Hi Bri! Pro home cook from Iran here ready to tell you all about the perfect Tahdig😊 You need to wash your Persian rice 3-4 times with plenty of water, then add lots of fresh water to cover it (no precise measure unlike Chinese style of rice cooking b/c you will drain it and does not make a difference how much you start with, as long as it is not too little), add salt and a tablespoon or so of something acidic like white vinegar (we use bitter orange juice but it is not there for flavour so it does not make a difference what you use as long as it is acidic and does not have a dominant flavour). Cook the rice on medium heat on your stove top until cooked 75% of the way, kinda like al dente, or until the outside is soft but the inside of the rice grain is still a little bit chewy. Drain it in a colander or a fine mesh sieve. Separate couple of tablespoon of the rice (enough to coat the bottom of your pan) and toss it with some saffron water (10 threads of saffron bloomed in a couple of tablespoons of hot water left for at least ten minutes). Once the rice is a beautiful golden color spread it in a thin layer on the bottom of your pot and add 2-3 tablespoons of oil or even better melted butter over it. Pile the rest of the rice on top of it and put on a lowest flame to continue cooking for 30-40 minutes. Turn it off, let it steam for 10 minutes so that the Tahgdig is released more easily and then serve it steaming hot with your favorite stew and enjoy the crispy Tahdig soaking up the delicious stew.😋😋😋 Hope this helps.😉 Let me know if you tried it and were successful.🥰
Good technique. Iv'e added a handfull of peas or sliced potatoes to the bottom of the pot. Then use a wooden spoon handle to poke steam vents to the bottom of the pot and continue cooking. One of our favorite rice dishes.
We need your videos in our lives, too! Can you recommend an Iranian youtube cook, please? (English speaking.. I'm a lazy Irish person with terrible French/Irish/German language skills) 😂 Iranian food is incredible. I'd love to try cooking a couple of classics!
@@atix50There is an authentic home cook channel called @yummy gastronomy. He mostly talks in Farsi but he does have some videos in English! He is planning to make more Iranian cuisine in English. Happy cooking!
Banana Blossoms: Use the petals in a salad. For the leaves, julienne them and use as an accoutrement for soups (ie. Vietnamese soups like Bun Rieu and Bun Bo Hue). You should soak the banana blossoms in either lime water or vinegar water after you separate them to mild the bitterness and keep them from turning brown. In case you didn't know, banana blossoms are a baby version of a bunch of bananas that would grow on the tree, the petals would later turn into bananas.
They are also awesome if you dice them up and pickle them. I recently pickled some in typical pepperoni spices and used them on pizza and they were amazing.
One of the biggest unmentioned advantages of shopping at stores like this is BULK SPICES. If you cook a lot, you're probably ripping through stuff like black pepper, cumin, fennel, bay leaves, etc. At international stores (especially Indian/SE Asian stores) chances are that you can find these spices whole and preground for a fraction of the price compared to standard U.S. brands.
When studying Japanese curry, it's important to remember how it was developed The brits created "curry" based on Indian cuisine, then Japan created their imitation of that. It's very toned down, and tends to be sweet because of the tastes of the people it passed through. It's closer to beef stew than Indian food in my opinion
as a Thai person I can tell we use banana blossom (หัวปลี) for "ยำหัวปลี" (type of spicy salad) แกงเลียงหัวปลี (type of soup dish). while sweet dried radish I love to stir-fried it with egg it's so good with porridge (if you interest please search ไชโป้วผัดไข่ for recipe). and some tips for peeling durian use fabric glove (if you have one for oven use it) then cut the bottom of the fruit it'll tell you where to go after. last but not least I'm not sure it'll work or not but maybe you can use tamarind chutney as Pad thai sauce if you don't want to waste your time to make it (please find the one that doesn't contain spice like Cardamon, Cinnamon, Cloves)
If no one else has mentioned it yet, the glutinous rice paste is a component in making kimchi. It’s added to the gochugaru paste to help it stick to the cabbage.
One random find I fell in love with at the international food store is lychee vinegar. It's amazingly flavorful and fruity, good enough to literally sip straight. Makes INCREDIBLE pickled fennel with orange zest.
Super impressed with BriBri's international ingredients knowledge! Lorn was also right that his description of Japanese curry is dead on. Great camera work from Lorn! Love the vibe of this video and the Korea travel one outside of the cooking videos!
Best tahdig is actually made with special Persian (Iranian) rice cookers that you can find at pretty much any Persian / international market. They’re like $50 and they work exactly like Asian rice cookers except they just keep going when the rice is done, and make the most amazing tahdig. I prefer it to the the traditional kind made in pots.
My (korean made) rice cooker has a "clay pot" mode that does the long cook to allow a crust to form on the bottom. I have just started playing around with that mode, and while I know it's not the same as the Persian dish, the crusty bottom it makes is *really* good :D
I grew up with Japanese curry and still love it! Served over hot rice (Japanese rice/sticky), it's the perfect comfort dish for cold winter evening. A tip from my mom: Use plenty of sautéed diced white or yellow onion, very important! she says. Most common vegetable to add are chunks of carrot and, oddly because you'll already have rice, russet potato chunks. Mom usually uses chunks of pork shoulder, but I usually use chicken.
I love these kinds of episodes. Please let us follow you along always, if you want to buy some different kinds of food. Or plainly, just everyday shopping. You rock!
It really is. Bri didn't really point it out, but you can see in some of the video that they have flags hanging above the aisle representing what country that section of the aisle comes from. At 3:37 you can see a good shot of them behind him. I love Jay's!
I live in LA and I'm jealous of this place because I'd have to drive to 8 different areas of the city to find everything you can get in one place here! Though I should feel lucky that I can get every type of grocery from all over the world. 🙂
2 kilos of kimchi in 10 days, wow. I'm Korean and I eat nowhere near that amount. Have you tried other kimchis Brian? It's summer now so I'm thinking of picking up yeolmu (summer radish) leaves to make yeolmu kimchi, and I have cucumber kimchi I made a few days ago in my fridge
Also try freezing tofu. It changes the texture in a really nice way the ice crystals will create little pockets inside the tofu so it absorbs other flavors even better.
This comment reminds me of a vegan channel I watched a few years ago that turned frozen tofu into 'vegan chicken nuggets'. They looked great! ...and I'm a meat eater 🙂
This is interesting. I like videos like this because they urge me to step outside of my "kitchen comfort zone". I want to learn to make different things and videos like this remind me of just how big the culinary world is. Please bring more content like this.
I have an Asian grocery store within a 5 min walk. We're always stocked with frozen spring onion pancakes - good with eggs and chili crisp. That's also where I get stuff to make green curries - kaffir lime leaf, coconut milk (always Aroy-D), thai eggplants (& basil), tofu, and other good veggies. They also have musubi - the Hawaiian Spam snack thing. The frozen mango sticky rice dessert is also worth it.
Hey Bri!!! So glad to see you going to Jay’s international market. It’s my favorite bar none. I live in Chicago now, but when I’m from St. Louis. Back in the 90s I used to go to Jay’s at least once a month because it was the only place to buy Sriracha and I always one of the isles to pick up something new to try . You officially made me home sick with this vid dude
Used to live down the block from Jays on Grand. Everything was so reasonably priced and the people were always helpful. The exotic ingredients were an extra plus!
