As important as soy sauce, Chinese rice vinegar is a must-have for those keen to explore Chinese cuisine in their own kitchens.
It seems to me that for most people outside China soy sauce is commonly associated with Chinese cuisine, while the importance of Chinese vinegar is, for the most part, overlooked.
You can easily find soy sauce in any mainstream supermarkets, yet Chinese vinegar is a fairly recent addition. In fact, these two condiments are equally important for every household in China.
If you are interested in building a Chinese pantry, or simply want to try out some authentic recipes, I suggest you to have a bottle of good quality Chinese rice vinegar to hand.
There is a wide variety of vinegars produced from different regions in China. In terms of colour, they range from clear, light yellow, reddish, brown to black. Although vinegar made from rice is well known internationally, in some parts of China (particularly Northern regions) vinegars made from sorghum, barley, wheat and peas are much more popular.
In my recipes, I use either black rice vinegar or white rice vinegar as they are more accessible outside China. Not only are they different in colour, they also have very different tastes and usage.
Black rice vinegar is more complex in flavour: fragrant, pungent, smoky, salty and sweet. It’s used for preparing all types of dishes, particularly common in salad, noodles, dipping sauce and stir-fry. As I mentioned in another post, my taste buds favour the “sour and spicy” flavour created by the combination of black rice vinegar and Chinese chilli oil.
The unique aroma of black rice vinegar is difficult to substitute with any of the western vinegars commonly available.
I normally use Chinkiang (Zhenjiang) vinegar (镇江香醋, left in image) as it’s considered to be the best of this type and it’s the most accessible in terms of purchasing.
While white rice vinegar is more acidic, it’s less sophisticated than black rice vinegar. However, it gives dishes a sharper taste. If you don’t want condiments to darken the colour of a dish, white rice vinegar is a better choice.
For this reasons, it’s popular for making vegetable pickles and sweet and sour dishes like Sweet and Sour Fish which I shared earlier. As for substitutes, cider vinegar is considered to be a good option. Sometimes, I use Japanese rice vinegar too. It’s very close to the taste of the Chinese one, but milder.
Hi Wei, I am assuming that black rice vinegar is different from fermented sweetened black vinegar.
I accidentally purchased the fermented type. How do I use it?
Can I use it in recipes as a substitute for the black rice vinegar?
Sweetened black rice vinegar would be good for dipping sauces. You could use it as a substitute but the taste would be a little different. Grab a proper one the next time!
Thank you for this blog – it’s a great spot to learn some new dishes, flavors and techniques. YUM!
My pleasure to share Steven! Delighted to know you find my blog helpful💜
I so appreciate all your advice on the differences between various Chinese ingredients. I am going to add Black Rice Vinegar to my pantry. Does it have added salt? I like regular rice vinegar for its very light taste, but it is definitely the least complex of vinegars I have tried. Thanks again for demystifying these dishes for English-speakers!
Welcome to my blog Jennifer! Black rice vinegar does have added salt and it has a strong, complex, aromatic taste. A must-have if you wish to explore authentic Chinese cuisine. Give it a try!
Hi thought I’d buy something different at our local Asian food market but might need your help.
The owner couldn’t give me an answer how to prepare an Asian cucumber. Just said that it needed to be cooked. In a sauté only…? Wanted to make your cucumber salad…pls advise.
In Chinese cuisine cucumber is mostly served raw in salads. Occasionally it’s stir-fried, such as in Moo Shu Pork. For my cucumber salad recipe, it’s used as it is. No cooking involved.
Hello,
May I know the difference between rice wine vinegar and black rice vinegar? I have uncooked xiao long bao dumplimgs at home and would like to make a sauce, but I only have rice wine vinegar at hand. (I tasted the vinegar and it tastes quite strong–a bit like alcohol really!)
Rice wine vinegar is another term for rice vinegar in general. Black rice vinegar is one variety which is more aromatic than many clear, pale-yellow Chinese rice vinegar. The authentic dipping sauce for Xiaolongbao would be black/dark rice vinegar.
Hi Ms. Wei,
I have tried your recipe without black rice vinegar, it has turned out really well.
My question is for you is, Can black rice vinegar be made at home ? I do have black rice at home.
If you can share the recipe of making black rice vinegar, that will be great.
Thank you.
Jay
Thank you Jay for visiting my blog! I’ve never come across a recipe for homemade rice vinegar so I’m not able to help you with this.
I managed to buy black rice vinegar exactly like you recommend in the centre of Warsaw 🙂
That’s great news! Enjoy!