These Cute Little Sauce Packets Make All Kinds of Asian Recipes So Much Easier
Courtesy Omsom
If you've always loved eating Asian cooking at restaurants but have frozen up when considering making it at home—those days are over. Sisters Vanessa and Kim Pham's company Omsom brings the authentic flavors of Asian cooking to homes everywhere and making those recipes as easy as opening a packet.
Yes, a packet.
The ideal pantry shortcut for Asian recipes
Think of these colorful packets as the ideal pantry shortcut. You provide the protein, vegetables, and noodles or rice, then just add the sauce for that punchy flavor and spice. Whether you use your own recipes, experiment boldly, or head straight for the recipes on Omsom's website, these sauce packets allow you to fully customize your dishes, including keeping them gluten free, vegetarian, or even vegan.
The packets come in six different flavors: three East Asian and three Southeast Asian. They include sauces for Thai Krapow and Thai Larb, Vietnamese Lemongrass BBQ, Japanese Yuzu Misoyaki, Korean Spicy Bulgogi, and Chinese Mala Salad.
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Courtesy Omsom
Easy to mix and match
You can purchase the packets in sets by flavor, or in kits. They have a special kit for use in Instant Pots or multi cookers, or you can do the East Asian kit with the Thai and Vietnamese packets, or South Asian with the Japanese, Korean, and Chinese packets. They also have a flight of all of the flavors. But for me, the way to go is the custom subscription. You can pick your flavors and a 1-, 2- or 3-month subscription series and never run out of sauces. It also makes for great gifting!
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When our favorite Thai restaurant closed during the pandemic, my husband thought his beloved krapow, a chili-basil stir fry that was his regular order, was a thing of the past. All hail Omsom's Thai Krapow packet (created with Chrissy Teigen's mom, Pepper, according to her family recipe), and was an instant hit. I love the Thai Larb (created with Chaht and Ohm Suansilphong of NYC's Fish Cheeks), a spicy salad with toasted rice powder (included in the packets), and the Lemongrass BBQ has become my go-to for grilling everything from pork belly to eggplant.
The Pham sisters source their ingredients directly from producers in Asia, often getting things that cannot be found in the states anywhere else. They pride themselves on creating sauces that do not dumb down flavors, which creates fully realized dishes from your home kitchen. Free shipping on orders of $35 or more, and often same-day delivery available in metro areas for New York City, Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.