Exotic? Why do we characterize things from different cultures as exotic? For people from that culture they are everyday ingredients. Just as stuff you use would be seen as exotic to them.
@@elanmcmillin3294 The literal definition! Imagine literally using the word literal that way unironically. Also imagine being so provincial that you have to ooh and ah at foods from other countries and label them exotic. I didn't think this was the 1950s but I guess it might be in some parts of the country. Dropping the snark for a moment, the term exotic has been used to fetishize other cultures. This should not be news to anyone. I'm sure there are better ways to refer to foods from cultures with which we might lack familiarity.
One trick with tadigh is to use a pyrex tray and do it in the oven. That way you will have a clear view of how much crispiness you've achieved. By the way, this method is used specifically for tahchin, which is another rice dish (you should try to make it) which also as a tadigh (crispy rice) part. My persian wife says that real tadigh is not with rice, but with potatoes or bread. In that case, the bottom layer of your pan is covered with thin lavosh bread or 1 cm slices of potatoes, which you will have to partly fry in the pan with oil before adding rice on top to continue steam cooking.
Banana Blossoms are used a lot in making vegan "Fish" and chips. I haven't seen it done with fresh banana blossoms before, but it's very common in SE Asia.
We have a couple of excellent international stores near us and I think it’s really helped me branch out and cook more different kinds of food. I’ve discovered a love for Korean, Thai, Middle Eastern, and Vietnamese cooking over the past few years. Having access to fresh herbs (at way better prices in greater quantity than the regular grocery store) is huge. We also get a lot of different types of mushrooms which is helpful because we don’t eat a ton of meat usually. Spices, sauces, different kinds of peppers, cheeses, grains that aren’t standard in American cooking. And you’ll have to pry the toasted rice powder out of my cold, dead hands!
I’m a big fan of middle eastern food and Japanese food. There’s a middle eastern grocery where I go for specialty spices, especially sumac, Aleppo Pepper, and black seed. They also make their own pita, which is always a winner. And I often eat that with labne, which is kind of like extra thick and flavorful Greek yogurt. For Japanese food, I always keep umeboshi, nori, and sushi rice on hand to make onigiri. And if I find a good deal I get tuna or yellowtail and make nigiri.
Hey Brian. Loved this video. The condiment at 11:36 is pronounced "eye var". And you're right, it's amazing. We usually serve it with lamb or traditional slavic sausages made with lamb, pork, beef, and a ton of garlic.
I love Jay, I would go here all the time when I was in high school to feed my ramune addiction. I'll definitely have to stop in next time I'm visiting home now that I cook for myself :) Thanks for the nostalgia trip, B-Man
Loved this format! Very informative and makes it less intimidating to go to a store where you may not have heard of lots of items. It is especially nice to highlight brands/kinds of items where it can be hard to know which one you should get or if there is a difference.
Tadiqh tips - soak the rice in salt water for six hours. Then rinse it till the waters clear (about 5 rinse and swish rounds) - throw into boiling water and cook like pasta just until they look their full size (huge grains!) - drain, add plenty of butter, then poke a few holes into the top of the rice to help water escape - Wrap your lid in a towel and put it on, heat on low. Then it's just a patience game. Turn it up to medium the last 5 minutes once the starch crust has set to get some good caramelization - don't skimp on the butter. It takes more than it feels like it should
How to make Tahdig from my Persian sister: Coat the bottom of the pot with a generous amount of oil, Cook it on high for about five minutes, then medium high for about 25 or so, then medium low for around 15 more minutes.
Tahdig trick: par boil your rice, strain and rinse with cold water to stop cooking. Rinse out the pot and add a good amount of oil or butter on medium heat. I like potato tahdig but just rice is good too, I add coriander seeds here to the oil as well. Slowly scoop your rice back in making a mound and once it’s all in poke holes in the rice to let steam through. Cover with a towel and lid. I usually leave it on medium for 15-20 minutes then turn it on low for another 10-15 so it doesn’t burn. You have to get the timing right but it’s the best thing ever !!
What an incredible video Brian. Just moved with my wife to the St. Louis area. Really excited to watch this video and learn about Jay international. We planned a trip for next week now!
Jays!!! I used to hit this up all the time before or after a meal at Wei Hong across the street during my time in college. My fam primarily still goes to other Asian markets in burbs - Olive Supermarket, Pan-Asia, Global Foods Market, etc.
You were right next to one of my all time favourite things by the chilli crisp, dried tofu skin. I love it in hot pot style soups or just as much soaked, patted dry and wok fried with dried chilli and soy sauce
Also makes a great salad with par-boiled sliced celery, wood ear fungus and a sesame, rice vinegar and Sichuan pepper dressing. Leave everything to soak over-night in the dressing.
For Taiwanese cuisine, the extra firm tofu in 1:47 is something you cook in soy sauce then cut them up into thin strips. It a side dish when drinking beer or other alcohol. For soups, people use soft / silken tofu.
That’s so cool to have a store that has it all in one place. Here in Pittsburgh PA, we have a neighborhood called the Strip District that is a half mile long and a few blocks wide that has all of our international grocers, street food, and restaurants, all family owned. I’ve never seen or heard about anything like this anywhere else. It’s our best asset. Everyone should visit.
S and B Curry blocks are the only blocks I use for Curry Katsu style dishes. Also, I'm glad you're bringing exposure to local international grocers instead of "go to Amazon".
@@qweqwe1324both those brands have been available in NZ for more years than I can remember. Even our normal supermarkets have been selling many Asian ingredients for an age.
@@maxineb9598 It's the same in NYC where I'm from. They're very overpriced ingredients in regular supermarkets, but if you go to like an H-Mart or similar, they're 2/3 or 1/2 the price because of import bulk deals that company has.
My standard complaint about "International" grocery stores in the U.S. is that they are 95% Asian and South American. It's good that you can find food from those regions, but I only know of 2 or 3 stores in the U.S. where I can get properly butchered lamb for fårikål, properly butchered pork for ribbe, Tine Gudbrandsdahlost, Tine Nøkkelost, and Freia chocolates (all Norwegian products).
A vietnamese restaurant where I live has banana blossom salad and its really good! It's sliced into thin strips and fried - similar to fried onions. The dressing is mostly lemon juice, its really good and refreshing.
Love Jay International Food on S. Grand in The Lou. It’s a SICK place to shop. I wished I knew you were in my hometown. I would have enjoyed getting an autograph from you on an apron. Keep streaming, you’re very entertaining and helpful bringing us home cooks cooking knowledge. Gotta head to Jay Foods to try some of the goodies you suggested. Cheers, Buon appetito and safe travels!
Yes. The video really shows the difference of food availability between the coasts and the midwest. When you live in the mid-west, you don't have access to as many different foods as we do on the east and west coasts. The mid-west is very standard American diet, plain meat and potatoes oriented.
Man, this is terrific. Not knocking Whole Foods and the like (I shop at WF for most of my groceries) but not enough people are aware of the value to one's cooking of shopping at international markets like this. And I don't think nearly enough TH-camrs like yourself highlight them. Thanks for doing this one. This was rad and I'd love to see more like this to give us some context of what we, as foodies & cooking enthusiasts etc, can do to add more to our cooking in simple ways. Sometimes it is that special cooking wine that we should have used or a certain kind of spice or noodle for which there's no good substitute to properly round things out.
