My Favorite Products I Always Buy at an Asian Grocery Store

Like pasta from all over the world, you can find dry and fresh noodles in the Asian market. Certain noodles have an intended use or general use, and there are dishes where specific noodles are simply non-negotiable. Rice noodles are no different. Guai chu sen yai are fresh wide rice noodles coated in oil to prevent them from sticking and packed in a plastic bag to keep the noodles soft. They are hard to find, difficult to prepare, and best eaten during the day. They also walk fast. If you’re lucky enough to come across a bag, give it a little feel: if they’re warm and slide around in the bag, they’re fresh and you should buy two bags and make a giant lunch like Guay. Tew Kua Gai or Pad Si Eu .

I would be remiss not to share the dried noodles. Dry noodles of any culture are necessary for society. They are cheap, filling, durable, and most dishes that promote social bonding and bonding are prepared using them. At an Asian grocery store, you will always find a full range of different dried noodles, from pan-fried noodles to glass noodles. They are cheaper than other grocery stores, have a larger selection, and usually come in larger package sizes. I always buy glass noodles for soups and yum wun sen , mai fan and rice sticks for fried dishes like pad thai.

The one and only. Undoubtedly, the best seasoning sauce is Golden Mountain sauce . This is a type of Thai soy sauce that can be drizzled over almost any savory dish and imparts an irresistible umami flavor. The taste is different from typical soy sauce: it is a little sharp, a little malty and very salty. Use it in French fries, eggs, plain white rice and soups. I can’t live without these things, but this particular brand is not always in stock, even at the Asian grocery store. If you can’t find it, Maggi sauce is a suitable substitute. There is also a concentrated Maggi seasoning that comes in a tiny bottle, but it can be used with a lighter hand and the taste will be slightly different.

Black soy sauce is another umami enhancer with a slightly different personality. It is thicker than regular soy sauce, slightly sweeter rather than salty or spicy, and the color is an opaque black. When added to stir-fried noodles or rice dishes, you only need a small amount to give the dish balance and a rich brown color. It’s easy to overdo it, so I recommend always starting with a small amount, like half a teaspoon per medium sized pan. Mix thoroughly and evaluate color and taste. If you want a deeper color, add another half teaspoon.

I am very passionate about oyster sauce. It has some of my favorite qualities of a sauce—sweet, fishy, ​​sticky, and rich—and it’s an absolute must-have for sweet and savory dishes with thicker sauces. Keep in mind that there are two types of oyster sauce on the shelf. Those made from fermented oyster extracts and those made with “oyster flavor”. Buy one made with fermented oyster extract, such as my favorite from Mae Krua . You’ll notice that these high-quality oyster sauces are very thick (don’t worry, they will smooth out with the heat of the pan), while the thinner sauces are made with artificial flavors. Use oyster sauce for rice dishes, bok choy or pea shoots, and other sweet and savory dishes where you want the sauce to coat the ingredients rather than soak into them.

Tofu used to get a lot of disrespect when it was relegated to the salad bar in a puddle of cold, murky water. Now, it seems more people have become familiar with the vast world of this versatile soybean creation , and the Asian grocery store has an incredible variety ready to be explored. Fried tofu has a completely different texture than what you find in water. It’s light, spongy, and chewy rather than silky or dense. You may find fried tofu puffs, fried curd or soy puffs on the label. I always need at least one package of each shape of fried tofu, usually squares, triangles, and puffs. Tofu puffs are my favorite. They’re fluffy and moist on the inside, with a toasty and chewy outer shell. I love them in Kai Pulo because they soak up the rich, savory five-spice broth. They also do a damn pizza roll or a vegetarian buffalo wing .

Despite what my older brother told me when we were kids, fish balls are not gonads. They are usually made from ground fish, seasonings and a binder such as tapioca starch or eggs. Like sausage, these ingredients are minced or minced into a smooth mixture, and instead of being formed into links, they are formed into balls and fried, steamed, or boiled. Fish balls, which are usually found in the freezer section, I have never seen in other grocery stores, so I usually buy a couple of bags. There are so many different types of fish balls that it can be difficult to choose, so we usually buy a variety of packs so we can try a little bit of everything. You can add them to a variety of savory dishes just like mini meatballs are almost always better . Add fish balls to stir-fries, serve them as a side dish during large family meals, or (my favorite way) add them to noodle soups as a main protein.

Everyone has a seasoning that is used so often that it’s best to buy it in bulk. Roasted garlic is one of those ingredients in my spice cabinet. If it’s not a dessert, a sprinkling of roasted garlic on top would probably be a great accompaniment. It’s just garlic and oil, so it’s very easy and you can make it at home, but I would have to cook it every day in the amount that I use regularly. Sometimes it’s nice to just open a jar, scoop out as much as you want, and throw it back in the pantry. I use roasted garlic in eggs, soups, noodle dishes, bagels and cream cheese, cheese balls and anything that can have a garlicky crunch.

If you needed another salty snack to get you hooked, shrimp chips should be in your cart. There are the ones you roast at home and the pre-made ones packaged in a pink bag, but packaged ones are a quick and easy solution to salt cravings. As I walk down the snack aisle, my eyes are drawn to a hot pink bag with wavy sticks flying across the front. When you first open the package you will be greeted by a noticeable fishy aroma, not too strong but noticeable. The chips are crunchy and perfect for mindless snacking. If you think you don’t like fishy chips, I recommend trying at least two of them in a row. The first may confuse you, but the second will allow you to correctly assess the situation. After that you’ll pay ten or nothing… but I think they’ll call you on their next visit.

