Cheese is definitely not the food you will likely think of when you think of Asian cuisine. Asian cuisine as a whole seems to be very much lacking in the dairy department as a whole. You do not commonly find Asian noodles with cream sauce, for example.
Asian dishes with cheese come in two categories: traditional dishes and modern dishes. Western cheese has been recently introduced to Asian cultures and they have implemented it in a number of dishes. There is Asian cheese tea, which is a sweet milk tea with cheese at the bottom.
And, there are now pizza shops and Italian bistros dotting the streets of Asian cities. But, there are also some less commonly known traditional Asian cheeses. These cheeses are used in many traditional Asain street food dishes.
Many people are surprised to hear that Asian cultures have their own traditional cheese. What are these cheeses? Are they similar to western cheese? How is western cheese impacting Asian cuisine?
What Kind of Cheese Is Popular in Asia?
Cheese in Asian cultures is a little bit complicated. Where there are several types of cheeses of varying textures and content, they do not use them widely. The prevalence of cheese in Asian dishes is indicative of two main factors of their culture and history.
They did have their own traditional cheeses that were gradually lost in some cultures by the 1800s. Most traditional cheeses in Asia are wetter and less pungent than some dry European cheeses.
Regarding what cheeses are becoming popular today in Asian cultures, most are European. Some are European cheeses with a slight Asian twist. With the adoption of some very western dishes such as pizza, mozzarella cheese has been taking off.
Some yak milk dishes such as yogurt and ice cream have experienced a surge in popularity as well. Although these are not cheese, it demonstrates a renewed interest in dairy within the provinces of China, South and North Korea, and Japan.
India, meanwhile, has a long history of using dairy and cheese in its diets. Paneer is a soft milk cheese that has a lot of similarities with mozzarella. Or, other less tart and sweet wet cheeses. Paneer has been used for centuries and continues to be a staple of their dishes.
In contrast, traditional Japanese cultures did not make or use cheese. To this day they struggle to incorporate high-quality European cheeses into their dishes. They do use some cheap processed cheeses in their snacks now. But, it seems like it’ll be a while before they adopt more cheese in their diet.
Traditional Chinese and Thai Cheeses
Asian countries such as China and Thailand had their own varieties of cheese prior to European contact. These cultures had two very popular kinds of cheese known as “Ru Shan” and “Ru Bing”. Supposedly, you can still find these cheeses in some street fairs in southern China and Thailand.
But, they are not as widespread and prevalent as they once were. These cheeses are both wetter cheese. Ru Shan is a wetter salty cheese with a somewhat tart flavor. It has some sugar in it, but this is largely overpowered by the tangy cheese taste. It is typically grilled on an open street grill.
Ru Bing cheese is much firmer than Ru Shan cheese and notably does not melt. It is made from curdled goat’s milk and has a very strong flavor. When grilled it appears a lot like pan-fried extra firm tofu.
It has a strong flavor and is popular in street food. It was also popular among farmers and laborers who would eat this cheese on bread like a sandwich. Today, these cheeses are not overly popular outside of street food and
What Cheese Goes Well With Asian Food?
Overall, wet and mild cheeses are the most popular and pair the best in Asian cuisine. Cheese such as cream cheese is popular in a lot of Asian desserts. Especially with regards to imported western cuisine. Such as cheesecakes. But, wet and sweeter cheeses blend pretty well in savory Asian dishes.
Cheese such as Brie is sometimes used to garnish dumplings. This is not a traditional Asian garnish, however. But, it does compliment the fried and savory taste of the dumplings rather nicely. Melted savory cheddar cheese is also not uncommonly used for dipping sauces.
Melting cheeses like mozzarella are sometimes mixed into stir-fries. This makes a creamy sauce that is not common in traditional Asian cooking. But, many find that it compliments hot spices well and adds a level of creaminess to compliment it.
Crumbled cheeses such as feta are probably the least common. Some experimental cooks have tried to add this cheese to lo mein. It is more of a garnish than an ingredient, though. This cheese and similar cheese like parmesan does not melt well and adds a very pungent flavor that many Asian dishes do not pair well with.
Classic Paneer Dishes
Paneer, as we’ve discussed, is a traditional mild Indian cheese. It was also common in parts of southern China, Taiwan, and Thailand as well. This cheese does not have the common bitter or tart flavors so common in certain hard cheeses.
This cheese has been compared to firm tofu in taste and texture. Or, mozzarella. Some common uses of this cheese are a traditional stir fry or kabobs.
In stir fry, it is used in a similar manner as tofu. Paneer can be chopped into cubes and stirred into a stir fry along with sweet vegetables and sauce. People use soy sauce or hoisin sauce a lot with this version of stir fry.
