Exotic on a Dime

Now that I'm experimenting with new cuisines and ingredients, my grocery bills have gone up.  There can be entire recipes that I don't have a single ingredient on hand and have to start from scratch.  At some point, it will even out.  Until then, I'm getting creative and trying to be a smart shopper.

Some ingredients are universal, or close enough.  Flour, rice, most vegetables, chicken...stuff like that.  There will sometimes be a type of fish or cut of meat that's a little harder to find, but even supermarkets now carry international fruits and veggies.  You do have to be willing to pay a little extra for the imported stuff.  I make it up in something simple, like eggs or beans.  What really makes an international dish unique is the combination of herbs and spices in that area's cuisine.

When it comes to spices, I have three economical sources.  The brand It's Delish! is California local and less expensive per ounce.  They also sell in larger quantities, so I generally only buy something that I know I'll use a lot, like cinnamon or paprika.  The best part about this brand is that they do KLP spices at that time of year.  I'm not super strict about my spices being KLP, but if it's something that lasts me roughly a year, I might as well buy it then.

The second source is the spice rack at Sprouts, where I can experiment with small quantities of something new or that I may never use again.  If the checkout scale can't weigh it because I bought so little, the cashier often gives it to me for free.  (I always suggest they weigh all my spices together and use the most expensive one as a basis, but no one has taken me up on that yet.)  It's also where I get my loose leaf tea.  They carry the hard-to-find Darjeeling and even a masala chai-flavored blend.

The third spice source is the Tampico brand.  They carry spices common in Mexican cuisine and farther south.  I finally found the star anise for my masala chai at 1/10 the price of the standard brand.  Perhaps the quality is a touch less, but probably not.  The last bag of dried parsley I opened smelled perfectly fresh.

Then, of course, there's my fennel seed farm out back.  That stuff needs to be so much cheaper in the market than it is.  I let one single plant go to seed, and I'm going to end up with at least a pound.  I have a few heads drying in a bag now, and a few more to cut this week.  Even the 99¢ that Tampico charges for 3 ounces sounds like a ripoff.  I guess you're paying for the 6-8 months that it takes for the plant to go through the maturation process.  The plant also attracts tons of bees, so it's good for pollinating everything in your garden as a bonus.  I'm also going to end up with a full year's worth of coriander seed, but only because I had the best year yet of cilantro.  Can't wait for my pickling cucumbers to mature!

For unusual produce and cuts of meat, you just have to shop the sales and know your markets.  Ethnic grocery stores are often havens for items you would not necessarily consider part of that cuisine.  You never know until you visit one.  I feel like 99 Ranch carries every type of cabbage that exists.  They also tend to have game meats that you don't think of as Asian, like venison and rabbit.

Don't be afraid to try a recipe because you don't recognize an ingredient.  That's what the internet is for.  The "near me" addendum to a search can be very useful.  It may send you to Whole Foods, but at least they have it.  Or, you may discover a new market nearby, down a street you never use, that opens a whole new world of cooking opportunities at a reasonable price.  You never know.