A Trip to the Oriental Market

A friend called me recently to invite me to check out the new oriental market in Tucson. Her neighbor had gone and spent three hours browsing through the store. This reminded me of a huge store in the Phoenix area and it turns out this one is run by the same folks. We made a date to go this week and follow up with lunch at the Vietnamese place next door.

I mentioned the store while at the CSA last week and got mixed reactions. One person, also a foodie like me, had gone and enjoyed herself. Another volunteer jotted down the address to go check it out. The dedicated locavore just looked at me with a deadpan expression and said, "It isn't local."

No, it isn't local. But, as I've already said, I'm not going to be all hard-core psycho about only eating local foods. What I like about ethnic stores is the opportunity to see how, and what, other cultures eat, getting unusual spices and seasonings - both of which go a long ways for the transportation weight, and picking up grains, pastas, and beans that may be hard to find locally.


That is pretty much what I did on this trip. This photo is a sampling of some of my purchases. It was tempting to buy far more than I did, but what I decided to focus on was buying mostly foods that I'd never had and that I thought I could make myself once I tasted them.

I bought jaggery sugar, used in Indian cooking, and peloncillo sugar, used in Mexican cooking. I've never had either one, always using brown sugar instead, but I'd like to try the authentic versions to see if the brown sugar is really an adequate replacement. If necessary, I can tweak the sugar flavors to get a more authentic taste, perhaps using a little extra molasses if needed, or cutting it with some kind of seasoning. I'll try to remember to report when I do try the sugars.

I picked up a package of roasted barley to try for tea. Yes, of course, I could have bought barley closer to home and roasted it myself, but I want to see how it's supposed to taste first. Then I can replicate it just right. The directions (boil 1 tbs roasted barley in 1 liter of water for 5 minutes) sound like it will be terribly weak, but since I've never had barley tea, what do I know.

I'd just run out of Kitchen Bouquet, an ingredient used in making a mock beef vegan broth, so I picked up some "Burnt Sugar" to try as a replacement. I've had mixed results making my own burnt sugar so, again, I'm hoping to get a better sense of how it should taste and look by trying someone else's product.

There were a number of vegetarian meat items available. I selected "beef slice" to try. Essentially it is a gluten-soy product that is rehydrated and then used like beef. I put it in a stir-fry this week and was a bit disappointed. The flavor was not really beefy although the texture wasn't too bad. The texture improved overnight in the leftovers. I think my homemade gluten has better flavor. Perhaps the texture of mine would benefit from dehydrating. It would be great if I could make a big batch and dry some to store.

Since I had such success with my vinegar experiments over the summer, I was intrigued by the various kinds of vinegar on the shelves. I have no idea what "black vinegar" tastes like but am very curious. The ingredients listed are vinegar, sugar, salt, vegetables, fruit spices, and caramel. Perhaps, if I like it, I might be able to reproduce something similar.

And, finally, I had to pick up the fermented black bean paste since I've been fermenting so many vegetables lately. I have no idea how to ferment black beans, but I'll bet there's something online to help me out. When I get a few free moments, I'll start researching how to make this, and some of the other foods listed above, from scratch. Then local ingredients can come into play while I still get to enjoy flavors from across the globe.

In fact, today I'll be trying to make something I had for lunch that day. We didn't end up eating at the Vietnamese restaurant as there was not one single item on the menu without animal products. In the same shopping center, though, there was a Japanese restaurant. I had a sushi roll featuring pickled daikon and really enjoyed it. When I got home and looked up how to make the "takuan", it became clear I'd have to settle for the easy version rather than the traditional one.

Traditionally, it is made by hanging daikon radishes with leaves attached outside until they soften. They are then sliced and sprinkled with a rice bran-salt mixture and left to pickle. I'm not sure where to find rice bran, but, more importantly, I wanted to make this pickle with a black Spanish radish....that has already had the leaves cut off. So, I'm going to go with a more normal looking pickle recipe and hope it tastes somewhat like what I had in my sushi roll. We do sometimes get daikon in our CSA shares so if I can locate some rice bran, perhaps I can try it the traditional way later.

I bought various noodles (rice, udon, soba) that we really enjoy every now and then. I have never tried making rice or udon noodles and have no idea how hard it is to do. I haven't even thought to look up recipes for making them from scratch, but it's on my list now.

Many of my favorite recipes are ones that I've created to replicate dishes I've had in restaurants or ones that contain animal products. I love to experiment and find ways to re-create flavors with what is easily available in my pantry or locally. If I come up with anything really great in the oriental food vein, I will keep you posted.


In the meantime, I combined the store bought rice noodles with local broccoli from my CSA and a friend's garden for a delicious dinner last night. I got a little carried away with the Sriracha sauce. Ages ago, I bookmarked Katie's post about making Sriracha sauce from scratch. Now that there are an abundance of hot chile peppers in the garden, I might give this a try.