For kabobs, this cheese can be cut into cubes and added to the skewers. This cheese is grilled along with sweet peppers and the meat of choice over an open grill. Traditionally, it was cooked with yak meat or duck meat. It seems like fattier meats are preferred over dryer meats such as white meat chicken.
Typical Ingredients in Asian Dishes
The typical ingredients of an Asian dish can be broken down into two categories. Asian cultures have very distinct sauces and seasoning, which will be discussed apart from the common ingredients. Common ingredients include various exotic vegetables such as Bok Choy, Pak Choy, Lotus Root, and Bamboo shoots. Common meats include duck meat, pork, and mutton. Less commonly known meats include pigeons and octopuses.
First, we will explore some of the commonly used meats and vegetables in Asian cultures. The type of meat depends a lot on the nation you are referring to, however. Japanese cultures use a lot of variety of fish and seafood in their cooking. These meats include tuna, dolphins, and sharks.
In Chinese cooking, pork is the most common meat. But, this does depend a little on the region of China you are referring to. Pork is the most meat consumed in northern China, along with water buffalo and beef.
Southern China has more fish in its diet than northern regions. The colder climates made traditional Chinese cultures more desperate for calories than southern cultures. Southern cultures ate a lot more fish, traditionally.
Some of the most common fish are mackerel and red snapper. But, they also eat more bird meat than northern cultures. This includes familiar meats like chicken, but also less common meats such as pigeon and pheasant.
In North and South Korea, octopus and crawfish are common delicacies. These cultures relied heavily on the food from the sea and also implemented seaweed commonly in their cooking. Kelp is commonly used as a soup base, but so are nori and wakame.
Seasonings and Their Common Pairings
In cooking from Korean cultures spice has a heavy presence. One of the most common spices incorporated in their cooking is a red pepper known as Gochugaru. Gochugaru is a ground-up red pepper that is made into a powder.
This pepper powder is added to a paste known as gochujang paste. Gochujang is a red pepper sauce that is very thick and very spicy. This sauce is added to a tofu soup known as Soon Dubu (soft tofu soup) to make it spicy.
It is also added to grilled squid and octopus. When applied to seafood it usually has some more sugar added to it. This gives it a familiar barbecue sauce flavor with an exotic twist.
Other common food pairings include five-spice with pork in Chinese cooking. Five-spice is a unique spice that has star anise and orange peel. When added to pork it gives it a sweetness and savory flavor that pairs well with the fats of the meat.
Why Is There Rarely Cheese in Asian Food?
One of the main reasons cheese is not commonly used in Asian dishes is the prevalence of lactose intolerance. Asia has the highest level of lactose intolerance among its populations. Other causes include shipment and storage issues associated with making cheese. Again, this is very region-specific, however. Not every region falls into these categorizations.
As discussed in an earlier section, Asia does have some of its own traditional cheeses. But, they did not usually make cheese from cow’s milk as many European countries do. They may use goat’s milk, which makes their cheese have less lactose.
Yak’s milk is also a traditional staple of Asian cuisine. Tibetan monks, who are commonly lactose intolerant, drink a lot of yak’s milk.
Some specialists are confused by this since yak milk does have lactose. Some think it’s because it has been a part of their diet for so long that they developed gut bacteria against this milk’s lactose. Either way, it does not seem to impact them the way cow’s milk does.
Many of their cheeses are made with either yak or goat milk. But, yak and goat milk have a different fat content which means they don’t necessarily make the same cheese as cow milk. The way in which they incorporate their traditional cheese is very different from European methods.
Typically, they simply grilled their cheeses. In many European cultures, cheese is added to a dish, such as parmesan in pasta or ricotta in lasagna. But, in Asian cultures, their traditional cheese was grilled and eaten similar to tofu.
What Countries Eat the Least Dairy?
Asian and African cultures drink and eat the least dairy. The specific countries with the lowest dairy consumption include Laos, Cambodia, Nigeria, Ivory Coast, Sierra Leone, and Burundi.
Other nations with low amounts of dairy consumption include Japan and China, but due to their populations, they do not fall on the lowest dairy drinkers chart. Per their population, however, they have a very low dairy consumption when compared to other highly populated countries.
One way of looking at these statistics is by population. In other words, if you live in a small country with a low population your country may not rank high for milk consumption. The population and the amount of milk drunk based on the population is an important factor.
For example, if you compare Estonia’s total milk consumption to China’s total milk consumption you may be shocked that China ranks higher. But, then you must look at their total population.
Estonia only has 1.3 million people, but their milk consumption is known to be high. However, when compared to China with over a billion people they appear to drink more milk than Estonia. This is because as a whole China drinks more. But, per person, Estonia drinks much more milk than China.