Need help cooking Chinese with low sodium

Dom_m

Ok, so most of what I cook is Chinese style or inspired food. I use a lot of soy, temari, shoyu, oyster sauce, black bean sauce, hoy sin sauce, msg (don't freak out) and other stuff.

One thing that's really obvious when I enter this into MFP is the sodium content - especially from black bean sauce (>1000mg from 1tbs!!!). I sometimes get my whole day's allotment of sodium from a 300 calorie meal (something like fried cabbage with fresh chillies, in soy and black bean sauce, with a pinch of MSG is going to have about 1700mg of sodium and about 70 calories plus whatever oil you feel like using).

So my question is, does anyone know some sauces I can use instead of black bean or oyster? Or does anyone know some brands that do really low salt version of those? Hoy sin isn't so bad, but it isn't awesome, and its not my favourite anyway.

ps. Without wanting to sound ungrateful, no need to comment on the msg please - I know what it is and I do cook without it, so dropping that isn't going to get me far. The real problem are the sauces.

Cheers.

LuckyLeprechaun

I've read a lot about MSG and I think there's a lot more hype than reality going on. If it were actually dangerous, half of asia would be dead by now. And there's more of them than all the rest of us combined so......:huh: That said, some folks (like my hubby) are really and actually sensitive to it (rash and headaches and asthma reactions), so for those folks, avoidance is good. For me I just get really vivid bizarre dreams after a high amount of it :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:



anyhow, back on topic....


I love black bean sauce too, and have noticed how very much sodium there is in it. After getting a big shock the first time, I did this: I used one tbsp of the sauce, watered it down like mad, then used cornstarch to re-thicken it. This made it so the entire contents of my wok were being flavored by just one tbsp. It was a little weaker flavor, but still good :flowerforyou: and four servings in my wok equaled just 250 per serving. Better than before by a lot!

LuckyLeprechaun

OH and speaking of shoyu...have you tried Aloha? One taste and I guarantee you'll never eat Kikkoman again. It's hawaiian, and can be hard to find in some areas, but OH MAN it is worth buying over the internet if that's your only option. I live in the SF bay area, so I just take a trip to Oakland and go to the asian market to get it a gallon at a time MMMMMMMMMM

steffi1686

watering it down and rethickening sounds like a good idea. I would love it if you shared with me some of your Chinese inspired recipes. It is my favorite type of food and I want to try cooking more at home so I can control ingredients better

steffi1686

Also salt may not be as horrible for you as all the hype. Here is an abstract for a study done on people 55+
It seems that being overweight has more to do with hypertension and cardiovascular disease than salt intake alone. There is probably an interaction going on here where overweight people in general tend to have more salt in their diet. So it may be obesity itself rather than salt intake causing the problem. I am a college student so I have access to medical journals.

Title: Sodium and potassium intake and risk of cardiovascular events and all-cause mortality: the Rotterdam Study
Authors: Geleijnse, Johanna M., Witteman, Jacqueline C. M., Stijnen, Theo , Kloos, Margot W., Hofman, Albert, Grobbee, Diederick E.
Citation: European Journal of Epidemiology NOV 2007 pages: 763-770 volume: 22 issue: 11
Abstract:
Dietary electrolytes influence blood pressure, but their effect on clinical outcomes remains to be established. We examined sodium and potassium intake in relation to cardiovascular disease (CVD) and mortality in an unselected older population. Methods A case-cohort analysis was performed in the Rotterdam Study among subjects aged 55 years and over, who were followed for 5 years. Baseline urinary samples were analyzed for sodium and potassium in 795 subjects who died, 206 with an incident myocardial infarction and 181 subjects with an incident stroke, and in 1,448 randomly selected subjects. For potassium, dietary data were additionally obtained by food-frequency questionnaire for 78% of the cohort. Results There was no consistent association of urinary sodium, potassium, or sodium/potassium ratio with CVD and all-cause mortality over the range of intakes observed in this population. Dietary potassium estimated by food frequency questionnaire, however, was associated with a lower risk of all-cause mortality in subjects initially free of CVD and hypertension (RR = 0.71 per standard deviation increase; 95% confidence interval: 0.51-1.00). We observed a significant positive association between urinary sodium/potassium ratio and all-cause mortality, but only in overweight subjects who were initially free of CVD and hypertension (RR = 1.19 (1.02-1.39) per unit).
Conclusion The effect of sodium and potassium intake on CVD morbidity and mortality in Western societies remains to be established.

deedeehawaii

OH and speaking of shoyu...have you tried Aloha? One taste and I guarantee you'll never eat Kikkoman again. It's hawaiian, and can be hard to find in some areas, but OH MAN it is worth buying over the internet if that's your only option. I live in the SF bay area, so I just take a trip to Oakland and go to the asian market to get it a gallon at a time MMMMMMMMMM

http://www.alohashoyu.com/onlinestore/lowsalt.htm
Here ya' go, a Hawaii favorite. There is a low sodium variety, which is great for cooking. Aloha Shoyu is slightly sweet and not bitter. After using Aloha brand, you'll never be able to stand the harsh brands again.

FireMonkey

There are some recipes floating around cyber space - haven't tried any of them yet but this one looks interesting:

2 T Sodium Free Beef Bouillon
2 t Red Wine Vinegar
1 t Molasses
1/8 t Ground Ginger
ds Black Pepper
ds Garlic Powder
3/4 c Water

In small sauce pan, combine and boil gently uncovered about 5 minutes or til mixture is reduced to 1/2 cup. Store in refrigerator. Stir before using.

Yield: 8 Servings


Then there is this one which looks like it won't taste like soy sauce at all but an interesting blend of flavours:


Ingredients

* 3/4 cup of garlic vinegar (*see note)
* 3 tablespoons dark molasses
* 3 teaspoons onion powder

Directions

1. Combine all the ingredients and pour the mixture into a glass jar. Refrigerate and use as needed.
2. It lasts about a month in the fridge.
3. Warm and shake well before using.
4 *Note: You can make your own garlic vinegar. Slightly heat the vinegar; pour over peeled and sliced garlic, (you choose the amount - I used 5 good-sized cloves)let stand overnight, strain and discard the garlic and combine with remaining ingredients.

bukozki

I thought for sure THIS post would be about cannibalism.

LuckyLeprechaun

OH and speaking of shoyu...have you tried Aloha? One taste and I guarantee you'll never eat Kikkoman again. It's hawaiian, and can be hard to find in some areas, but OH MAN it is worth buying over the internet if that's your only option. I live in the SF bay area, so I just take a trip to Oakland and go to the asian market to get it a gallon at a time MMMMMMMMMM

http://www.alohashoyu.com/onlinestore/lowsalt.htm
Here ya' go, a Hawaii favorite. There is a low sodium variety, which is great for cooking. Aloha Shoyu is slightly sweet and not bitter. After using Aloha brand, you'll never be able to stand the harsh brands again.

DeeDee is SO right. Aloha is all my family ever has eaten (Hawaiians :bigsmile: :bigsmile: )

mworld

see this stuff http://www.amazon.com/Seasons-Dulse-Garlic-1-5-Ounce-Units/dp/B001FA1MJ2

its the bomb when it comes to a salt replacement....they have other flavors and varieties all based on seaweed etc.. maybe you can find one that works for your foods.


boy that hoisin sauce will kill you its like 2000 per tbsp or two from what i remember....i absolutely love pho but have been trying to avoid it cause of the like 5000mg of sodium it has in one bowl.