Monday, August 3, 2009
Foods Mistaken Identity
Posted by Nicki Wood on Mon, Aug 3, 2009 at 8:23 AM
Those little pots of chili paste in Vietnamese restaurants--love that stuff. It's loaded with pepper flavor and isn't too hot. Perfect for amping up the flavors in the sauteed eggplant and ground pork at Far East Vietnamese restaurant when it arrived without a sauce on the side.
Headed to K&S to buy some for the home kitchen. Or, even better, some of that dark, toasted chili flakes in oil found occasionally at Thai and Chinese restaurants.
Very quickly, the grocery outing became a scavenger hunt. Hmm. Must be here somewhere. Up the Korean aisle, the Japanese aisle. The Middle Eastern aisle. The Latino seasonings aisle, for Pete's sake. At the Chinese aisle, I settled on a product that looked the part--crushed chili in soya oil. Once opened, it was obvious that it's cooking sauce.
Back to square one. What the heck is that stuff? And where can it be purchased?
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The Smyrna SuperTarget carries all three Huy Fong products (sriracha, sambel oelek, and chili garlic) in their int'l foods aisle...
You can try Wangs Market on 3rd and Monroe. A giant Gem of an Asian Market very few are aware of here in Germantown.
I bought a jar at Publix.. Kroger might have it too. I was surprised by their somewhat healthy asian section.
I know for sure they have it at the International Market on Belmont. I think I've also found it at the Inglewood Kroger before.
Next time you're at your favorite Vietnamese (or Thai) restaurant, and they have it out at the table, try asking them if they have any for sale. Sometimes they keep a few extra bottles on hand to sell. If not, they might at least be able to tell you where to get it. We've had good luck with that before.
