FINALLY – mangosteens in the US! As far as I knew, I was going to have to wait for a return trip to Thailand. But no more – I found mangosteens (also known as Thai Fruit Crack) on Buford Highway (beware – at $6.99/lb, a small bag cost me $15). Mangosteens don’t have a long shelf life, so between shipping and quarantine the trip is hard on them. Couple that with the fact that it has been illegal to import them for years (fruit flies) and you can see why they are notoriously difficult come by.

Mangosteens are know as the “queen of fruits”. Considering that durian is the “king of fruits”, you’d be forgiven for thinking that mangosteens are skanks – but you’d be wrong.

Actually, go ahead and think that – more for me. In fact, I’m not going to write anything else – I’ve got fruit to eat.

The best solution I have for a crappy week is to pickup a giant slab of pork belly and spend the weekend up to my ears in the best parts of the pig -  skin, fat and meat. And I’m having a crappy weekend – so yeah, more is coming in the next few days.

First up, moo krawp – crispy Thai pork belly. I first had this at a night market in Nakhon Ratchasima (Korat) in Thailand. Boiled with a bit of vinegar and salt, the pork belly is then brushed with more vinegar and salt and deep fried until crispy and brown. Cut and serve with jasmine rice and dark soy.

For some reason lot of people still seem to have hang ups about the ethnic markets along Buford Highway. Regardless, BFM is still one of my favorites. The sheer volume of produce, meats and fish that move through this place ensure that you can usually find almost any ingredient you can think of, fresh and of good quality.

Produce Section – huge and crowded

Seasonal – and not in a can

Miles of meat

You do need to be aware that the butchers produce the cuts demanded by their customers, so while you will find T-bones and pork chops – they’re good – but usually not of the best trim. If you’re looking for flanken short ribs, sukiyaki beef, tongue, offal, ox-tail – this is the place to go.

Man’s best friend – Pork Bellies. Time to make pork belly confit again (per Brian Polcyn). I’ve already got the pink salt. BFM sells lard too…

Live tilapia and flounder

Fishmonger (this is about 1/4 of the main fish counter)

The seafood section is massive here, and the selection is, as with all of the departments here, huge. Whole fish can be cleaned and dressed any way you need. Where else in town can you buy live sea squirts?

Sushi grade tuna and octopus

40+ feet of shrimp, clams, octopus, snails, conch, sea squirts, mussels, blue crab, crayfish, eels – you get the idea.

Whole snapper

Whole tilapia

Miles of sauces

Semas (a Mexican sweet bread) – there’s a bakery here as well.

Buford Highway Farmer’s Market
5600 Buford Highway
Doraville, GA 30340

So I finally get to Asam House last week (sorry – no food pictures. I hesitate to take them when I’m with friends). Asam House is located in the same space as the former Shin Dong Yang, which unfortunately died a long, slow and uncomfortable death. (Years ago it was THE place for Hot Braised Cuttlefish…). Honestly, I don’t see a much different future for Asam House. On a Wednesday evening, our dining party was outnumbered by the front of the house staff 5 – 3. We had the place to ourselves the entire time. Not a good first sign. The menu however was promising, with a lengthy selection of traditional Malaysian dishes. The Thai portion of the menu seemed a bit “Americanized” – Massaman curry, satay with peanut glop – - – - OK, time to pause – I KNOW that Massaman curry and satay are “traditional” Thai dishes – it’s just that you rarely see this food done in a “traditional” way in the US. I should probably take the time to do a full post on the problem with the so-called Thai food you find here (never mind the exorbitant prices you get charged for it), but I swear I could microwave a jar of Skippy, pour it over a left over box of mealy fried rice and call it “Authentic Thai” and it would be a best seller on most menus.

There was quite a list of specials (maybe 12-15), including a few Hakka dishes (quite common in Malaysia and Singapore), but I hesitate to try specials in an empty restaurant. With any restaurant I’m unfamiliar with, I try to go with the… well, familiar.

As an appetizer, the Roti canai (a flatbread, served with a yellow chicken & potato curry as a dipping sauce) was excellent. The roti was light and flaky – the curry had a nice balanced flavour without the excess oil floating on top that you usually find. My only complaint is that the sauce could have been thinner. Oh, and it did come with the obligatory argument at the table over the pronunciation of canai (it is pronounced channai – I don’t care that there is nothing in the Western spelling to indicate that – it’s a Malaysian word and that’s how it is pronounced. Channai).

For an entrée I went with what is probably one of the most popular traditional Malaysian dishes – Hainanese Chicken Rice. For some reason, it seems that almost no one is familiar with this dish. Perhaps it’s because Malaysian food is relatively uncommon in the U.S.; perhaps because it’s a cold dish; perhaps it’s the appearance – Hainanese chicken is referred to as Báijī (白鸡) or “white chicken” in Mandarin because the skin is – white, and to the uninitiated, it looks uncooked. Funny thing, this dish is served over “oily rice” (which is rice cooked in stock made from the chicken – the “oily” part refers to the chicken fat in the stock, which gives the rice a nice sheen), but the menu, perhaps attempting to appeal to Western sensibilities referred to it as “buttered”. Regardless – a very traditional, tasty dish, served with sambal and dark soy.

