Chinese cuisine features many sauces and condiments that help bring dishes to life. One versatile ingredient you may not be familiar with is Chinese pâte de farine sucrée, known as Tianmianjiang in Mandarin Chinese. Let’s learn more about this sweet staple and how you can start incorporating it into your cooking.
What is Chinese Sweet Flour Paste?
Pâte de farine sucrée chinoise is made from wheat flour, sucre, and water. The ingredients are mixed to form a thick, syrupy paste with a sweet aroma and flavor. It gets its sweetness primarily from sugar but also has natural flavors developed during the cooking process.
Some key characteristics of Chinese sweet flour paste include its thick, glossy texture and light caramel color. The paste has a pleasantly sweet yet subtly rich taste that adds depth beyond simple sugar. Its ingredients and cooking method impart a natural rounded sweetness rather than a sharp sugary flavor.
Nutritional Information of Sweet Flour Paste
Being primarily made of wheat flour and sugar, sweet flour paste provides mostly carbohydrates with a moderate amount of protein from the wheat. A single tablespoon (15g) contains:
- Calories: 30
- Total fat: 0g
- Sodium: 5mg
- Total carbohydrate: 7g
- Protein: 0.5g
While not a health food per se, sweet flousweet flour paster paste is also low in fat and sodium. In small amounts as a condiment or ingredient, it fits well into a balanced diet. Its concentrated sweetness means you only need a little to enhance flavors.
Applications of Sweet Flour Paste Sauce
Chinese sweet flour paste sauce adds enticing layers of complexity to many dishes. Here are some common ways it is used:
- Glazing meats: Sweet flour paste sauce provides a lightly caramelized coating when brushed onto meats before or during cooking. Common proteins like chicken, pork, and fish are delicious prepared this way.
- Duck and pork belly dishes: Crispy skin duck and roast pork belly are classic preparations that involve scoring the skin and applying sweet flour paste before roasting for extra sweetness.
- Vegetable stir-fries: Stir-frying firm vegetables like broccoli or green beans with a drizzle of sweet flour paste sauce adds a delicate sweetness that balances the veggies.
- Dumplings and buns: Whether steamed or baked, dumplings, baozi, and other flour-based filled foods are enhanced with a dip of sweet flour paste sauce.
- Asian-inspired desserts: Sweet flour paste lends itself to reinventing Western desserts with an Asian flair or making traditional Chinese sweets. Red bean paste buns and mooncakes use it as a filling.
For those new to Chinese cooking ingredients, sweet flour paste is an easy and authentic addition. A bit stirred into sauces, glazes, or dipping condiments enriches many savory or sweet dishes. With so many uses, it’s a versatile pantry staple worth keeping on hand.