A quick search of Seattle-area restaurant listings turns up more than 40 types of cuisines from around the world. It is no wonder,
then, that the variety of food, and produce in particular, available in supermarkets and specialty food stores continues to grow—so much so there might be many things available you wouldn’t know what to do with. Take a trip around the world through food and find some new ingredients you might want to sample—and others you might not—along with a few recipes to try. Bon appétit!
J A P A N
Japanese ingredients are increasingly available in the United States. Here are a few produce items to try this summer. Naga imo, or Japanese potatoes, can be prepared in the same way as domestic potatoes. These can also be eaten raw if they are first soaked for 10 minutes in a half-vinegar half-water mixture. A common preparation is to grate it and serve it with warm soba noodles. Button, portobello, shiitake, oyster and crimini mushrooms might be the easiest to find, either fresh or dried, but they aren’t the only varieties of the tasty fungus. Two more that can be found in Asian markets include Maitake, or Hen of the Woods, and Buna shimeji, or brown and white beech mushrooms. Maitake mushrooms can be found in the United States and are also widely popular in Japan. Maitake mushroom extract is touted as full of antioxidants and studies in Asia have found that a compound in the mushroom might reduce the risk of coronary heart disease. Maitakes are also a good source of potassium. With a meaty texture and woodsy taste, they are great for pasta and risotto. Buna shimeji mushrooms are cultivated in Japan and have a sweet, nutty flavor. Add a new green to salads, or a new ingredient to stir-fry and soups with mizuna, also known as Japanese mustard greens and California peppergrass. This leafy green originated in China but has been cultivated in Japan since ancient times. With a mild, sweet, earthy flavor, it will just add a little something extra in summer dishes. A great root to add to soup, stew or stir-fry is the gobo, or burdock root. Popular in Japan, the long, skinny roots come in a variety of sizes, and the smaller roots have a sweeter flavor. Just make sure to wash thoroughly and peel the gobo before cooking. Try the recipe below for a tasty stir-fry. Shiso leaves might be familiar—they are often served as a garnish called Ohba at sushi bars. They can be eaten, and have been described as a combination of cumin, cilantro and parsley with a hint of cinnamon. Add shiso leaves to salads, sprinkle torn leaves over cucumbers or fish, or use them in a pesto. The leaves are thought by some to have antibiotic qualities. Similar in coloring, the daikon radish and the Korean radish have different shapes and slightly different textures. Both can be used in salads. Daikons are most often grated and served as a side to Japanese dishes, or can be sliced thin for stir-fry. Korean radishes will most often be seen in kimchee and are crunchier than daikons.
S O U T H E A S T A S I A
Head to Southeast Asia for a wide variety of cuisines and the most expensive coffee in the world. Lotus roots make pretty additions to stir-fry or as fried chips since cutting them displays a hole pattern. They can also be served fresh with soy sauce. Wash the outside well before cutting the root or look for packaged, pre-cut lotus roots. A cousin of the domestic potato, taro root is the main ingredient in poi. The brown, fuzzy exterior needs to be removed before taro can be eaten—common preparations include roasting or frying like a potato chip. Taro root is thought to have originated in Malaysia, and then moved to India and Egypt, eventually spreading around the world. The winter melon, or donqua, is a fruit but is eaten as a vegetable. It has a mild flavor and can be used in chicken broth soup or in stir-fry. Originally cultivated in Southeast Asia, winter melon is boiled in sugar syrup in north India to make candy and used in curry in southern India. This melon can also be used in fruit drinks. Try the recipe below: winter melon soup, often served at Chinese banquets. If the recipe looks good to you but winter melon isn’t available, substitute a whole cucumber instead. For a totally different eggplant experience try a Thai eggplant. Round with a green and white pattern, these are bitter and mostly found in Thai curry. Scooping out the bitter seeds from the middle of the eggplant yields the best results. Usually used as a garnish, starfruit comes from a tree native to Indonesia, India and Sri Lanka. Starfruit comes in an acidulate and sweet variety, with the sweet variety displaying thicker ribs than the tart. Starfruit can also have six or seven points though it is usually seen with just five. Starfruit is rich in juice and can be used to make wine. The entire fruit can be eaten, seeds and peel. A variety of other fruits have been used to describe the flavor, including pineapple, plum, lemon, apple and kiwi. Shorter and thicker than typical bananas, saba bananas come from the Philippines and are mostly used in cooking. Use them in Bananas Foster, for banana chips, or try the banana fritters recipe at right the next time a dessert is in order. Saba banana peels are used for their fibers in things like paper, rope and mats. For those that enjoy coffee with dessert, look for Civet Coffee—coffee created when an Asian Palm Civet eats coffee berries. While the civet eats the berries, the beans pass through the digestive tract and can then be used for coffee. It is thought that the enzymes in the stomach of the animal break down the proteins that cause a bitter taste, creating this rare coffee that is the most expensive in the world.
