In depths of the pandemic lockdowns, I came across Omsom, a company that creates sauce packets for making absolutely delicious Asian dishes. Our favorite is the Thai Larb, but we also enjoy the Korean Spicy Bulgogi and have tried several others as well.

Cooking with these is super simple. Basically, you prep your protein and then add the sauce. For me the hardest part is usually figuring out what else I want to have on the side, as I’m not a huge fan of cooking multiple side dishes. I want them to be thematic but also simple. Typically with the larb I make some blistered green beans (I do a variation where I skip the shallots and throw in some ginger) and rice.

They have a lot of recipes on their site, at least one for each flavor they offer, as well as recipes for suggested sides. And there are a lot of vegetarian options as well. We really just like the larb with ground pork, but with the bulgogi I usually make their tofu recipe.

Lately I’m able to get this at a little botiquey grocery store near me, but you can also order online. The first time we tried them I got the Southeast Asian Sampler which was a fun introduction. If you’re at all curious about these I recommend getting a sampler to try them out. If you’re not sure where to start, I’d explore the recipes and see which ones are most appealing.