Asian Market & Whole Foods Haul

So as some people reading this may know, I was supposed to go to Cincinnati to visit my mom a few days ago. Due to a few variables, that didn't happen. That also meant I didn't get to go to Jungle Jims like I'd been planning. So Alyssa being the amazing girlfriend that she is, braved the sleet-glazed roads and took me to our (semi)local Asian market. It also happened to be right next to Whole Foods so we went there too.

Something you'll come to notice is that I adore all things Asian. Chinese food in particular is my favorite thing to cook, though I'm certainly not opposed to making a big pot of beefy Pho or crispy tempura with ponzu sauce. But the reason I love Asian cuisine so much is because I feel like I'm always discovering new ingredients. Just recently I found out that some people use whole dried seahorses to flavor soups and tonics. Thankfully our Asian market didn't have any seahorses because I'm pretty sure they're endangered, but they did have whole dried cuttlefish. Mmmmm.

The first find I want to share is an ingredient I have dreamt about using for a long time, but never thought I’d actually find it.

Kaffir lime leaves are the leaves of a tropical citrus tree. The leaves are used more often than the fruit since it has almost no juice at all. I used to just use lime zest as a replacement but the leaves have a grassy, herbal flavor kind of like Lemongrass that ordinary lime zest doesn't have. They're essential to green curry paste and other Thai dishes. I bought three packs and froze two. Just like lemongrass, they keep best in the freezer if you're not using them for a while. They're also nice to chew on since they're not sour, just limey in the way lemongrass is lemoney.

Another spice I got, and one of the things I was most excited about finding, was black cardamom pods.

Or Amomum Costatum. Whichever you prefer. They have a beautiful smokiness from being dried over open flames that works beautifully with chicken. Oddly enough it's not actually cardamom, but really related to ginger. Because of its smokiness it's more of a warming spice than green cardamom; I'd use it in my next batch of garam masala. Aside from spice blends, I like to just toss them whole into soups and braises. Just 1 is enough to flavor an entire soup with its resiny, smoky goodness.

I also bought licorice roots. As the name implies, they are the dried root of something, although I'm not sure if they actually taste like licorice. When they're dry they taste and smell like almost nothing. I've only used them once in Chicken Pho.

Apparently it also "tonifies the spleen" and "strengthens the qi". I never got traditional Chinese medicine. Maybe my mom will understand what it's trying to say better than I can.

The next thing is really exciting because of how much fun cooking with them is going to be.

Fresh quail eggs! I mean, I don't know how else you'd get them. But that's how it's advertised on the box. I have to keep myself from cooking one just to see how adorable it is. I have a recipe for mini eggs benidict planned and I want to save as many eggs for that as possible since I know I'm gonna mess up like half of them. I wish I'd gotten 2 boxes now.

Just look at them, they're so cute and little. A bird the size of my hand shat that out.

I'm sure everyone reading this is familiar with fish sauce since I used it in my last post. If you're not, put down whatever you're eating because, as delicious as this stuff is, the process is something I don't like to think about while using it.

So if you've ever smelled fish sauce, you may think it smells a bit like rotting fish. That's because that's precisely what it is! Fish, usually anchovies, are salted and put in barels to ferment. The resulting liquid, drawn out by the salt, is what fish sauce is. Why is something so horrifying so delicious? I've got no clue! Probably has something to do with glutamic acid. But this stuff if worth spending extra on to get the good stuff. It's kind of like olive oil where the really good and really bad kinds are leagues apart. Don't taste it like olive oil though. It really only tastes good when it's added to other things like soups or sauces. Did I mention how much I love fish sauce?

I actually got this next thing at Whole Foods. Surprising I know, it looks like something you'd find buried in the deepest corners of your Asian grocery store, especially with that logo. You can tell I got it from Whole Foods because this tiny container was almost $10.

So from what I gathered, this "magic mushroom powder" is some kind of non-synthetic MSG-esque powder that brings an extra blast of umami to things. I've been adding pinches of it to anything when I want more flavor (chicken stock, eggs, soup), and they weren't lying. It is like magic. It seems to make everything else taste better and all the flavors more intense. Pretty good for what's apparently just powdered mushrooms, chili flakes, and thyme.

Something I found interesting about Whole Foods was that they didn't just have an Asian section and a Mexican section, they also had an Indian section. That's something you don't see outside of jungle jims. Unfortunately it was almost entirely pre-made chutney and microwave curry. I did find one gem though.

Also known as black salt. Which is weird because it's not salty, and it's sort of pinkish-white. It smells terrible, like a chunk of sulphur, but it tastes pretty good. Kind of like egg yolks. It's a really weird ingredient and I've only used it once for curried potatoes, but it's fun. Maybe I'll find new ways to use it.

The last thing I wanna share is something I've been wanting for ages. I found this too at Whole Foods. It was the best find of the whole night.

Sherry vinegar, aged 30 years. This stuff is like liquid gold. It's 8% acidity but I could drink this stuff like water. It's sweet and complex and brings an extra bit of flavor to anything. It only cost me $10 which is about half as much as I was going to pay for sherry vinegar at The Spicy Olive so that's a plus.

I know there's more things I didn't talk about but they're just not that interesting. If people like this I might make another one when I go to jungle jims in a few days.

#asianmarket #asianfood #fishsauce #sherryvinegar #haul #unboxing #foodblog #blacksalt #lime #magicmushroompowder #kaffirlimeleaves #cardamom #blackcardamon #quail