From Bratwurst to
Bimibap – Part 2 – by Savvy Mom Ruth Paget
Asian-Filipino Market in Marina caters to a largely Southeast Asian clientele according to its
India-born owner. The market offers
goods spanning the culinary world from Thailand to the Philippines.
A
love for snack foods seems to be common to all these countries judging from the
vast selection of taro chips, seaweed chips, shrimp crackers, and coconut
crackers for sale. Snack fantasies led
me to dreams of more substantial fare, so I headed over to the instant sauce
section.
Many
people avoid making ethnic food at home, because it requires a major outlay for
basic ingredients. Ready-made sauces can
ease a new cook into a foreign cuisine, which is one of the reasons I like
them.
Korean
barbecue, Chinese roast duck, Cantonese noodles, and packets of Filipino
kare-kare sauces are just some of the temptations on Asian-Filipino’s shelves.
I
could smell the warm peppery masala spice mixture in the Indian food aisle
before I got there and imagined how good it would taste in ground lamb kebab
with cilantro and onion.
I
wanted to make coconut milk with the unsweetened, shredded coconut and season
it with curry leaves to poach fish or shrimp.
Instead,
I ended up buying a bottle of tea masala to make chai at home.
A
penchant for habanera sauce led me to Mi Tierra Market in Seaside, which has
Mexican and Salvadoran products.
End
of Part 2
By
Ruth Paget, author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France
Click here for: Ruth Paget's Amazon Books
Click here for: Ruth Paget's Amazon Books
