[Jahpson]

Originally Posted by chinadoll724

Oh, I think you mean mochi? Mochi ice cream is a bit expensive, but soooo good. Red bean popsicles are good. Pocky's always good. I like the dried peas that you snack on. Mmmm, I want some snacks now.

I had tried Mochi once.. and it was really good!! (plus much cleaner than an ice cream cone) where can I get it?

[boobeary]

Savory
Shrimp chips are pretty tasty!
Wasabi peas are tasty as well...ok and I'm obsessed with all kinds of dumplings so pick some up in the frozen section if you'd like.

Sweet
The japanese jelly candies are good - muscat flavor, kiwi, lychee flavors are great.
Mochi ice cream or green teaor melon ice cream. Yum!

[oo0ehxtahcee0oo]

Originally Posted by ColdSteel

Don't drop the durians!

haha yum!! i very "special" fruit. haha. very acquired taste!
i think a big part of going to the asian markets is the fruit! what a yummy healthy alternative! i too loooove the smelly fruit durian! its just a pain in the behind to cut open!! fresh coconut. (usually the husk is already cut off, and the coconut is white and looks like a hut!) i also love fresh (canned is good too, but def. i totally different taste) of lychee and longan. if you get some fruit cocktail canned, and put in some lychee and longan and make some "chinese jello" it's a great easy healthy dessert!

i always reccomend my friends when they go to the asian supermakets to try out some different soy sauces. i dont really like the popular kekoman soysause, i find it very salty. maggie's soy sauce is good, and so is the bottle with the little man in the chef's hat holding a silver plate of fish! alsol try some of their instant noodles. so much more flavorful than top ramen, and super good!

for the snacks, i have to agree with the others. we stock up on pocky, yan yan, mochi, wasabi peas, cream waffers, dried mangos, hello panda (a hit for my friends), shrimp chips (both orginal flavor and the hot and spicy garlic (my fav!!), frozen canned coconut, canned coconut with pulp (to drink), grass jelly drink (original and lychee flavored), soy bean drink (canned and jug. they taste different!), aloe drink, lychee jello, jello sticks (stick them in the freezer, soooo good!), and roasted chestnuts!! (sometimes if your lucky, theres a vendor that has them fresh and roasted on the spot! a bit of a pain to take the shell off, but sooo good!)

if you're lucky, some stores have a sampling like costco. going at those times is great so you can taste new things to see if you like them or not without buying the whole package.

man, now i want some snacks! when i go to the store again, ill take more pictures of things i buy.

below are pictures of some of the fruit.
1) durian
2) lychee
3) longan

[Nishi621]

Ok! I finally got to go again last night=-spent $23 and got a bunch of stuff.

Right now I am eating shrimp chips-love them! I also bought a box of mixed mochi (chocolate, green tea and vanilla)-i liked them all-my hubby and mother liked the chocolate and vanilla and thought the green tea was gross! LOL

I bought about 3 different kinds of Pocky and love them all. I also bought a package of something that said milk plums on the outside-they were like little dried plums with sugar on them-they were ok-a little odd for my tastes. I got 3 huge Asian pears, which i always buy-love those. I bought chocolate cream wafers which hubby and I loved. And, Peanut Crisps-haven't tried that yet-but, it looks like peanut brittle with sesame seeds.

Thanks for all the recommends! I will try more stuff next time I go!


Edited to add:

I just tried one of the peanut crisps-sooo good!

And, ehxhta, thanks for the pics of the fruit above. Because, all the signs in this supermarket are in chinese-so, if i don't know what a fruit looks like-I would never find it-thanks!

[oo0ehxtahcee0oo]

^^ heads up, dont drop the durian on ur feet. and its a strong strong smell. maybe open it outside. haha. and light candles!!

[Nishi621]

I was just looking at my receipt from the store and can't believe how cheap everything was! The bag of shrimp chips was $1.09-the preserved plums were 99 cents. i bought 2 great soup spoons for 59 cents each-and, I didn't buy any fish-but, man oh man-cheap! jumbo shrimp was $4.99 a pound! It's 11.99 a pound in my neighborhood!

[oo0ehxtahcee0oo]

the asian store near my house has ground beef for only .99 a lb!! at safeway its 4.99!!

[Nishi621]

Unreal! Going to look for yanyan next time. and, thanks for the tip on the soy sauce-i do find most of the ones at american supermarkets way too salty-will try one of the ones you suggested.

[oo0ehxtahcee0oo]

If you get the soy sauce that I use (pictured below) I give you THE best fast, easiest (literally about 3-5 minute) recipe for a delicious onion pepper steak stir fry!

Not sure if you are only interest in snacks, but I thought it might be helpful to show you what are some of the stables I have when cooking. I find if I don't have these essentials, then I can't cook!!

1) The soy sauce I use. The brand is Golden Mountain. About .99!! (I dont like salty soy sauce or salty things period, so I loooove this sauce! Another good brand is Maggie's, but I believe it's $7.99!!)

