Seaweed Snack Chips At Super Grand

We have reached a new frontier at Casa de HowChow -- the snack chip that was so unusual that Mrs. HowChow likes it more than me.

Fried sea tangle is a snack chip made from kelp.  It's a Korean crisp with the real taste of the ocean.  Salt from the chips, but also a sea flavor that smacks of something like a good oyster.

I smacked my lips.  But I admit that I found them odd.  I think I was expecting salt like a potato chip, maybe the taste of something like kale.  But the fried sea tangle comes with a hint of seafood, which seems right when I think about it but seemed a bit off as we first snacked in the car.

The Super Grand is a terrific market on Rte 197 in Laurel.  It's a Korean-run store like Lotte or H Mart, but it's a broader selection with Asian foods plus Hispanic, Indian, Jamaican and other cuisines.  Click here for all the Super Grand posts.

Longan Season Has Returned; Check Them Out With Some Lychees At The Korean Markets

I think that longan season has arrived again, and you should go harvest a bag of your own at one of the Korean markets like Super Grand in Laurel.

Longan are a tropical tree that puts out bunches of fruit.  The thin, leathery skin splits easily and releases a tender, moist fruit.  Imagine a peeled grape, although the flavor is less sweet and the interior seed is a lacquered black pit.  I can pop them for hours.

Mrs. HowChow picked longan at the Super Grand on Sunday.  She learned from a woman who didn't speak English, but pantomimed that you want fruit still attached to a branch or at least with a bit of stem on the end.  If the stem was broken off, that might have left a hole and a dried out fruit.

(That's a lot to learn through pantomime, but Mrs. HowChow and another woman agreed that they'd learned the same lesson.)

I assume that longan are available at Lotte in Ellicott City and at H Mart in Catonsville.  I think their season runs for a few more weeks in late summer.

While you're at it, pick up some lychee as well.  They're a cousin to longan, slightly sweeter and moister than longan.  They were also a key part to our first date and an early HowChow post.

(Update: Check out the A Day In The Life II blog for a post about how to eat longan and lychees.  Great pictures and description.  It's easy once you have eaten one, I promise.)

Durian Candy At Super Grand: Sweet And Souring

Would you buy a candy if I told that the flavors hint of garbage?

Not a subjective hint like "I don't like this."  But the objective smell of rotting, a slightly acrid taste that fades quickly into a sweet flavor similar to banana or custard.  But never losing the acrid note entirely.

Durians are an Asian fruit whose flavors create millions of impassioned eaters.  But those same flavors -- and more, the accompanying smell -- have caused durians to be banned from some hotels and public transportation.

I once watched two men meet each other over durian in the H Mart.  One Indian, one maybe Filipino.  One of the guys had discovered the frozen durians by chance.  His excitement -- maybe it was his first durian since he had immigrated -- had broken the normal stranger shell, and they were bonding over their infatuation.  They regaled each other with stories of durians until they realized that they were blocking an entire aisle.

The durian candies from the Super Grand in Laurel are your gateway drug to exotic fruit.  Individually-wrapped candies with the consistently just a bit stiffer than salt-water taffy.  That first taste almost seems wrong, but it melts into a sweeter, smoother flavor.  Not as universally delicious as jackfruit, but it's certainly worth a few bucks and an experiment.

Apricot Paste At Nazar, Super Grand, Etc.

I have no idea what I'm supposed to do with dried apricot paste, so I have been slicing off chunks and eating it by hand.

Imagine adult fruit leather.  Apricots, pureed and then dried into half-inch-thick sheets with a little sugar.  It's sweet, chewy, and a dessert that tastes like fruit not candy.

My first sheet came from my father's client who brought it home with him from Turkey.  That's how I noticed it for a few bucks at Nazar Market in Columbia and at the Super Grand in Laurel.  It lasts for weeks in the fridge, and I use a big knife to cut chunks that I eat by hand.