I’ve listed three things for this section, but what I really mean is “all products.” However, this is quite a list, so we’ll start with three.

Thai chili peppers, also called bird’s eye peppers, are a small, fiery source of energy that sets your entire torso on fire. They come in mature red or less mature green varieties. The green is said to be a little less spicy, but at a certain point, if you sweat, you sweat. They have become more available in other markets, but I find the price to be unbeatable in Asian grocery stores. You can buy a huge package of 60-70 chili peppers for about two dollars.

Bai Makrut, or Makrut lime leaf, is hard to find… but if you do, it will end up in the produce section, still attached to small tree branches. Chiffon this aromatic leaf in a curry or as a garnish to add a subtle lime flavor to the dish. You can also toss in the entire leaf (I usually remove the center rib) and fish it out later if you don’t want to eat it, similar to what you would do with a bay leaf.

Long beans, also called yard long beans, are always found in the produce section and I have never seen them look bad. They taste similar to their short cousin, green beans, but are best eaten raw or quickly cooked. Don’t blanch long beans the same way as green beans; keep them crisp by adding them at the end of stir-fries and other multi-ingredient dishes. Use them stir-fried with beans or sliced ​​into kai yad sai .

One of the best-kept secrets of an Asian grocery store is the cookware department. If you’ve ever thought to yourself, “Where can I get a good wok,” you should ditch online ordering and head to the cookware section of an Asian food market. We’re all used to ordering things online, but it’s easy to get scammed into buying something of suspicious quality at an equally suspiciously low price. Take a look at the kitchenware section in person and you will be able to judge the quality for yourself, discover woven bamboo steam baskets in different sizes, beautifully decorated ceramic teapots, cookware, bakeware and utensils at suitable and affordable prices. You’ll be able to go home with the carbon steel wok you were thinking about that day, without paying shipping or hitting your cart minimum.

Packaged curry paste has already made its way into the international aisles of American grocery stores, but I prefer to buy it at Asian grocery stores because they are often about two dollars cheaper per piece. If you’re in a pinch and just need to grab a jar of Panang curry, you can spend the extra money at a major grocery chain, but if you know you want to bring home six to twelve jars, the price difference matters. . However, the variety alone is enough: for every type of curry paste that Shoprite has, the Asian grocery store has eight. Why not grab a jar of green curry that you just noticed for the first time? After all, it’s just a dollar and change.

I buy coconut milk at an Asian grocery store for the same reasons I buy curry there: price and variety of brands. If you ask my mom, coconut milk is way overpriced no matter where you go these days… but you can certainly save a dollar and a half per can, which is a noticeable amount of money if you’re buying more than a couple cans. (And if you’re using coconut milk to its full potential, it probably is.) Coconut milk is great in Thai curries, desserts (like the popular mango and coconut sticky rice), and it’s also great in baked goods. for its properties. rich and delicate coconut taste. It’s also great in coconut milk smoothies . My favorite brand is Chao Koh because of its fantastic coconut flavor and creamy texture, but there are other brands to compare if you can’t find it.

One of my favorite things to have in the freezer is kanom tuai . Usually a quick and delicious coconut pandan flavored pudding that comes in a six-serving pack, almost everyone will love it. They keep in the freezer almost indefinitely, but once you open the package, you’ll probably eat them all within a couple of days. The package instructions usually suggest a quick steam or even quicker microwave for the perfect sweet, slightly salty coconut dessert. They also come in reusable ceramic containers! The tuai dish is a very specific light gray bowl with a blue line around the top that can be washed and reused to make your own version at home or use for anything else. Mine are often used for cheese and meat platters, and I also use them for small portions of condiments, nuts, olives, fruit, toothpicks, or as a pit bowl .

The baked goods and prepared foods section is usually my first stop at my favorite Asian grocery store. It’s tragic to name just one thing, so before I ever start making a whole new list dedicated to this section, I want to share my favorite food: the pork and cabbage bun.

Steamed pork buns are a real comfort food, and if your store has a hot food section, they will be there, sometimes steamed and pan-fried. The dough is thick and soft, with a light shiny skin on the surface. Once you bite into it, you’ll be exposed to the center, a juicy pork meatball that usually includes green onions or cabbage. They also come in packs of six, so you can bring them home and prepare them however you like. You can roast them at home to reheat, but we usually pop them in the microwave with a damp paper towel to revive them. Be sure to peel off the little square of paper at the bottom before you eat it.

Despite the abundance of salty snacks in the Asian market, the sweets section will always be stiff competition. There are a variety of things to try here, from chewy, sweet and sour tamarind candies to small rectangles of hard sesame candies. I encourage you to try as many as you can, but some of my favorites include the White Rabbit Milk Gummies pictured above. They are the same consistency as toffee, and once you peel off the blue and red outer wrapper, the inside of the candy is left with an edible layer of rice paper. I almost always carry a bag or two of Kasugai fruit gummies with me. I love the scents of kiwi, peach and nutmeg. You’ve probably already seen Pocky, and if you like sweet snacks like these, you should also try Koala’s March and Meiji YanYan. As a child, I loved Yang-Yan so much that my older brother claims that I once cried myself to sleep because I wanted him so much.

Thai Jasmine rice, which we also call khao khom mali, has a special taste and mesmerizing aroma for me. Most Asian grocery stores sell huge quantities of rice in large bags that weigh around 20 pounds. While I don’t currently have storage space in my Brooklyn apartment, buying large bags of rice is an easy way to save money if you eat it often. One bag can keep you going for months.