Unfortunately, my dining companions didn’t fare too well, having gone with the aforementioned Massaman curry (described as “too light”) and beef rendang – which I usually find gritty and lifeless (any time you cook meat for hours until the liquid is gone – just doesn’t work for me…).

The overall verdict – not too sure I’ll go back. There are some decent (Little Malaysia) and OK (Penang) Malaysian restaurants in town that are pretty predictable. But it may put me on the hunt for the best Hainanese Chicken Rice in town…

Asam House
5285 Buford Hwy NE
Doraville, GA 30340

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So I had a coconut – don’t ask me why. Now what? First thing is to crack it open and drink the water. Remember, the liquid inside a coconut is coconut water – not coconut milk (Too Much Information: Coconut water is the endosperm (albumin) of the coconut – think of it as the white of an egg, but tastier).

Next is to extract the meat. I took the hard way – I whacked it hard enough to loosen a good bit of the flesh, so I pried it out and peeled away the hard skin with a paring knife (There are easier ways – put it into a 300 degree oven for 10-15 minutes and the flesh will pull away from the shell…). Grating the flesh gives you a few options, including making coconut milk – not as hard as you might think.

Coconut Milk
Mix the grated coconut with a couple of cups hot water and let it soak for about 10 minutes. Squeeze through a strainer or cotton towel and you have thick milk. Set it aside. Repeat the above and you will get – that’s right – thin milk. These can be used separately or combined to vary the richness of your dishes.

So I made coconut milk, right? Well, no. While making fresh coconut milk is easy and the end result is really good, I was getting pretty tired of screwing around with this coconut. I was hungry, impatient, had a good can of Thai coconut milk on hand.

Time to cook.

Onions, galangal and scallions

Curry
Curries are amazingly simple dishes to cook. They invite experimentation and even if you don’t have everything you need, they’re pretty hard to screw up (just use common sense – don’t substitute Tic-tacs for garlic – stuff like that). So is this Indian, Thai, Malaysian, Indonesian, Sri Lankan, British? Depends. Sometimes it depends on what you add to the dish. Sometimes it depends on what you decide it is.

The ingredient list is pretty simple, as you can see, nothing is set in stone – I’m not even including measurements (OK, I’ll come back and do it later…):

• 1 onion, peeled, quartered and sliced
• 1 inch pc of minced galangal (has lots of names: blue ginger, ka, etc. Related to ginger, but doesn’t really taste anything like it. But you can substitute ginger here, especially if you’re going for spicy)
• 1 clove minced garlic
• 1-1/2 tsp curry paste or powder (either one, variations abound – I tend to use Madras curry and go a bit heavy on it)
• 1 tsp Cumin
• 1 tsp Turmeric
• 1 14 oz can tomatoes (diced or crushed – canned seemed to work better, but anything will do)
• 1-2 green chilies, seeded & chopped (again, use your imagination and suit to your palate – I used sambal oelek this time – Indonesian chili paste)
• 1 can coconut milk (you can use half and half, or heavy cream if you’d like. Again, it’s up to you)
• 1/2 cup Water
• Salt (to taste)
• Protein (I really like to use shrimp, but chicken, fish, goat, anything with some semblance of a face will do. You could use vegetables as well. )

Mise for the coconut curry…

Start by sauteing the aromatics (onions, galangal, garlic, chilis) in a bit of oil. After a few minutes, add the spices. Cook a few more minutes, until the spices become fragrant. Add water and tomatoes. Simmer for about 10 minutes to blend the flavors.

Next, add the coconut milk, and simmer for about 5 more minutes. If you’re making ahead (a good idea, as it gives the flavors time to balance) – STOP NOW. Cool it down and refrigerate. Don’t add your protein until you’ve brought it up to temperature again and are getting ready to serve.

I had a pound of shrimp on hand (Atlanta Farmers Market – $4.50/lb for large, head-off – woot!). Just toss ‘em in and let them cook for about 2-3 minutes – you don’t want to over cook here. (Obviously, this needs to be modified if you’re using chicken, or any other meat that doesn’t cook in 2-3 minutes. Par-cook them before adding to the sauce. Same goes for vegetables.) Season with salt to taste and serve over rice (jasmine, basmati – same no rule principle applies). If you want a bit more color and aroma, add some julienned kafir lime leaves in the last phase of cooking. Garnish on the side with whatever you like – diced raw tomatoes, minced hard boiled eggs, lime wedges, additional sambal – or nothing at all. Simple.