YASSSS to the chicken feet for stock! I have had the dim sum preparation and while I liked the flavor, those toe bones are hard to deal with. But for stock they are absolutely the bomb - as you say, they provide a wonderful silky and substantial mouthfeel which is a must for me. Love it! Some of the items I look for which weren't mentioned yet are fresh herbs and "unusual" vegetables. Plantains, casava, japanese sweet potatoes (purple on the outside/white inside, very starchy but less sweet that normal variety), little golf ball sized lavender colored eggplants for thai curry, shiso, vietnamese coriander, (yard) long beans, and stuff like that. Oh! and the tiny tapioca pearls that are perfect for south east Asian coconut tapioca pudding desserts, served with some kind of fruit. Mango or banana are most traditional I think, but I *really* love it topped with honeydew melon.
Other tip for banana blossom: fritters! Drain it, dab it dry and then treat it like battered fish for fish&chips. Great vegan alternative, but also just a delicious ingredient.
Basmati is the main rice for Armenians/Iranians too! My fav is Tahdik with lavash. You boil the rice about 50% thru seasoned with butter and salt, then strain and transfer the rice into a different pot with melted butter and lined with a lavash (a tortilla or sliced potatoes works great too!). You then continue to cook on low until the steam finishes the cooking, lid on. Good luck!
Loved your video! The best international stores in my town are LiMing and Super G (my fav). When I'm at Super G I always stock up on tofu, fresh bean sprouts, mushrooms, greens, an assortment of Asian condiments, fresh ginger, dried and/or smoked peppers, tea, and spices!! I also find myself often tossing random ingredients into my cart and then googling how to use them after I'm back home. It's educational and fun!
The fresh tamarind pods are usually for eating out of hand and are sweeter than the tamarind you'd use for cooking. Hot Thai Kitchen did a super thorough explainer of the differences and suggests using the pulp you get in blocks for dishes like pad Thai.
I usually go for the produce and spices you can’t get anywhere else. I love this video because I felt like I was learning about things I wanted to try but I didn’t know how to apply them. And I am with you all the way on shrimp chips … never leave the store without them. Lol❤️
STL! One common use for a Banana Blossom is in Vietnamese "Bun Rieu" and "Bun Bo Hue". It is a topping/finishing herb. It is sliced thin and served on the side or topped directly on the beef noodle dishes
To open the durian, my grandma would go at it with a huge cleaver (think, butcher's cleaver). You need a blade wide (high?) enough so you don't come in contact with the spiky exterior. Starting from the stem and working her way down, she aimed where the bulges were, cause that's where the fruit would be. I watched her cut so much durian in my lifetime, hah. I saw one recipe for banana blossoms a while ago. They made a shrimp paste, like if you were going to make shrimp balls, and they wrapped it in those petals. It wasn't a deep dry, more like a quarter-inch-of-oil-in-a-pan type of fry. Looked tasty.
I just ran across your video. Excellent content! I love different types of groceries. I live in Akron Ohio so I am 30 min from downtown Cleveland. I too shop at ethnic stores when I create those type of dishes. I learned how to make tahdig a few years ago and my family went crazy. It’s a little tricky but I was successful. I learned the pan you use is crucial to creating the crispy crust. We love this dish. Being of Lebanese decent I had to learn this newly discovered dish. O my so delicious. I am watching you at this moment. Thank you. Lynn S.
I'm near Antwerp (Belgium), which is a very diverse city. We don't really have multi-international stores, but lots of speciality shops. The chinese streets have several pretty large shops, there's a Thai supermarket with three locations, a brilliant India store run by the most lovely people, where I always get my rice and spices, there's several Spanish shops, all regional so none are the same. Several italian ones too, and many many many north african and Turkish shops. All made possible by immigration, all very authentic because that's what these fine folks were used to and want to keep available.
Bri & Loren, I live in Oaxaca Mexico and there aren't a lot of asians here. We have ONE Japanese Restaurant (maybe 2) and ONE Chinese. We get a few things from them but there is no mega asian grocery store. The last time I saw one of those was when I visited my home state NJ in the 90s. This was fun for me, I enjoyed it very much. I saw below a fellow commentator said what to do with banana flowers. Take care guys. All the Best Jim
Love it! I live in the PNW and often head to the international stores. My main purchases are confinements that I just can’t find anywhere or random cuts of meat. Chicken backs and feet for stock are always big wins that most places don’t carry.
My wife and I usually hit up Pan Asia on Manchester out in West County, mostly because it's much closer to our house. It's amazing some of the things we find to inspire us in our home cooking!
Hi Brian, thanks for all the great videos! I also make foods from around the world, and I wanted to note that you should absolutely make your own kimchi! Look for “mak kimchi” recipes (my Korean friend says that translates to “easy kimchi”, and that is so true). By making your own you can (obviously) control the flavor and have fun experimenting with it. I like to add a handful of whole garlic cloves when I make kimchi because I’m a garlic fiend, and if I want even spicier kimchi, I’ll add in several julienned jalapeños. Definitely get some E-Jen fermenting containers too. They are available at pretty much any Asian mart I have ever been to, but they are also readily available on Amazon. They’re also useful for many other types of fermentation like kraut, pickles, etc. I hope to see your take on it in a future video!
Hey Bri...(and Lorn) my wife Kiki and I were JUST eating at the Vine right across the street... traveling through from Arkansas to Kentucky... spent a few days in St Louis and had a great time. The grocery store was closed by the time we finished up and we were bummed. So cool to see this vid today. Thanks for all the great content, we appreciate y'all.
The golden curry is a staple weekend comfort meal in my household, when I'm making my sauce I usually brown chopped chuck roast on the bottom, pull it out cook some white onions and tomato paste as if I was doing a red sauce, then deglaze with red wine before adding in the rest of the ingredients and broth for the long simmer. It's a somewhat typical way to make a sauce base but I find it goes really well with this stock curry.
Started following you because I saw you cooking with ground beef from Schnucks. Stayed for the great, informative, entertaining videos. Love seeing videos like this supporting local small businesses like Jay International!
Fermented Glutinous Rice is a dessert that you can have hot or cold in Chinese cuisine! You can make it at home by adding a particular mold(?) culture to freshly cooked glutinous rice, and letting it sit covered in plastic wrap for a few days. The fermentation turns the carbs into sugars before then converting into alcohols, so stopping mid-way allows you to get this sweet byproduct similar to Amazake, before you end up with pure alcoholic rice wine.
banana blossom is used for toppings for various vietnamese noodle soups. Bun bo hue which is a spicy lemon grass noodle soup and banana blossom salad. I’ve seen vegan recipes of fried fish but from canned banana blossoms.
Brian, you need to try some of the aged, 5 spice tofu.... not sure what it's actually called. It's firm and holds up to stir fry well, and unlike regular tofu, it has a flavor all its own. You'll always find gochujang (sp?), black vinegar, toasted sesame oil, shaoxing wine, light and dark soy sauce, different flavored furikake, and miso (white) in my cupboard and fridge. I also like the pickled mustard greens, yum!😋 I dated a Chinese man who taught me how to season things. He used to stir-fry the pickled mustard greens with the 5 spice tofu, garlic, soy sauce, and black vinegar. Then he'd serve that over mung beans that he'd cooked. He also used to fix kale pretty much the same way, minus the tofu. Then he'd finish it with a drizzle of roasted sesame oil. It was very tasty. I actually had never had kale before that and became a huge fan of it.
