the similar Knorr Seasoning. I like the flavor much more than Maggi.
Will do!
A classic home-made/canned chili sauce. It goes into any hearty sauce that's tomato based (some that aren't), tacos, eggs, and a bunch more in probably forgetting.
Just adds a nice sweetness and complexity from the peppers etc.
Dehydrated mushrooms.
They're shelf stable, delicious, and healthy. They can be the focus of a meal like a stir-fry, or you can add them into anything savory (rehydrated or ground up) to give it more flavor depth— spaghetti sauce or chili are great examples. Throw some in ramen for an easy fancy-up.
They're amazing.
This. I also pulverizer them into a powder to sprinkle into dishes.
My mother. Is on a very reduced salt diet. I introduced her to mushroom powder and she really likes the flavor it brings to everything.
Fresh mint, not ridiculously uncommon or anything but I never see people buying it and its rarely called for in recipes I encounter. I use it in a ton of soups, salads, and dressings. Also its like my favorite flavor ever.
I grow my own!
I hope you're fencing that shit in, because every time I tried to grow mint, it took over the entire pot and the ones next to it.
I have an old wood box that overflows with mint.
Anything outside the box gets the weed wacker.
Works well enough.
Then again oregano made of easy in there and it's like the Blood War in there now.
Sometimes the mint starts taking over, sometimes it's the oregano.
Maybe not very uncommon but very underrated!
A good rice cooker.
I use my zojirushi all the time and it makes perfect or near perfect rice every time.
For some easy umami, dried porcini mushrooms are great
For some easy umami, dried porcini mushrooms are great
Why not just
Sometimes you want heavy mushroom flavor. The ajinomoto package is in the pantry also
Fuyioo, Nephew Tolookah know how to cook as well!
I didn't even know the name of the brand but sounded familiar, so had to run to check.
I was thinking about getting a rice cooker. Do you have any recommendations?
I have a Zojirushi NS-ZCC10 that gets used 3-5 times a week since I got it 12 years ago. It's an amazing kitchen tool and the rice comes out fantastic every time. Sometimes I'll set it up to make steel cut oats so they are ready for me when I wake up in the morning.
If I may assume you're Deutsch? Just you, based on a couple or ich_iel comments. Well it's all I got to go on.
I got a rice cooker a few years ago. Awesome. Never really ate rice before. And it can steam or make a soup and all kinds.
Anyway when I started looking everyone was hyping Zojirushi, and definitely worth their price I gather. But the price tag was like twice what I had thought even in the smaller lower-end models (which are still amazing as they're Zojirushi, just their lower end.)
Soo.. My sister had bought an OBH rice cooker a bit before, said it was good. I saw it on sale I think and grabbed it.
And idd if youre living in Germany then you can buy one from
https://www.galaxus.de/en/s2/product/obh-nordica-qk6018s0-steamers-rice-cookers-36219608
No relation. Am no shill.
What are you looking for in a rice maker? The Zojirushi ones tend to bet the best reviews but are also expensive. Personally I’ve been quite satisfied with a $20 Aromatic rice cooker, it’s very basic, aphas no options and I’m sure the results aren’t as good, but it works. Consistently and conveniently.
Most of my life I rarely had rice because making it is tedious and it’s easy to lose track, but even the cheapest rice maker is a huge improvement for its convenience and consistently. Now I have rice all the time.
That being said, after like five years the non-stick coating is no longer as non-stick and I’ve been trying to reduce the teflon in my diet, so I’ll be looking for a replacement with stainless pot
We have a Zojirushi NP-HCC18, it's a beast, you likely don't need anything this crazy. Every Zojirushi that I've used has been great. ( the mildly smart ones, with buttons/menu options)
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