- # Karen commented on July 19th, 2006:^ Is Black bean paste same as taucheo or preserved bean paste? I’m from Melbourne and not sure if Lee Kum Kee sauces have any preserved bean paste… or issit similar to Black bean paste?
To answer Karen’s question, I have taken photos of the two types of beans which are lying in my fridge. They are two very important cooking ingredients, you see.
This is the preserved black beans or what we [tag]Chinese[/tag] call ‘tau see’. It is made of black beans which are soaked in brine. I usually bought the Gulong brand. Avoid buying those in cans or the dry version. The canned ones are too salty and the dry version’s smell is too overpowering.
Such beans are good when steamed with chicken, garlic and chillies. It is the same kind of black beans dim sum restaurants use to make the pork ribs. I dislike the husks so most of the times, I painstakingly remove them before cooking. Oh ya, remember to soak them in water for a little while to remove the saltiness.
The above brownish looking mess is the preserved soya beans or taucheou. It is made from soya beans and have a different taste and smell from the black beans.  There are two varieties available, i.e. the beans being chopped up or complete like the above. There are so many brands so usually, I prefer to go to a Chinese grocer and ask the boss to pick the best brand for me.
This is also very salty so use sparingly. For this preserved beans, one does not have to wash or soak them or else the gooey texture will be lost.
A little teaspoons of this taucheo in most dishes cooked with dark soya sauce will make it very yummy. This is one ingredient that is a must in ‘khau yoke’ (steamed pork with yam) along with the red preserved soya bean cake. (ang tau joo)
The darker brownish glob is the chopped taucheo (yeah, I got both varieties). The taucheo tends to get dark when stored for a long time. I think if we continue leaving it to ferment, then we get soya sauce? Do store the beans in the fridge to avoid getting mouldy.
This site is updated with new recipes and foods every day. So, subscribe to Best Recipe RSS feed now so that you don't miss out anything. Thanks for visiting and enjoy!
Related posts:
- Recipe : Potato & Chicken, Hainanse style ...
- Ingredients : Dried, preserved seafoods ...
- Basic ingredients for yummy homecooked Chinese meals ...
- Recipe : Baked beans and eggs Chinese style ...
- Cooking for kids – Secret is in the gravy ...
- Stir fried baby french beans ...
- Recipe : Itek Sioh ...
- Recipe : Joo hoo char for Chinese New Year ...
- Red bean (pressure cooked) ...
- Recipe : Seaweed & tofu clear soup ...
Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.
Sooi2 
Mia 
Erina Law 
shooi 
The black beans are good for our blood. Can used that to boil soup with pork ribs too. Put some garlic together. Taste great. What u do is fry beans without using oil. This will allow the beans to give a better aroma when u boil the soup.