I loved this! I saw a couple things I tend to buy and probably use incorrectly, but that chili stuff with the red lid and the lady on it is so good. Chicken wings with that is amazing.
Love seing the different foods from other countries i am in Québec and i like international cuisine. It helps me when i Shop i recognize what it is thank you
I am Filipino and that vinegar from coconut is usually we use as dipping sauce add crushed chillies and dip lumpia or spring rolls and other finger foods
I would die so happy in a store like that. I have access to these ingredients, but different stores. And if no one's said it, it's pronounced EYE-var. And it is, truly, amazing.
Mung bean noodles are used in the Sichuan dish with the wonderful name “Ants Climbing a Tree”. The Korean noodle brands I get are Chapaghetti and Neoguri, to make that thing from the movie. Also I get the fat rice sticks for tteokbokki.
Tahdig Tips: 1) Use an aluminum heat diffuser on a gas stove. They are available cheap online. 2) Use a "Damkesh" or place a cloth between the lid and the pot you're cooking in while steaming the rice 3) Use a touch more oil than seems reasonable 4) Place the pot on a damp kitchen towel after you've completed cooking it help the tahdig release. 5) A non-stick pot helps... and its not cheating Nush-e Jan!
That fermented rice made with sweet rice. Very unique smell and taste, my mom used to just scoop 2,3 spoon and add water then dried date to boil about few mins , serve hot or cold
We Filipinos cook banana blossom with coconut milk. We call it “ginataan puso ng saging” because coconut milk in Filipino is “gata” and banana blossom is “puso ng saging” or heart (puso) of a banana(saging) plant.
Awesome Video. You mentioned so many things that I enjoy buying at my local international market.. Growing up in a small midwestern farming village, it was simple meat and potatoes. Getting out and trying new things have open a whole new world of tastes for me. My all time Favorite is Black Vinegar. Shrimp Chips are awesome! I've even gotten my elderly midwestern Mother to start liking and using all these new flavors !!! If you have never been to an international grocery store, don't miss an opportunity to expand your horizons ! Thank You Brian for sharing some of your favorite items !!!
I feel fortunate to work next to Chinatown in Oakland and can spend hours in the Asian markets! The variety of food labels I can’t read make shopping more fun bu5 as you experienced, Bri you can always come home with a diversified bag of groceries to try. The fresh veggies are also the best!
tried durian for the first time last year and loved it! definitely super creamy and to me it tasted like an overripe mango. my fiance and her cousin both do not like, so it's a very divisive fruit
Shop there all the time. They really cleaned that store up a couple years ago, it use to be a mess. They also have a lot of frozen fish that you never see anyplace. Pan Asia is another store, bigger off Manchester Rd in Manchester, across from the Walmart by 141.
Many years ago our Japanese foreign exchange student brought her own curry brand with her and taught us how she makes curry. She used “House Vermont apple” brand. When I can find that brand I always get it, I think it taste the best. Another tip she shared was adding a small amount of chocolate towards the end of the cook.
Thanks for the info. I live in St. Louis and often wonder where you get some of your ingredients. Always see the Schnucks stuff, but wonder where a lot of the other things come from.
Love your videos. Have made a lot of them and everyone loves them. For one version of tahdig, you can take basmati rice, wash it a few times to remove the starch, then add into a nonstick pot, add some salt to taste typically 1-2 tsp per 3 cups of rice, add a few table spoons of whole yogurt, this make a rice dish known as kateh, mix well with a whisk to combine, heat on medium until the water has nearly reduced, squeeze in some neutral oil such as canola, and mix to combine, then place the pot into two heat spreaders/diffusers, place a paper towel or tea towel onto the pot and place the lid on top. Tuck in the towel so it doesn’t burn and then place on medium-high for 25-30 mins. Check the rice and if you see it crusting around the edges, you pretty much done, you can also let it cook a little bit longer without the lid and then invert onto a plate. You may need to detach the rice from the sides of the pot with an offset spatula or a knife. It should be golden brown. It’s great with fried eggs and sumac.
I'm from Laos & we use banana blossom in a dish called Khoa Poon, it's a red curry noodle dish. The blossoms are shredded very fine along with other veg & herbs as a topping over the dish. The taste is very mild (I can't recall the comparison to anything at the moment) but it is used primarily as a crunchy element.
Jay International is DOPE! I make the trip over there a couple times a year to get all the things I can't get from any grocery store on the IL side of the river. Love the walkthrough vid! Got some new things to try next time :)
Jay's was my first international market. Took many friends there for their first time as well. Such a dense collection of flavors and ingredients. One of the best places in St Louis.
Just found you about 20 minutes ago…love this video to help navigate the asian store although most of these ingredients I already knew…would love to see more of this type of video.
you only use the inner portion of the banana blossom, kind of like an artichoke heart (except artichokes have a lot more good stuff). sometimes they're used as a replacement for fish to veganize a fish recipe because they cook into flaky layers.
Hi Bri!
Pro home cook from Iran here ready to tell you all about the perfect Tahdig😊
You need to wash your Persian rice 3-4 times with plenty of water, then add lots of fresh water to cover it (no precise measure unlike Chinese style of rice cooking b/c you will drain it and does not make a difference how much you start with, as long as it is not too little), add salt and a tablespoon or so of something acidic like white vinegar (we use bitter orange juice but it is not there for flavour so it does not make a difference what you use as long as it is acidic and does not have a dominant flavour). Cook the rice on medium heat on your stove top until cooked 75% of the way, kinda like al dente, or until the outside is soft but the inside of the rice grain is still a little bit chewy. Drain it in a colander or a fine mesh sieve.
Separate couple of tablespoon of the rice (enough to coat the bottom of your pan) and toss it with some saffron water (10 threads of saffron bloomed in a couple of tablespoons of hot water left for at least ten minutes). Once the rice is a beautiful golden color spread it in a thin layer on the bottom of your pot and add 2-3 tablespoons of oil or even better melted butter over it. Pile the rest of the rice on top of it and put on a lowest flame to continue cooking for 30-40 minutes. Turn it off, let it steam for 10 minutes so that the Tahgdig is released more easily and then serve it steaming hot with your favorite stew and enjoy the crispy Tahdig soaking up the delicious stew.😋😋😋
Hope this helps.😉
Let me know if you tried it and were successful.🥰
Good technique. Iv'e added a handfull of peas or sliced potatoes to the bottom of the pot. Then use a wooden spoon handle to poke steam vents to the bottom of the pot and continue cooking. One of our favorite rice dishes.
Okay now I really want to see this made, as well as an Iranian stew to go on top.
We need your videos in our lives, too! Can you recommend an Iranian youtube cook, please? (English speaking.. I'm a lazy Irish person with terrible French/Irish/German language skills) 😂
Iranian food is incredible. I'd love to try cooking a couple of classics!
