Post Punk Kitchen Forum

i was wondering if we should have one general thread of "where do i find this ingredient" since i know i have probably posted 16 seperate times wondering what/where/how something was :-)

my husband gave me Vegan Eat World for Xmas and man does everything look amazing but it's full of "weird" stuff ive never heard of or seen or even know where i would start looking.

specific to VEW where would i find these ingredients?

*frozen grated coconut (cant i just use coconut from a bag?)
*pandan leaves (wat?)
*kaffir lime leaves
*curry LEAVES
*fenugreek seeds
*black mustard seeds (i have YELLOW mustard seeds)
*CANNED lentils (ok this one is from Chloe's Kitchen)
*sesame tahini paste (is this just tahini? im getting all weirded out!)

ha, LP, you crack me up a little bit! i guess one trick would be looking at what type of recipe it is, and then finding a market that specializes in food from that region.
*frozen grated coconut (cant i just use coconut from a bag?) - indian market in the freezer. it's different than dried because it's shredded fresh coconut, i believe and it's not sweetened.
*pandan leaves (wat?) - probably also a thai market
*kaffir lime leaves - Thai market
*curry LEAVES - Indian market
*fenugreek seeds - Indian market
*black mustard seeds (i have YELLOW mustard seeds) - Indian market
*CANNED lentils (ok this one is from Chloe's Kitchen) - the bean aisle - i usually buy goya brand
*sesame tahini paste (is this just tahini? im getting all weirded out!) - it's just tahini

Can I brag that I managed to find fenugreek seeds in my local asian market? I can't find fresh curry leaves, only dried.

im not sure ive ever seen a Thai market round these parts but i know there are Indian markets. i guess ill have to go check it out again. i went into it once and was overwhelmed but that was when i also got my tamarind paste which was an awesome score! :-)

If you don't have a Thai market but have an Asian or Indian market near you check those for the pandan, kaffir lime and curry leaves.

Also, check the freezer at your Indian market for curry leaves. You can sometimes find bags of them frozen.

seems like pandan leaves shows up a lot in this book. i will have to make a special trip to the Indian market.
last time i went there they gave me and my aunt the mega stank eye hopefully i will be welcome this time :-P

or ill just go to a different one :-)
we have a lot of Brazilian and Indian markets round these parts so i bet i can find the pandan and curry leaves at one of the Indian markets.

Canned lentils are often only sold in the natural foods aisle. Strange, I know, but these were difficult to find when I needed sme for ARR burgers. Eden Organics is the only brand routinely sold around here.

Curry leaves: I usually see these plants at nurseries in the spring/summer. Buy one!

My Asian market has all of these things. One stop.

im not sure i have a general "Asian" market around here but we definitely have Indian markets. i have a list on my phone so next time in that area i will check it out.

Pretty sure our Indian market has all of that stuff except possibly tahini. Tahini is available in pretty much every regular supermarket, though.

my question about the tahini was was the way it was worded the same as regular tahini. after seeing all the different ingredients i was nervous it was something totally different. ;-)

Yeah, it's just a weird wording, it's annoying when recipes do that. Tahini is always made from sesame seeds.

In vegan eats world there's at least one recipe (a chinese recipe) that calls for sesame paste, which is a different ingredient entirely. But the recipe is pretty clear about the difference

I found fresh curry leaves at an Asian market near me, so I bought a bunch and froze them, which has been working nicely. Never have been able to find those pandan leaves though.

*kaffir lime leaves
*fenugreek seeds

Both I've found at Whole Foods. Big clear bag of fenugreek seeds in the Indian foods section, Kefir Lime Leaves by the Thai Kitchen brand in tiny glass spice jars in the Asian Foods Section. Relatively cheap too, but probably more expensive than at Asian/Indian specific grocers

you have a couple super 88s in boston and there is a huge asian mini mall, including giant market where you can find most of these things in quincy. it's called kam man.

i don't think you're going to find pandan at an indian market.

i dont really live near Boston. i live in Marlboro, MA which is about 45 mins west of Boston in the "metrowest" area. im much closer to worcester. I put "outside Boston" as my location more of a "where in the world are you" sort of thing.

although i do have a friend who lives in Somerville who found agar powder at an Asian market for me. maybe ill just send her again. hahaha.

Where can i find rejuvelac? I've looked at a few MOM's and Wegmans, plus a few health stores near me and i can't find it. Usually when i ask the staff if they have rejuvelac, they give me a confused look and say "What?" I want to make some vegan cheese, but when i tried making rejuvelac i couldn't tell if it smelled weird because it was bad or because it is rejuvelac. I'd like to buy some so i know what it is supposed to smell and taste like.

annabazoo, I haven't been able to find it either. Really I'm lazy and don't want to bother making it myself, plus don't trust my at-home fermenting skills to not kill me. I didn't bother with the major supermarkets, but whole foods and the mini natural foods store by me don't have it.

yeah, i think mostly small health food stores are the place to look. a food coop if you have one, maybe? it's pretty hard to find!

If you want to make cheese without rejuvelac, you can make this one (you can skip the mushrooms if you want to) http://www.artisanveganlife.com/category/brie/

Trust your skills. If you screw up you're almost certain to know it...things either smell good and cheesy/yeasty/pleasantly sour or they smell like death. Death is bad. Grab some quinoa, it's the easiest to start with and just have at it. I always use half the amount called for (water and grains) because I don't use it up quickly enough, so that will save you some cash, too. I'm the queen of lazy and I'm not offended by rejuvelac making because it's so hands off.

A note on canned lentils... I've noticed that while they sometimes available with the normal canned goods (try Goya brand as someone else suggested,) not every supermarket carries them. I don't know what specific recipe you're looking at that calls for canned lentils, but is there a reason they have to be canned and can't be a comparable amount of lentils you've just cooked on the stove at home? Not that canned lentils aren't easier, but in a pinch you could just cook some from a bag right?

OK, here's mine: Tell me some places where I might find vegetarian oyster sauce. I feel like I used to be able to find it at asian supermarkets, but I've looked for it in the last three I went in and no dice.

Limone, where do you live? I specifically got mine at M2M near Columbia (broadway and 116th) or something? That's weird that you haven't found any at other Asian markets.

oh, but, I think mine is called vegetarian stir fry sauce, which should basically be the same thing right? if not, then nevermind! but they did have a pretty good variety of sauces there. but, probably not worth going if you have no other reason to be around there.

Thanks ijustdiedinside! I live in Sunset Park (Brooklyn), so much of my asian market browsing is in Brooklyn Chinatown. I actually checked an M2M near NYU and they didn't have it, but if I'm ever around your neck of the woods I'll keep it in mind. I have no idea if there's a difference between vegetarian stir fry sauce and veg oyster sauce... is the stir fry sauce mushroom based? If so then they're probably similar if nothing else.