A F R I C A
The varieties of squash available are numerous, and here is another to add to the list. Originally found in Africa but popular in Southern Europe and Asia, the oppo squash is similar to a zucchini in flavor. For a change in a sauté, stir-fry, soup or stew, try this squash.
C H I N A
Chinese food brings images of egg rolls, fried rice and lo mein to mind. In addition to these dishes, China is the original home of the kumquat, that teeny, tiny orange that shows up in grocery stores every spring. The little orange fruit might be one that, while often seen on store shelves, is a bit confusing: should it be peeled? Kumquats can be eaten whole, peel and all. In fact, the peel is the sweet part. They are cultivated in China and Japan. Great for fruit salads, in desserts and made into jelly, jam and marmalade, kumquats are a good source of fiber and vitamins A and C. China is also the home of the century egg, created by preserving duck, chicken or quail eggs in a mixture of clay, ash, salt, lime and rice straw for a few weeks to several months. This process raises the pH level in the egg, breaking down some proteins in the egg into more flavorful ones. It also causes the yolk to turn dark green and the white part of the egg dark brown. The eggs can be eaten alone or are used in various side dishes and hors d’oeuvres.
I N D I A
Next time curry is on the menu, try adding one or both of these Indian vegetables. Eggplant in the United States is usually large—next time try a mini-variety like the Indian baby eggplant. These little purple vegetables are often used in curry or with lentils and can also be stuffed. They are rich in antioxidants and a good source of potassium, vitamin A, vitamin B-complex and vitamin C. Bitter melon looks like a dried-out pickle but is squashlike and can be treated like a zucchini. Found in China and India, it has a bitter taste. The rind does not need to be removed before cooking.
T H E A M E R I C A S
The food consumed on these two continents is as varied as the landscapes and climates throughout North, Central and South America. Add interest to a salad with sunchokes. A native tuber of North America, sunchokes are related to sunflowers, not artichokes as the name might suggest. Treat them like ginger root or use them as a substitute for jicama, water chestnuts and almonds. They can be fried, cooked or served fresh in salads, salsas, marinades and soups. Sunchokes are a good starch substitute for people with diabetes because the insulin in a sunchoke breaks down into fructose instead of glucose. South America was home to the first yucca roots, also known as cassava. This root, which has bitter and sweet varieties, is also prepared like potatoes. It was introduced to Florida in the late 1800s, and is common in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean.
