[CH] Achar masala and momoya xo-jan
Alex Silbajoris (asilbajo@hotmail.com)
Thu, 04 Dec 2003 12:58:33 +0000
I went grocery-shopping all around the world yesterday. Well, actually, I
wandered around a small shopping center that has groceries with foods from
from Mexico, India, and Japan.
Browsing the spice aisle in the Indian grocery (Patel, a branch of Raja
Foods) my eye landed on an invitingly red bag of Achar Masala under the Swad
brand name that Raja sells. Unfortunately the bag I bought has a smear on
the ingredient label, so I can't quite make out what's in it. There is red
chili powder and mustard, and then something I can't read. Asafdenda? Then
salt, fenugreek, and edible oil.
I tried a small taste, and it's quite nasty. All right! I browsed
rajafoods.com a bit, and although the site does not mention this product,
some of the cooking tips mention heating a spice mixture in hot oil for a
minute or two before adding the rest of the ingredients. So I'm guessing
that this is not intended for snacking right out of the sack.
I also bought a jar of Swad brand ginger and garlic paste, whose only
ingredients are ginger, garlic, water, vinegar, and salt. Oh yeah, this is
good stuff. I can imagine mixing this with a good hab sauce, and some
orange juice concentrate.
At the Mexican grocery (El Inka, does anyone else have these?) I bought some
of the addictive peanuts seasoned with chile and lime. I love these things,
and they're easy to find.
At the Japanese store, I was immediately drawn to a markdown shelf. I got
a small jar of fine-ground black pepper, in part just for the jar - the
type used for nanami tagarashi, with the single shaker hole. These are
great give-away sample jars. I also got a jar of "momoya xo-jan" without
knowing what it is. But hey, it has red pepper in the ingredient list
(after dried shell, dried shrimp, onion, vegetable fat, and sugar) so I'm
willing to try it. *opens jar* Smells and tastes a bit like crab; this
might be a nice secret ingredient in a shrimp-ramen lunch.
*G* actually my first stop was at a used CD store, where I got History of
the Grateful Dead Vol. 1, so now I have the refrain "I been all around the
world" playing in my head.
- A
_________________________________________________________________
Our best dial-up offer is back. Get MSN Dial-up Internet Service for 6
months @ $9.95/month now! http://join.msn.com/?page=dept/dialup