What is Weipa Seasoning – A Complete Guide

In Japanese cuisine, weipa is a popular seasoning found in many homes and is used to add flavor to Chinese influenced dishes. Along with other ingredients such as mirin, soy sauce, and sake, weipa is an essential pantry item for creating authentic Asian dishes. In this article we’ll explain everything you need to know about weipa seasoning including:

• What exactly is weipa seasoning?
• Weipa ingredients and how it tastes
• Where to buy weipa
• How to store weipa 
• How to use weipa seasoning 
• Weipa recipe ideas

What exactly is weipa seasoning?

Weipa is a versatile Chinese stock used as seasoning for many Chinese dishes and Japanese-style Chinese foods. Weipa means "king of taste" and consists of chicken and pork bones extract, and vegetables and spices mixed into a paste.

Weipa was first developed by a Chinese resident called Bao Yue Min who lived in the Japanese port city of Kobe.  As Kobe is home to one of Japan’s largest Chinatowns, he wanted to create an easy-to-use seasoning that could be used by the local Chinese restaurants, but his weipa seasoning quickly became popular among Japanese citizens too.

In Japan, weipa is a popular seasoning used to make instant soups or add flavor and richness to dishes like fried rice, gyoza, and stir fries. This seasoning made of vegetables, spices, chicken, and pork bones adds a delicious and authentic Chinese flavor to your dishes so why not give it a try?

Weipa ingredients and the effect of weipa seasoning on the taste of food

Weipa’s full list of ingredients are salt, pork and chicken extracts, vegetable extract, animal and vegetable fat, sugar, lactose, flour, spices, garlic, onion, and seasonings (amino acids, etc.). Weipa does not contain beef extract. 

Weipa seasoning is used to enhance the taste of food which makes it one of the most important spices in Japanese cooking. It can be used in many different types of dishes such as salads, meats, vegetables, and sauces. The combination of sweet and salty flavors can also help balance out some dishes that may be too rich or sour.

How to store weipa seasoning

Weipa should be stored in a cool, dry place, away from direct sunlight, heat, and humidity. 

How to use weipa seasoning

For making soup, add 10g of Weipa into 600cc of boiling water with your choice of ingredients. For stir-frying, you can fry ingredients with weipa, adjusting the amount of seasoning to your preference.  You can also add a tablespoon of weipa with two cups of rice to the rice cooker to make delicious, steamed rice.

Weipa Recipe Ideas

Weipa seasoning is designed to be used in recipes that require less salt, for example in soups, sauces, rice dishes, and casseroles. Here are ideas for some easy Japanese dishes which are perfect to enhance the flavor using weipa:

• Gyoza – add weipa to the mixture to be placed inside gyoza wrappers
• Chanko nabe (hotpot) – add one or two tablespoons of weipa to the stock with water, sake, dashi, mirin, and soy sauce instead of buying hot pot seasonings 
• Fried rice – beat an egg, add two teaspoons of weipa, and heat in a frying pan before adding the rice
• Miso ramen – add weipa to the ramen stock with hot water and miso paste
• Yakisoba – add weipa to the wok along with the stir-fried meat, vegetables, and noodles