@@atix50There is an authentic home cook channel called @yummy gastronomy. He mostly talks in Farsi but he does have some videos in English! He is planning to make more Iranian cuisine in English. Happy cooking!
Excellent comment! I love the way you explain, in detail, the what and why of each step.
Banana Blossoms: Use the petals in a salad. For the leaves, julienne them and use as an accoutrement for soups (ie. Vietnamese soups like Bun Rieu and Bun Bo Hue). You should soak the banana blossoms in either lime water or vinegar water after you separate them to mild the bitterness and keep them from turning brown. In case you didn't know, banana blossoms are a baby version of a bunch of bananas that would grow on the tree, the petals would later turn into bananas.
They are also awesome if you dice them up and pickle them. I recently pickled some in typical pepperoni spices and used them on pizza and they were amazing.
I tried salad from them in Vietnam and it was really good. Have no idea how to make it 😢
Sounds very interesting! Thanks for sharing:)
Hang on a second, isn't banana blossom the part that hang off banana bunch? You might confuse it with bamboo shoot, which grows into bamboo.
Also used in india (mainly kerala) where we chop it up really fina and paired with coconut and splattered mustard seeds to make a dish called thoran.
One of the biggest unmentioned advantages of shopping at stores like this is BULK SPICES. If you cook a lot, you're probably ripping through stuff like black pepper, cumin, fennel, bay leaves, etc. At international stores (especially Indian/SE Asian stores) chances are that you can find these spices whole and preground for a fraction of the price compared to standard U.S. brands.
My local Indo/Pak store I get spices in bulk, whole. They last forever in an air tight container. Not that they get the chance around here.
I just love whenever Bri is out and about. I feel like I’m watching the Travel Channel
Does the Travel Channel show infomercials after 2 AM? It's been a long time since I've paid for cable.
OK, lol; totally out of my element at this kind of market.
When studying Japanese curry, it's important to remember how it was developed
The brits created "curry" based on Indian cuisine, then Japan created their imitation of that. It's very toned down, and tends to be sweet because of the tastes of the people it passed through.
It's closer to beef stew than Indian food in my opinion
as a Thai person I can tell we use banana blossom (หัวปลี) for "ยำหัวปลี" (type of spicy salad) แกงเลียงหัวปลี (type of soup dish). while sweet dried radish I love to stir-fried it with egg it's so good with porridge (if you interest please search ไชโป้วผัดไข่ for recipe). and some tips for peeling durian use fabric glove (if you have one for oven use it) then cut the bottom of the fruit it'll tell you where to go after. last but not least I'm not sure it'll work or not but maybe you can use tamarind chutney as Pad thai sauce if you don't want to waste your time to make it (please find the one that doesn't contain spice like Cardamon, Cinnamon, Cloves)
If no one else has mentioned it yet, the glutinous rice paste is a component in making kimchi. It’s added to the gochugaru paste to help it stick to the cabbage.
Also helps with the fermentation process.
One random find I fell in love with at the international food store is lychee vinegar. It's amazingly flavorful and fruity, good enough to literally sip straight. Makes INCREDIBLE pickled fennel with orange zest.
I've never even heard of "pickled fennel with orange zest" and now I want it. If Bri doesn't make this video I hope that you will.
Super impressed with BriBri's international ingredients knowledge! Lorn was also right that his description of Japanese curry is dead on. Great camera work from Lorn!
Love the vibe of this video and the Korea travel one outside of the cooking videos!
Best tahdig is actually made with special Persian (Iranian) rice cookers that you can find at pretty much any Persian / international market. They’re like $50 and they work exactly like Asian rice cookers except they just keep going when the rice is done, and make the most amazing tahdig. I prefer it to the the traditional kind made in pots.
My (korean made) rice cooker has a "clay pot" mode that does the long cook to allow a crust to form on the bottom. I have just started playing around with that mode, and while I know it's not the same as the Persian dish, the crusty bottom it makes is *really* good :D
Hey, Bri - you MUST do a durian segment with a real-time tasting with you and Loren, please chef!
I would recommend trying it outside during winter, at least -5-10 C.
Otherwise it could be a disaster 😂
Yes, Bri, please do this!
I grew up with Japanese curry and still love it! Served over hot rice (Japanese rice/sticky), it's the perfect comfort dish for cold winter evening. A tip from my mom: Use plenty of sautéed diced white or yellow onion, very important! she says. Most common vegetable to add are chunks of carrot and, oddly because you'll already have rice, russet potato chunks. Mom usually uses chunks of pork shoulder, but I usually use chicken.
I love these kinds of episodes. Please let us follow you along always, if you want to buy some different kinds of food. Or plainly, just everyday shopping. You rock!
That's a badass store to combine all those diverse products! So cool.
It really is. Bri didn't really point it out, but you can see in some of the video that they have flags hanging above the aisle representing what country that section of the aisle comes from. At 3:37 you can see a good shot of them behind him. I love Jay's!
I live in LA and I'm jealous of this place because I'd have to drive to 8 different areas of the city to find everything you can get in one place here! Though I should feel lucky that I can get every type of grocery from all over the world. 🙂
2 kilos of kimchi in 10 days, wow. I'm Korean and I eat nowhere near that amount.
Have you tried other kimchis Brian? It's summer now so I'm thinking of picking up yeolmu (summer radish) leaves to make yeolmu kimchi, and I have cucumber kimchi I made a few days ago in my fridge
Also try freezing tofu. It changes the texture in a really nice way the ice crystals will create little pockets inside the tofu so it absorbs other flavors even better.
This comment reminds me of a vegan channel I watched a few years ago that turned frozen tofu into 'vegan chicken nuggets'. They looked great! ...and I'm a meat eater 🙂
This is interesting. I like videos like this because they urge me to step outside of my "kitchen comfort zone". I want to learn to make different things and videos like this remind me of just how big the culinary world is. Please bring more content like this.
This was one of my favorites from your channel so far! A little behind the cooking action. You are so authentic and natural. Love it 🥰
I have an Asian grocery store within a 5 min walk. We're always stocked with frozen spring onion pancakes - good with eggs and chili crisp. That's also where I get stuff to make green curries - kaffir lime leaf, coconut milk (always Aroy-D), thai eggplants (& basil), tofu, and other good veggies. They also have musubi - the Hawaiian Spam snack thing. The frozen mango sticky rice dessert is also worth it.
Hey Bri!!!
So glad to see you going to Jay’s international market. It’s my favorite bar none.
I live in Chicago now, but when I’m from St. Louis.
Back in the 90s I used to go to Jay’s at least once a month because it was the only place to buy Sriracha and I always one of the isles to pick up something new to try .
You officially made me home sick with this vid dude
Used to live down the block from Jays on Grand. Everything was so reasonably priced and the people were always helpful. The exotic ingredients were an extra plus!
It’s really great
Exotic? Why do we characterize things from different cultures as exotic? For people from that culture they are everyday ingredients. Just as stuff you use would be seen as exotic to them.
@@Kyarrix The literal definition of exotic is "originating in or characteristic of a distant foreign country."
@@elanmcmillin3294 The literal definition! Imagine literally using the word literal that way unironically. Also imagine being so provincial that you have to ooh and ah at foods from other countries and label them exotic. I didn't think this was the 1950s but I guess it might be in some parts of the country.
