Sauces, spices and condiments: Flavour combinations to enhance your meals

Is your cooking becoming a bit monotonous? Do you order the same meals every time you eat out? You might not need to switch recipes or restaurants.

It can be as simple as adding a little "something extra" to your favourite dishes or choosing something from the menu with a sauce, spice or topping that’s totally new to you.

Experimenting with sauces, spices and condiments is also a great way to broaden your culinary horizons and, when cooking for kids, to develop their palates so they enjoy more varied foods.

And if you’re shopping or eating out in Double Bay, the grocery stores, restaurants and cafes at Kiaora Place have a cornucopia of condiments for you to sample or buy.

Here are some of our favourites, along with tips on how to try them:

Sriracha

Sriracha is a multi-purpose Asian sauce made from red chili peppers, garlic, vinegar, salt, and sugar. Tangy and with a hint of sweetness, it’s in a different league altogether to your average hot sauce.

Sriracha is versatile – check out these ideas that show you how to use it to make everything from a dipping sauce to a cocktail.

Pesto

Pesto is a combination of fresh basil, Parmesan cheese, pine nuts, garlic and olive oil. It’s great as an alternative on any dish calls for a garden-variety tomato sauce, like pasta, rice, seafood or chicken.

Keep a jar on hand or have a go at whipping up a batch from scratch. Classic pesto is super quick and easy to make and also freezes well if you have leftovers.

White Rabbit Double Bay serves some delicious pesto-based dishes, like penne burrata with fresh basil and macadamia pesto, and poached eggs with grilled greens, potato rosti and capsicum pesto.

Dukkah, zaatar and sumac

Little Jean's chefs are masters when it comes to incorporating Middle Eastern spice blends like dukkah, zaatar, and sumac into their dishes. Try the truss tomato, halloumi, avocado zaatar, pomegranate and soft egg for breakfast. And sample the cauliflower, currants, sumac, onion, walnuts, coriander with tahini yoghurt on the lunch and dinner menu.

Woolworths sells a fabulous pistachio dukkah you can keep on hand to sprinkle on whatever takes your fancy. And if you’re keen to whip up your own spice blends, Naked Foods has all the pantry essentials you need.

Kimchi

Not only is kimchi a tasty addition to a range of dishes, its fermented formula contains a variety of good bacteria that help to boost the biome. In case you’re wondering, the biome is the part of the digestive system that scientists are increasingly pointing to as a universal source of good health.

China Diner serves a delicious crispy pork boa with apple and carrot kimchi. And you can get your daily kimchi fix by keeping a container on hand to use a garnish on sandwiches, burgers and salads.

XO sauce

This flavoursome sauce hails from Hong Kong takes its name from XO (extra-old) cognac. Made from dried seafood and cured ham, it gets reduced during cooking to a jammy concoction that gives almost any savoury dish a big flavour kick.

Head down to China Diner and sample the XO stir-fried king prawns. And while you’re there, tempt your tastebuds with spicy favourites like the five-spice duck pancakes and endame with seven-spice chili salt.

Pomegranate

Not only are pomegranates flavourful, they also look divine as a topping on salads, mains and desserts. They used to be hard to find but are now widely available at grocery and fruit stores.

White Rabbit Double Bay brings roasted pumpkin, barley, mint, pomegranate, feta cheese, radicchio and dukkha together to create the perfect winter salad that’s delicious and healthy as well.

So there you have it. Whether you want to add flavour, moisture, heat, texture or just a make your meals look a little more glam, incorporating an interesting new sauce, spice or garnish is definitely the way to go.