Someone must have written about this already – but, if you are trapped in Asia it may prove useful: tonight I made a big batch of simple veggie pasta for the week (7 tomatoes, 3 green peppers, boatloads of garlic, something that looked like a cucumber, assorted other greens). Basil / other normal spices were nowhere to be found, so I substituted liberal amounts of 料酒 (liaojiu), generic cooking liquor. It turned out exceptionally good – not too different in principle from Vodka sauce, but way better. Also used sunflower seed oil instead of olive oil. More experimentation required. It was delicious. Additionally, if you are into Chinese cooking, adding lots of a cheap red wine into your 地三鲜 (‘Three Treasures of the Earth’) also makes it unexpectedly tasty.