Dropping the snark for a moment, the term exotic has been used to fetishize other cultures. This should not be news to anyone. I'm sure there are better ways to refer to foods from cultures with which we might lack familiarity.
One trick with tadigh is to use a pyrex tray and do it in the oven. That way you will have a clear view of how much crispiness you've achieved. By the way, this method is used specifically for tahchin, which is another rice dish (you should try to make it) which also as a tadigh (crispy rice) part.
My persian wife says that real tadigh is not with rice, but with potatoes or bread. In that case, the bottom layer of your pan is covered with thin lavosh bread or 1 cm slices of potatoes, which you will have to partly fry in the pan with oil before adding rice on top to continue steam cooking.
Banana Blossoms are used a lot in making vegan "Fish" and chips. I haven't seen it done with fresh banana blossoms before, but it's very common in SE Asia.
We have a couple of excellent international stores near us and I think it’s really helped me branch out and cook more different kinds of food. I’ve discovered a love for Korean, Thai, Middle Eastern, and Vietnamese cooking over the past few years. Having access to fresh herbs (at way better prices in greater quantity than the regular grocery store) is huge. We also get a lot of different types of mushrooms which is helpful because we don’t eat a ton of meat usually. Spices, sauces, different kinds of peppers, cheeses, grains that aren’t standard in American cooking. And you’ll have to pry the toasted rice powder out of my cold, dead hands!
I’m a big fan of middle eastern food and Japanese food. There’s a middle eastern grocery where I go for specialty spices, especially sumac, Aleppo Pepper, and black seed. They also make their own pita, which is always a winner. And I often eat that with labne, which is kind of like extra thick and flavorful Greek yogurt.
For Japanese food, I always keep umeboshi, nori, and sushi rice on hand to make onigiri. And if I find a good deal I get tuna or yellowtail and make nigiri.
Hey Brian. Loved this video. The condiment at 11:36 is pronounced "eye var". And you're right, it's amazing. We usually serve it with lamb or traditional slavic sausages made with lamb, pork, beef, and a ton of garlic.
You got to the pronunciation before I could 😅 I'm still waiting for someone to say it right in a video. EYE-VAR (Ajvar)
@@daniellebene My Slav sense went off and I knew I was needed:). I just didn’t want to come across as pedantic.
@@sonofduke but it's not pedantic if many people don't know how to pronounce it! To the contrary, it's downright educational
@@lisar3944 Thank you for the kind words. Greatly appreciated.
I love Jay, I would go here all the time when I was in high school to feed my ramune addiction. I'll definitely have to stop in next time I'm visiting home now that I cook for myself :) Thanks for the nostalgia trip, B-Man
Loved this format! Very informative and makes it less intimidating to go to a store where you may not have heard of lots of items. It is especially nice to highlight brands/kinds of items where it can be hard to know which one you should get or if there is a difference.
Tadiqh tips - soak the rice in salt water for six hours. Then rinse it till the waters clear (about 5 rinse and swish rounds)
- throw into boiling water and cook like pasta just until they look their full size (huge grains!)
- drain, add plenty of butter, then poke a few holes into the top of the rice to help water escape
- Wrap your lid in a towel and put it on, heat on low. Then it's just a patience game. Turn it up to medium the last 5 minutes once the starch crust has set to get some good caramelization
- don't skimp on the butter. It takes more than it feels like it should
How to make Tahdig from my Persian sister: Coat the bottom of the pot with a generous amount of oil, Cook it on high for about five minutes, then medium high for about 25 or so, then medium low for around 15 more minutes.
Tahdig trick: par boil your rice, strain and rinse with cold water to stop cooking. Rinse out the pot and add a good amount of oil or butter on medium heat. I like potato tahdig but just rice is good too, I add coriander seeds here to the oil as well. Slowly scoop your rice back in making a mound and once it’s all in poke holes in the rice to let steam through. Cover with a towel and lid. I usually leave it on medium for 15-20 minutes then turn it on low for another 10-15 so it doesn’t burn. You have to get the timing right but it’s the best thing ever !!
Jay is great. Pan-Asia is also great.
My favorite I’ve ever lived near though is Saraga in Indianapolis. If you’re in the Indy area, it’s amazing.
What an incredible video Brian. Just moved with my wife to the St. Louis area. Really excited to watch this video and learn about Jay international. We planned a trip for next week now!
Jays!!! I used to hit this up all the time before or after a meal at Wei Hong across the street during my time in college. My fam primarily still goes to other Asian markets in burbs - Olive Supermarket, Pan-Asia, Global Foods Market, etc.
You were right next to one of my all time favourite things by the chilli crisp, dried tofu skin. I love it in hot pot style soups or just as much soaked, patted dry and wok fried with dried chilli and soy sauce
Also makes a great salad with par-boiled sliced celery, wood ear fungus and a sesame, rice vinegar and Sichuan pepper dressing. Leave everything to soak over-night in the dressing.
For Taiwanese cuisine, the extra firm tofu in 1:47 is something you cook in soy sauce then cut them up into thin strips. It a side dish when drinking beer or other alcohol. For soups, people use soft / silken tofu.
Recently moved from StL to Wisconsin and my wife and I are missing Jays so bad. Everyone there is always so helpful and the selection is unmatched
The fertilized duck egg you were talking about at 12:14 is called Balut. And yes those random crunches are an experience you can never forget lol
Not a pleasant experience I would guess.
That’s so cool to have a store that has it all in one place. Here in Pittsburgh PA, we have a neighborhood called the Strip District that is a half mile long and a few blocks wide that has all of our international grocers, street food, and restaurants, all family owned. I’ve never seen or heard about anything like this anywhere else. It’s our best asset. Everyone should visit.
S and B Curry blocks are the only blocks I use for Curry Katsu style dishes. Also, I'm glad you're bringing exposure to local international grocers instead of "go to Amazon".
Exactly, SnB or Vermont.
@@qweqwe1324both those brands have been available in NZ for more years than I can remember. Even our normal supermarkets have been selling many Asian ingredients for an age.
@@maxineb9598 It's the same in NYC where I'm from. They're very overpriced ingredients in regular supermarkets,
but if you go to like an H-Mart or similar, they're 2/3 or 1/2 the price because of import bulk deals that company has.
Durian that's been frozen is orders of magnitude milder than fresh. Still tasty. Also, the roasted red pepper spread is called "EYE-var". Great stuff!
Vietnamese has banana blossom (flower) salad. very refreshing and crunchy
My standard complaint about "International" grocery stores in the U.S. is that they are 95% Asian and South American. It's good that you can find food from those regions, but I only know of 2 or 3 stores in the U.S. where I can get properly butchered lamb for fårikål, properly butchered pork for ribbe, Tine Gudbrandsdahlost, Tine Nøkkelost, and Freia chocolates (all Norwegian products).
I loved this video. And to think it was in St Louis. My daughter just moved to MO. I might have to go check this place out when we visit. Thanks Bri!!
A vietnamese restaurant where I live has banana blossom salad and its really good! It's sliced into thin strips and fried - similar to fried onions. The dressing is mostly lemon juice, its really good and refreshing.
