Re: [CH] Achar masala and momoya xo-jan
linda (lipant@sympatico.ca)
Thu, 4 Dec 2003 10:43:15 -0500
Hey Alex, Astefida is a powder you add to Indian foods to stop the body's
natural urge to form gases. In other words..... well, you get the point.
Many cuisines have a version of it. It is a good thing in dal's etc!! So
how come we sophisticated American's don't use it?
Linda
----- Original Message -----
From: "Alex Silbajoris" <asilbajo@hotmail.com>
To: <chile-heads@globalgarden.com>
Sent: Thursday, December 04, 2003 7:58 AM
Subject: [CH] Achar masala and momoya xo-jan
>
> 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
>
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