Friday, October 8, 2010
1 Discovering New & Unusual Foods in Uncommon Places....
![]() |
You could spend an entire day exploring this place! |
![]() |
Chinese black rice. |
After this stop, I also trekked to Trader Joe's, an Indian market, & a Persian market, to pick up some of the remaining odds and ends on my shopping list. I wasn't able to find everything on the list, and so, ended up ordering the rest of the items from Amazon.com. ;) The free-shipping deal we get from Amazon.com makes these purchases rather irresistible. :)
A bowl of dried jujubes. |
So, to prove my point, witness the below list of items that I purchased yesterday:
--dried jujube fruits (used in Korean cooking)
--chow mein noodles (OK, these noodles are admittedly not that exotic, but it's an ingredient used in some of my more unusual recipe creations. :) )
--whole red Szechuan peppers (a common ingredient in Chinese Five-Spice Powder)
--black rice (high in antioxidants & vitamin E)
--a block of seedless tamarind pulp (used for many Indian & Southeast Asian dishes)
--black mustard seeds (used frequently in Indian cuisine)
--dried whole Chinese star anise (another ingredient in Chinese Five-Spice Powder)
--a 3 lb. bag of coarsely ground sea salt (OK, maybe sea salt's not that unusual, but the bulk purchase probably is. ;) )
--unsweetened dried blueberries* (for teas, trail mixes, & hot breakfast cereals like Oatmeal, etc.)
--freeze-dried strawberries* (for trail mixes)
--dried Californian apricots* (They are soooo much tastier than the Turkish kind!)
![]() |
Cut licorice root. |
--cut licorice root (for making herbal teas)
--whole licorice sticks (again, for teas & other uses, etc.)
--cut sarsaparilla root (Yep, you guessed it again. It'll be used primarily to make teas & other beverages. :) As you may or may not know, sarsaparilla's one of the main ingredients in root beer.)
--whole whole, dried allspice berries (for teas & cooking)
--white í seeds
--whole dried rose buds & petals (for teas, aromatic rices, etc.)
(*Trader Joe's has a fantastic selection of dried fruits made without refined sugar.)
So, there it is. To be honest, I probably could've saved a lot of driving around (not to mention time & gas money!) after the Grand Mart trip if I'd only have gone to Amazon.com first. I guess I didn't think it'd be as hard as it was to find (what I thought would be) some of the more common ingredients like whole allspice berries or vanilla beans. Sheesh! However, the shopping trip was a fun & interesting adventure, so that in itself made the excursion worthwhile.
Well, now that my pantries are well-stocked with all sorts of fun ingredients, be on the lookout for more unusual and one-of-a-kind recipes. :)
Happy Cooking!
-C
1 comment:
yeah yeah I will. . love to coke! you too. Take care=)
healthy flat.com
Post a Comment
I may or may not know you, but love reading your comments!
Have you tried this recipe? If so, please leave a comment or post your reaction to let me know what you think.
If you like this post, then please consider subscribing to my RSS feed. You can also subscribe by email and have new posts sent directly to your inbox.