Love Jay International Food on S. Grand in The Lou. It’s a SICK place to shop. I wished I knew you were in my hometown. I would have enjoyed getting an autograph from you on an apron. Keep streaming, you’re very entertaining and helpful bringing us home cooks cooking knowledge. Gotta head to Jay Foods to try some of the goodies you suggested. Cheers, Buon appetito and safe travels!
I’ve used Banana blossom in curry. It’s very mild flavored, It’s usually used to add texture, a bit of cruch or tossed in a salad.
i love how excited he gets over food like its so fun to watch someone talk about something they are so passionate about
Yes. The video really shows the difference of food availability between the coasts and the midwest. When you live in the mid-west, you don't have access to as many different foods as we do on the east and west coasts. The mid-west is very standard American diet, plain meat and potatoes oriented.
Man, this is terrific. Not knocking Whole Foods and the like (I shop at WF for most of my groceries) but not enough people are aware of the value to one's cooking of shopping at international markets like this. And I don't think nearly enough TH-camrs like yourself highlight them. Thanks for doing this one. This was rad and I'd love to see more like this to give us some context of what we, as foodies & cooking enthusiasts etc, can do to add more to our cooking in simple ways. Sometimes it is that special cooking wine that we should have used or a certain kind of spice or noodle for which there's no good substitute to properly round things out.
YASSSS to the chicken feet for stock! I have had the dim sum preparation and while I liked the flavor, those toe bones are hard to deal with. But for stock they are absolutely the bomb - as you say, they provide a wonderful silky and substantial mouthfeel which is a must for me. Love it!
Some of the items I look for which weren't mentioned yet are fresh herbs and "unusual" vegetables. Plantains, casava, japanese sweet potatoes (purple on the outside/white inside, very starchy but less sweet that normal variety), little golf ball sized lavender colored eggplants for thai curry, shiso, vietnamese coriander, (yard) long beans, and stuff like that. Oh! and the tiny tapioca pearls that are perfect for south east Asian coconut tapioca pudding desserts, served with some kind of fruit. Mango or banana are most traditional I think, but I *really* love it topped with honeydew melon.
Other tip for banana blossom: fritters! Drain it, dab it dry and then treat it like battered fish for fish&chips. Great vegan alternative, but also just a delicious ingredient.
Basmati is the main rice for Armenians/Iranians too! My fav is Tahdik with lavash. You boil the rice about 50% thru seasoned with butter and salt, then strain and transfer the rice into a different pot with melted butter and lined with a lavash (a tortilla or sliced potatoes works great too!). You then continue to cook on low until the steam finishes the cooking, lid on. Good luck!
Thanks for the info
Loved your video! The best international stores in my town are LiMing and Super G (my fav). When I'm at Super G I always stock up on tofu, fresh bean sprouts, mushrooms, greens, an assortment of Asian condiments, fresh ginger, dried and/or smoked peppers, tea, and spices!! I also find myself often tossing random ingredients into my cart and then googling how to use them after I'm back home. It's educational and fun!
Next time I’m back in my hometown I’ll check out Jay’s. My grandfather grew up in Tower Grove, so that’s kind of cool.
The fresh tamarind pods are usually for eating out of hand and are sweeter than the tamarind you'd use for cooking. Hot Thai Kitchen did a super thorough explainer of the differences and suggests using the pulp you get in blocks for dishes like pad Thai.
They're also good for tamarindo, which you want to have sweetness.
Jay's!! I did not realize you were local until I saylw Schnuck's and Jay's. So happy to have great representation of St. Louis!
I usually go for the produce and spices you can’t get anywhere else. I love this video because I felt like I was learning about things I wanted to try but I didn’t know how to apply them.
And I am with you all the way on shrimp chips … never leave the store without them. Lol❤️
STL! One common use for a Banana Blossom is in Vietnamese "Bun Rieu" and "Bun Bo Hue". It is a topping/finishing herb. It is sliced thin and served on the side or topped directly on the beef noodle dishes
To open the durian, my grandma would go at it with a huge cleaver (think, butcher's cleaver). You need a blade wide (high?) enough so you don't come in contact with the spiky exterior. Starting from the stem and working her way down, she aimed where the bulges were, cause that's where the fruit would be. I watched her cut so much durian in my lifetime, hah.
I saw one recipe for banana blossoms a while ago. They made a shrimp paste, like if you were going to make shrimp balls, and they wrapped it in those petals. It wasn't a deep dry, more like a quarter-inch-of-oil-in-a-pan type of fry. Looked tasty.
I just ran across your video. Excellent content! I love different types of groceries. I live in Akron Ohio so I am 30 min from downtown Cleveland. I too shop at ethnic stores when I create those type of dishes. I learned how to make tahdig a few years ago and my family went crazy. It’s a little tricky but I was successful. I learned the pan you use is crucial to creating the crispy crust. We love this dish. Being of Lebanese decent I had to learn this newly discovered dish. O my so delicious. I am watching you at this moment. Thank you. Lynn S.
Durian is so awesome, really unique texture and flavor, excited to hear about your experience with it!
I'm near Antwerp (Belgium), which is a very diverse city. We don't really have multi-international stores, but lots of speciality shops. The chinese streets have several pretty large shops, there's a Thai supermarket with three locations, a brilliant India store run by the most lovely people, where I always get my rice and spices, there's several Spanish shops, all regional so none are the same. Several italian ones too, and many many many north african and Turkish shops. All made possible by immigration, all very authentic because that's what these fine folks were used to and want to keep available.
Bri & Loren, I live in Oaxaca Mexico and there aren't a lot of asians here. We have ONE Japanese Restaurant (maybe 2) and ONE Chinese. We get a few things from them but there is no mega asian grocery store. The last time I saw one of those was when I visited my home state NJ in the 90s. This was fun for me, I enjoyed it very much.
I saw below a fellow commentator said what to do with banana flowers.
Take care guys. All the Best Jim
Love it! I live in the PNW and often head to the international stores. My main purchases are confinements that I just can’t find anywhere or random cuts of meat. Chicken backs and feet for stock are always big wins that most places don’t carry.
My wife and I usually hit up Pan Asia on Manchester out in West County, mostly because it's much closer to our house. It's amazing some of the things we find to inspire us in our home cooking!
in the Philippines, banana blossom is typically cooked with coconut milk. You can also cooked it as adobo, or make banana blossom spring rolls.
Hi Brian, thanks for all the great videos! I also make foods from around the world, and I wanted to note that you should absolutely make your own kimchi! Look for “mak kimchi” recipes (my Korean friend says that translates to “easy kimchi”, and that is so true). By making your own you can (obviously) control the flavor and have fun experimenting with it. I like to add a handful of whole garlic cloves when I make kimchi because I’m a garlic fiend, and if I want even spicier kimchi, I’ll add in several julienned jalapeños. Definitely get some E-Jen fermenting containers too. They are available at pretty much any Asian mart I have ever been to, but they are also readily available on Amazon. They’re also useful for many other types of fermentation like kraut, pickles, etc. I hope to see your take on it in a future video!
Hey Bri...(and Lorn) my wife Kiki and I were JUST eating at the Vine right across the street... traveling through from Arkansas to Kentucky... spent a few days in St Louis and had a great time. The grocery store was closed by the time we finished up and we were bummed. So cool to see this vid today. Thanks for all the great content, we appreciate y'all.
