Now they can be bought almost everywhere - even in chain supermarkets near the house, but... Many pass by, snorting - they say, this is not ours, not ours.
But in vain.
Even boring rice or pasta with a new seasoning or sauce becomes much more interesting, and... more appetizing.
Miso paste
It happens red and white, but in our stores red is most often sold. If you do not want to take a large package, try a small bag, for example, Sen Soy has them, and you can find other brands if you wish.
Miso paste is that concentrated umami flavor that will make even the most bland food taste appetizing. If you add it when cooking rice, it will turn out to be a completely different dish.
I like to add it if I fry rice. It also works very well in meat and vegetable stews. For some reason, I don't really like fish with it (although it tastes and color, and it seems that the Japanese culinary god himself ordered it to be applied to fish).
Oyster sauce
To buy a very, very natural oyster sauce is, of course, not in our stores, but what is there is quite tasty.
Oyster sauce is a brother of soy sauce in terms of richness of taste, but only soy sauce still loses to it. The correct oyster sauce is made from oysters, which are boiled-boiled-boiled-boiled... Almost indefinitely. The oyster sauce now sold around the world most often contains oyster concentrate. But it’s delicious too.
You can use oyster sauce in combination with soy sauce, or you can use it separately.
I like it both with fish and with meat, it can be perfectly added to the prepared dish (taking into account the color of the sauce itself, of course), you can pour it over the ready-made dish. Or you can use it in marinades. Almost everything is the same as with soy, but only oyster - brighter, richer.
Since oyster sauce is the same umami, it works great in almost all combinations. Some of the acquaintances even manage to water it with pasta and add it to mushroom soup. They like it!
I highly recommend giving it a try. Most likely - and you will like it.