Now, I have to figure out some other uses.  Chowhound suggests rolling the paste into chicken dishes.  Another Web site says people make a drink by melting it into boiling water.  These folks talk about using it in French toast and hamantashan.

Whatever you do, it's definitely something to pick up if you check out Nazar, Super Grand or (I assume) Caspian Market in Ellicott City -- a little exotic, but basically a sweet staple that will lasts for weeks in your fridge.  They're bringing the world to your door, so cut yourself a piece.

Japanese Noodles - Udon, Soba, Somen, So Easy

The easiest place to start in a foreign market is to buy something that looks familiar.

At Asian markets, notice that Japanese noodles look like spaghetti.  But that can deceptive -- they're actually easier to cook, better for you, and often better-tasting as well.

The noodle selection can be intimidating, so start with the Hakubaku brand that sells udon, somen and soba noodles.  They're Japanese staples, and they go with flavors from all around the world from shikate mushrooms and traditional recipes in Kimiko Barber's The Japanese Kitchen to cayenne pepper and modern American cuisine like Heidi Swanson's Super Natural Cooking.  

Japanese noodles are a pantry staple that will adapt to your tastes.  You can add them to soup.  You can make chilled summer salads.  You get noodles that are different enough to be interesting, but you can find recipes in many places so that you eat them with the vegetables and meat that you prefer.

Mystery Store: Mexican Spices To Japanese Noodles

Okay, the mystery was solved within a few comments yesterday.

But this store is really worth your visit . . . and a few lead up posts.

H Mart is my favorite place for food, but the mystery store has a broader reach -- an aisle for Mexican, an aisle for Indian, a half aisle for Jamaican/West African.  And then there are the Asian foods and the fish.

It's like five ethnic markets under one roof.  So comprehensive that there are separate spice sections with brands from India, Mexico and the United States.

The full celebration of Super Grand in Laurel later this week.

Mystery: Where Is The Store That You Can Get . . .

HowChow mystery!  Where can you go to buy Jamaican hot sauce . . . and six kinds of Asian cabbages?

I'm infatuated with the around-the-world store.  Where in the world is it? Guesses?

Grilling Week At The Asian Supermarket: Whole Fish and Bacon-Wrapped Enotake Mushrooms

In celebration of Grilling Week at HowChow, I am reviewing Planet Barbecue by Steven Raichlen and suggesting some ways to introduce yourself to local ethnic shopping.

Planet Barbecue offers truly interesting ways to cook everything from meat to vegetables, and it is the perfect book for someone who wants to explore the local Asian grocery stores but doesn't know what to buy.

Any of Raichlen's Asian recipes are a fine starting point because he proposes authentic ingredients that you can find easily -- chicken flavored with lemongrass or fish sauce, pork belly cooked with Korean chili paste, rice vinegar and an Asian pear.  But I started with fish.  Whole fish are still a challenge for me, and Raichlen proposed a Loatian recipe that called for small snappers, oyster sauce, garlic and lime.

Pink Ting at Super Grand (and Golden Krust)

If I had a summer drink, it would be some creation made with grapefruit soda.

Not with Fresca, but with Ting -- Jamaican brand that sells little bottles of soda that really tastes like grapefruit and sugar.  I bought the regular flavor of Ting at the Golden Krust Bakery in Catonsville.  I finally tried the pink grapefruit flavor when I was trolling at Super Grand in Laurel.  I'd swear that it tastes like I remember pink grapefruits -- a little sweeter, a little less acidic.

Pink Ting mixed with vodka?  That seemed nice for a warm evening.  Wikipedia says that Ting with citrus vodka is called a "Ving."  It also says that people mix with lime rum for a "Ting 'n Sting."  Those should be inspiration enough for you to troll at Golden Krust where you could get beef patties (although the patties don't get the best reviews) or at the Super Grand where you can get almost anything.

