If you try out the new Super Grand market in Laurel, check out the small rice cakes filled with red-bean- or fruit-flavored paste at the end of the refrigerated section.The individually-wrapped sweets -- called "daifuku" -- caught my eye, and I sampled both a red bean and a pineapple version. They're basically a slightly-chewy outside called mochi (imagine the texture, but not the sweetness of marzipan or caramel) stuffed with a sweet paste. They were both delicious. Sweet, but light tasting. They're not actually "light" desserts because the red bean pastry clocked in at 300 calories. Great with tea on a cold night.
Brief Web searches suggest that the Japanese fill daifuku with all kinds of items in Japan, including fresh strawberries and cream. The Super Grand has refrigerated versions with guava, pineapple and other flavorings. I'm partial to red bean desserts. But the daifuku run $1.20 to $1.50 so you can mix and match flavors to suit yourself.
I assume that H Mart and Lotte in Ellicott City also carry daifuku, although I never noticed them before. For more information about daifuku, check out Wikipedia or Chowhound -- maybe starting with this post or this post.
Super Grand
13600 Laurel Bowie Road (Rte 197)
Laurel, MD 20708
301-362-5572
NEAR: This is on Rte 197 about a half-mile south of Rte 198. It's right off the BW Parkway, so it's an easy drive from I-95 or U.S. 1 via Rte 198.
I love the red bean one, only one I've tried. They have them in the bakery next to Thai Aroma in the Lotte Plaza, but I forget the name of the place. Lots of unusual sweets in there.
ReplyDeleteThere's also an Asian grocery similar to Lotte down 40 I forget where, past the 29 heading East (beyond Lotte), somewhere in that range, that has a small bakery section near the entrance/checkout area that has those among other items.
The Asian grocery on 40 is the H Mart -- my favorite place for fod (http://howchow.blogspot.com/2008/06/h-mart-my-favorite-place-for-food.html)
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