2) Here is the little guy you can look for on the bottle!!

3) Fish sauce! I loooove the squid brand!

4) Sesame oil. A great ingredient to change up any stir fry! Suuuper yummy!!

5) Coconut milk. Chaokoh brand from Thailand. My family swears by this! Great texture and taste, super yums for all types of curry! (esp. Thai!)

I don't have a picture, but I'm sure you know about good ol' white jasmine rice!! But if you want to change it up, sticky rice is great! (My fav! It's a "laid back" kind of food. You eat it with your hands, not a fork and spoon! It's a bit harder to find (not in all chinese resturants, but if you find a Lao/Thai/Cambodian store, GRAB IT!! It's different to make, but pretty easy. If you find it, I'll tell you how to cook it! But make sure you buy the right tools to cook it [you do not cook it in a rice cooker])

Hopefully this helps you in your Asian cooking!!

[oo0ehxtahcee0oo]

Below are some of my needs.. Just because they are sooo good!

1) Asian top ramen, this is the view from the side of the box. This particular flavor was Tom Yum. (if you add your own shrimp and veggies its also really good!) The brand is MAMA. I love MAMA brand. All flavors are good, and the original is a great starter!

2) Here is what my Tom Yum flavored MAMA looks like in its individual packet.

3) Coconut juice (I like the pulp, not jelly). All brands are pretty good! I just get the cheapest one! Haha!

4) Grass Jelly drink. (this is the only brand I like, its Hong Van) It comes in a few different flavors such as original, mint, banana, lychee.. I only like original and lychee.

5) Anothr type of shrimp/prawn chips. The are not the same shape and different in texture. Different in taste too. They are little disc shaped chips that remind me of little puffs?? Can't explain, but if you like the other shrimp chips this is good too. Not so strong/shrimpy as the other one. This one is not spicy, but some are. I wish I had some spicy ones. I love em best!


I know it's not much, but it was whatever I found lying in my kitchen. (that I thought was generally what someone would need to cook Asian food. Not all the complicated dishes which require other ingrediants I don't think you would use very often.) Hope this helps!! I need to restock my kitchen, so when I go shopping again (probably today or tomorrow for my Mom's bday) I will take more pictures!

[claireZk]

I don't know if they have any Japanese stuff, but if you see these, BUY THEM! Kasugai gummies are seriously the most delicious thing ever!!!!

[jo_ee]

oo0ehxtahcee0oo, I swear by that same MAMA brand of instant tom yum noodles. The first time I had them years ago was at a friend's house. She cooked them up and my nose and eyes literally watered eating it. Years later I am now immune to the spicyness. LOL!

Nishi, I will also add on. Most Asian stores sell a mixture of Chinese, Japanese, and Korean products. At least, that is the case here in Australia.
In the frozen chillers, look for the frozen dimsum food items. For eg, shrimp wonton, "siew mai" (pork meat in wrappers), chive and prawn dumplings etc. They won't taste as good as if you were eating dim sum in a chinese restaurant, however! You can steam them up and they're good to go in 8-10 mins, or depending on the instructions. Also, look out for the little buns. Small white fluffy buns with various fillings, eg red bean, lotus paste, custard (YUM!! My fav.) and even meat and veggie ones. Again, they should be steamed for the best result. You CAN microwave them but wrap in clingwrap first and don't microwave for too long or they'll turn rock hard.
2) Korean/Japanese ice creams. I LOVE these. I especially love the ones that come in individual packets, in the form of fish-shaped wafers, or chocolate-bar wafers. They feature red bean, green tea etc alot. I love red bean otherwise known as azuki beans in Japanese.
3) Try getting some dried fruit chips, eg dried jackfruit chips or dried taro (yam) chips. In Australia we get them in a dark blue packet, with photos of the dried stuff and their real fruit counterparts on the front, with cursive thai writing, so they're probably from Thailand here.
4) japanese mayo. You've got to try this! It's the only kind of mayo I like. Good with sushi, sashimi (raw fish) and okonomiyaki (japanese savoury pancake).
Have fun shopping!!

[cherry pie]

inspired by this thread i took another trip to my local chinese supermarket today.
i got posky and hello panda, both in strawberry and chocolate. little mushroom shaped chocolate cookie things, very nice, cartons of lemon tea, and chrysanthemum tea, my latest obsession. lucky rabbit sweets, nut candies, shrimp chips, origonal and hot and spicey, won ton papers and sweet and sour sauce, im going to make these for a little feast on christms eve. the soy sauce with the little guy on the bottle. some noodles. and i think thats about it.

[Sinarta]

I was in wal-mart with DH yesterday waiting on him in a random section and there was a little asian section and I picked up some pocky that I remembered from reading this post and got it in strawberry flavor and it is so good. I'm going to get more of those and go to the local asian store and try out some of the other things you ladies recommended.

[Bay]

I love sesame balls..yum! And shrimp crackers. The white, crispy chip-shaped ones, yum!