i really like Amoy's abalone XO sauce &

singlong's sambal belacan sauce.

i use them in my dried noodle dish... mixed with a little soya sauce, sesame oil, tomato sauce, dash of white pepper... quick n yummy!

I've never found Nando's cooking sauces to be worth it. They sound good, but just don't live up to the packaging.

I usually have hoisin and black bean sauce around, and between the two I can do quite a bit.

I like the Amoy singaporean style curry, can or jar when I'm in an instant meal kind of mode...

I really don't think I can make a curry from scratch that much better, not when I'm finely dicing into it fresh ripe tomato and additional garlic and ginger fresh ground.... can top that on just about anything... any bowl of rice with veggie, beef, tofu variant, fish, tripe, chicken, etc.

I think I live for Singaporean curries, that and west indian curries from trinidad and Jamaica.

Thanks for the replies everyone! I just enter the aisle of my local chinese grocery store with all of the sauces, and it's so hard to tell which ones will be decent! Especially because most of them come in pretty large packaging. Basics like sesame oil and soy sauce are easy though.

fish, bean, oyster, duck - there are many sauces that are easier to buy than make.

make your own. it takes a little time but it pays off; big time

I live in Denver and I am a fan of Annie Chung sauces.

Yes there is an incredible amount of Asian sauces out there!! I think I usually have a few "staple sauces" in my pantry/fridge.

Lee Kum Kee products I like..particularly the hoison in the squirt bottle and their oyster (flavored) sauce. They also make this awesome "Drunk Chicken Marinade" A friend of mine said it's "very chinese". The chicken is either boiled or steamed and then it is marinated in this sauce. I usually will add some extra whiskey into the marinade. I soooooo love it!!! I know this is funky for some of you but it's really good with boiled chicken wings or boiled chicken feet aka one of the greatest chinese delicacies.

The other thingsI aways and must must have in my fridge are:

-- Tuong Ot Sirirachi Sauce!! (the rooster brand).
-- SQuid brand Fish Sauce
-- Sweet Chili Sauce
-- Aloha low Sodium Soyu

As to garlic and black bean paste in a jar..it's okay but the flavor is a bit off than making it yourself. You can pick up a huge container of ''fremented black beans" in any asian grocery store. And they last forever. We take that and semi mash it up with chopped garlic and ginger. A little bit of soy sauce or oyster sauce and there it is. It taste so much fresher than the bottled ones. But in a crunch bottle will do too!