While many vegetables can be grown from seeds, the chayote squash needs an entire fruit planted to grow. The chayote should be treated like a summer squash in cooking, but can also be eaten raw or pickled. It has one large seed that can also be eaten. Chayote is firmer and more crisp than a cucumber and sweeter than a zucchini. Guava juice is the most common way the fruit is found in the United States. Whole fruit can be purchased, however, and the entire thing can be eaten. While the rind is sour and slightly bitter, it is the vitamin-rich part of the fruit. The outer layer is sour, the inner pulp is the sweetest in a guava. In addition to juice, guava is often used in desserts, candy, jams, preserves and marmalades. Bell peppers and jalapeño peppers might be the most common, but many varieties can be found throughout the world. And many pepper enthusiasts tout habañero peppers as some of the hottest peppers around. Pure capsaicin, the stuff that makes peppers hot, measures 16 million units on the Scoville Heat Unit scale. Habañero peppers measure anywhere from 150,000-575,000, depending on the variety. To compare, jalapeño peppers measure at 2,500-8,000 and bell peppers measure 0. Habañeros are green when they are unripe, but can ripen to a number of colors, including red, orange, white, brown and pink. Cherimoya is a fruit native to Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador. It grows from an evergreen shrub or small tree and is often used in dessert, fruit salad and smoothies. The fruit has dark brown seeds that are a little smaller than a penny. The seeds should not be eaten, and care must be taken when removing them—the seeds are poisonous when crushed open. Cherimoya rinds shouldn’t be
eaten, either. The edible part of the fruit has a soft texture that is described as sherbetlike and a blend of bananas, pineapples and strawberries. The tropical trifle recipe at right should be eaten within a day or the fruit will start to weep. Ripe purple passion fruit is not the prettiest fruit in the grocery aisle. When ripe, the fruit’s exterior feels and looks like crumpled paper, and is dark purple, almost black. Cut through that and a tough rind and the fruit is full of juice and seeds that range from sweet and tart, to tart. Passion fruit is commonly seen as juice and jam, and can also be used in fruit salads, dessert and as a cheesecake topping. Passion fruit is native from southern Brazil through northern Argentina. It is high in vitamins A and C, potassium and fiber.
While summer might be the best time to see variety on grocery store shelves, you never know what you might find and what might be in season around the world. Whether you are traveling to a foreign country or relaxing at home this summer, adding a bit of variety to daily meals is a great way to experience a culinary adventure.
R E C I P E S
SABA BANANA FRITTERS Makes 16 fritters. ½ cup flour ¾ teaspoon baking powder ¼ teaspoon salt 1 cup milk 1 egg 2 cups vegetable oil 3 ripe saba, peeled, sliced lengthwise Flour for dredging Sugar
In a bowl, sift flour, baking power and salt. Add milk and egg and beat until smooth. Heat oil in a frying pan over medium heat. In batches, roll banana slices in flour and dip in the batter. Fry in hot oil until golden brown. Drain on paper towels and roll in sugar.
—Pinoy Merienda Classics Atbp
TROPICAL TRIFLE 2 (3-ounce) packages of ladyfingers Orange-flavored liqueur 3 cherimoyas, pulp removed and puréed (about 2 cups) ½ cup raspberry or currant jam 1 large banana, thinly sliced ½ pint whipping cream
Split ladyfingers. Layer half of ladyfinger halves in the bottom and sides of a two-quart serving bowl. Sprinkle lightly with liqueur. Spread one-third of the cherimoya pulp over the bottom layer. Swirl one-third of the raspberry jam into the cherimoya pulp. Top with one-third of the sliced bananas. Layer half the remaining ladyfingers. Sprinkle lightly with liqueur. Top with one-third of the cherimoya sauce, raspberry jam and bananas. Cover with the remaining ladyfingers. Top with the remaining cherimoya sauce, raspberry jam and bananas. Whip the cream and garnish the dish with the whipped cream. Refrigerate.
Peel the gobo and shred into very thin strips. Soak the gobo strips in water for a few minutes, then drain well. Peel carrots and cut into short and thin strips. Heat vegetable oil in a frying pan and fry gobo strips for a couple of minutes. Add carrot strips in the pan and stir-fry until tender-crisp. Turn off the heat. Add the next four ingredients to pan and mix. Sprinkle with sesame seeds. Letting this dish sit for a day produces more intense flavors.
—about.com
WINTER MELON SOUP Serves 3 to 4 1 cup winter melon 4 Chinese dried black mushrooms 2 cups chicken broth 2-3 slices of ginger ¼ cup cooked ham, diced Salt and pepper to taste 1 green onion, green part only, washed and cut on the diagonal into 1-inch pieces
Wash the winter melon, remove the green skin, seeds and the pulp. Cut into 2-inch pieces. Place the winter melon in a pot of water, bring to a boil, and simmer for approximately 20 minutes or until the winter melon is tender. Reconstitute the Chinese dried mushrooms by soaking in hot water for 20 to 30 minutes until softened. Squeeze out any excess water. Add the chicken broth, mushrooms, ginger and cooked ham. Add seasonings as desired. Simmer for about 20 minutes. Add green onion for garnish. Serve hot.