The golden curry is a staple weekend comfort meal in my household, when I'm making my sauce I usually brown chopped chuck roast on the bottom, pull it out cook some white onions and tomato paste as if I was doing a red sauce, then deglaze with red wine before adding in the rest of the ingredients and broth for the long simmer. It's a somewhat typical way to make a sauce base but I find it goes really well with this stock curry.
Started following you because I saw you cooking with ground beef from Schnucks. Stayed for the great, informative, entertaining videos. Love seeing videos like this supporting local small businesses like Jay International!
Fermented Glutinous Rice is a dessert that you can have hot or cold in Chinese cuisine! You can make it at home by adding a particular mold(?) culture to freshly cooked glutinous rice, and letting it sit covered in plastic wrap for a few days. The fermentation turns the carbs into sugars before then converting into alcohols, so stopping mid-way allows you to get this sweet byproduct similar to Amazake, before you end up with pure alcoholic rice wine.
banana blossom is used for toppings for various vietnamese noodle soups. Bun bo hue which is a spicy lemon grass noodle soup and banana blossom salad. I’ve seen vegan recipes of fried fish but from canned banana blossoms.
Brian, you need to try some of the aged, 5 spice tofu.... not sure what it's actually called. It's firm and holds up to stir fry well, and unlike regular tofu, it has a flavor all its own.
You'll always find gochujang (sp?), black vinegar, toasted sesame oil, shaoxing wine, light and dark soy sauce, different flavored furikake, and miso (white) in my cupboard and fridge. I also like the pickled mustard greens, yum!😋
I dated a Chinese man who taught me how to season things. He used to stir-fry the pickled mustard greens with the 5 spice tofu, garlic, soy sauce, and black vinegar. Then he'd serve that over mung beans that he'd cooked. He also used to fix kale pretty much the same way, minus the tofu. Then he'd finish it with a drizzle of roasted sesame oil. It was very tasty. I actually had never had kale before that and became a huge fan of it.
I loved this! I saw a couple things I tend to buy and probably use incorrectly, but that chili stuff with the red lid and the lady on it is so good. Chicken wings with that is amazing.
Love seing the different foods from other countries i am in Québec and i like international cuisine. It helps me when i Shop i recognize what it is thank you
Banana Blossoms in Filipino cooking are used as a condiment for stewed pork trotters , adobo and for a dish called Kare Kare.
Videos like this are great for a recent STL transplant. Thanks Bri!
I am Filipino and that vinegar from coconut is usually we use as dipping sauce add crushed chillies and dip lumpia or spring rolls and other finger foods
I would die so happy in a store like that. I have access to these ingredients, but different stores. And if no one's said it, it's pronounced EYE-var. And it is, truly, amazing.
Mung bean noodles are used in the Sichuan dish with the wonderful name “Ants Climbing a Tree”.
The Korean noodle brands I get are Chapaghetti and Neoguri, to make that thing from the movie. Also I get the fat rice sticks for tteokbokki.
9 months later...I enjoy rewatching all of the videos a few times, very entertaining!
Tahdig Tips:
1) Use an aluminum heat diffuser on a gas stove. They are available cheap online.
2) Use a "Damkesh" or place a cloth between the lid and the pot you're cooking in while steaming the rice
3) Use a touch more oil than seems reasonable
4) Place the pot on a damp kitchen towel after you've completed cooking it help the tahdig release.
5) A non-stick pot helps... and its not cheating
Nush-e Jan!
That fermented rice made with sweet rice. Very unique smell and taste, my mom used to just scoop 2,3 spoon and add water then dried date to boil about few mins , serve hot or cold
We Filipinos cook banana blossom with coconut milk. We call it “ginataan puso ng saging” because coconut milk in Filipino is “gata” and banana blossom is “puso ng saging” or heart (puso) of a banana(saging) plant.
Awesome Video. You mentioned so many things that I enjoy buying at my local international market.. Growing up in a small midwestern farming village, it was simple meat and potatoes. Getting out and trying new things have open a whole new world of tastes for me. My all time Favorite is Black Vinegar. Shrimp Chips are awesome! I've even gotten my elderly midwestern Mother to start liking and using all these new flavors !!! If you have never been to an international grocery store, don't miss an opportunity to expand your horizons ! Thank You Brian for sharing some of your favorite items !!!
I feel fortunate to work next to Chinatown in Oakland and can spend hours in the Asian markets! The variety of food labels I can’t read make shopping more fun bu5 as you experienced, Bri you can always come home with a diversified bag of groceries to try. The fresh veggies are also the best!
tried durian for the first time last year and loved it! definitely super creamy and to me it tasted like an overripe mango. my fiance and her cousin both do not like, so it's a very divisive fruit
Love Jay's International! So great to see this rundown.
Shop there all the time.
They really cleaned that store up a couple years ago, it use to be a mess.
They also have a lot of frozen fish that you never see anyplace.
Pan Asia is another store, bigger off Manchester Rd in Manchester, across from the Walmart by 141.
Many years ago our Japanese foreign exchange student brought her own curry brand with her and taught us how she makes curry. She used “House Vermont apple” brand. When I can find that brand I always get it, I think it taste the best. Another tip she shared was adding a small amount of chocolate towards the end of the cook.
Thanks for the info. I live in St. Louis and often wonder where you get some of your ingredients. Always see the Schnucks stuff, but wonder where a lot of the other things come from.
Love your videos. Have made a lot of them and everyone loves them.
For one version of tahdig, you can take basmati rice, wash it a few times to remove the starch, then add into a nonstick pot, add some salt to taste typically 1-2 tsp per 3 cups of rice, add a few table spoons of whole yogurt, this make a rice dish known as kateh, mix well with a whisk to combine, heat on medium until the water has nearly reduced, squeeze in some neutral oil such as canola, and mix to combine, then place the pot into two heat spreaders/diffusers, place a paper towel or tea towel onto the pot and place the lid on top. Tuck in the towel so it doesn’t burn and then place on medium-high for 25-30 mins. Check the rice and if you see it crusting around the edges, you pretty much done, you can also let it cook a little bit longer without the lid and then invert onto a plate. You may need to detach the rice from the sides of the pot with an offset spatula or a knife. It should be golden brown. It’s great with fried eggs and sumac.
I'm from Laos & we use banana blossom in a dish called Khoa Poon, it's a red curry noodle dish. The blossoms are shredded very fine along with other veg & herbs as a topping over the dish. The taste is very mild (I can't recall the comparison to anything at the moment) but it is used primarily as a crunchy element.
Jay International is DOPE! I make the trip over there a couple times a year to get all the things I can't get from any grocery store on the IL side of the river. Love the walkthrough vid! Got some new things to try next time :)
I love the cultural representation Bri! Love from a Filipino ❤️
Jay's was my first international market. Took many friends there for their first time as well. Such a dense collection of flavors and ingredients. One of the best places in St Louis.
use the banana blossom to make yam huabplee! Thai banana blossom salad. It ozidises quick so put in acidic water quick
Just found you about 20 minutes ago…love this video to help navigate the asian store although most of these ingredients I already knew…would love to see more of this type of video.
you only use the inner portion of the banana blossom, kind of like an artichoke heart (except artichokes have a lot more good stuff). sometimes they're used as a replacement for fish to veganize a fish recipe because they cook into flaky layers.