Super Grand stands out among the Asian markets for its broad selection.  H Mart in Catonsville still excels for fish and produce, but Super Grand has way more non-Asian items.  That means regular American brands plus products from Mexico, India, Jamaica and West Africa.  Ting sits in an aisle where you can get Ghanaian staples that I'm still figuring out.  I also notice that Super Grand's workforce lacks the hard distinctions that you see at other stores -- only Latino guys working produce, only Asian women on the cash registers, only Asian men in management.  People mix more at Super Grand, and they have been keyed to customer service.  Whereas Lotte's produce workers range from nervous (the Mexican kids) to brusque (the Korean managers), I have had a Latino Super Grand employee walk me across the store to explain in English where I could find Japanese noodles.  That global shopping, and it's a welcoming, friendly vibe.

Jackfruit at Grand Mart

For a treat from the tropics, go check out the Asian grocery stores for fresh jackfruit.

Super Grand in Laurel had jackfruit this weekend.  It's a tropical fruit with a flavor reminiscent of bananas and mangoes.  I have never seen fresh ones here before, although it might just be a short season that I overlooked.

Not that jackfruit looks like any common fruit.  On the outside, the watermelon-sized fruits have green, armored shells.  But a knife cuts right through and exposes sweet, bright yellow flesh.  Imagine dates swollen by steroids, then pressed together like pomegranate seeds.  Super Grand was selling jackfruit for about $1.29 a pound.  You could buy whole fruit, or you could buy pieces chunked out in three- or four-pound sections.

You carve up jackfruit with technique similar to a pineapple -- cutting out the hard center section and the tough outer skin.  That leaves you with the bright yellow flesh.  Each section has a huge seed inside, and the sections are separated by a white, stringy pitch.  It's perfectly easy to pull that away and be left with sweet pieces that are slightly sticky, but dry like a date.  It's a tropical flavor, sweet but not as sugary as many fruit.  The flesh is meaty, but the flavor is more in the family of bananas, maybe with a touch of mangoes, and a touch of musk, and maybe  . . .  Definitely worth checking out.

If Super Grand has jackfruit, then I assume that Lotte in Ellicott City and H Mart in Catonsville will have them as well.  (A comment below says H Mart has stocked jackfruit for a while.)  They might even be at the Indian markets listed in my ethnic groceries post.


If you're going to Super Grand, watch out for the small watermelon.  I bought one Saturday, and it foamed and leaked water all over our counter on Sunday.  Bacterial fruit blotch!  Not serious, but my read of the Web says entire fields were likely to be infected.

Mexican Pickles At Super Grand

Keep your eye on the Mexican goods at the Asian supermarkets because you can find little gems like the pickled vegetables ("verduras curtidas") at the Super Grand in Laurel.

The jar looks distressingly orange, but that is the stain of carrots, not artificial color, according to the ingredient list. Cauliflower, onion, carrots and jalapenos soaked in vinegar and merging their flavors of spice and sweet.

These aren't the delicate Asian pickles that you can make yourself with Yoricho vinegar. These are fiery vegetables that I have enjoyed in small quantities. A small bowl were a side dish with tacos. A few pieces jazzed up a brown-bag lunch. Chopped, they might make a fine relish. It is an exotic taste for about $4 if I remember correctly. And as easy as just pulling them into your cart.

Super Grand definitely has the widest Mexican selection of the Asian supermarkets. But you could look for these as well at Lotte in Ellicott City or H Mart in Catonsville -- or at Lily's Mexican Market in Columbia.

Previously, I have posted about the Asian supermarkets and about "no cook" finds -- specifically at H Mart but probably available at Lotte and Super Grand as well. Or click for the starting page for my "What I Learned" guide to food in Howard County.

Delicious: Daifuku (Sweet Rice Cakes) at Super Grand

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.

Super Grand in Laurel

With the new Super Grand in Laurel, Howard County is now bracketed by Korean markets -- a source for fish, vegetables, and Asian or Hispanic groceries.

Super Grand is part of the Virginia-based Grand Mart chain that offers a similar lineup as Lotte in Ellicott City or the H Mart in Catonsville.  As I wrote about "My Favorite Place For Food," these Korean markets offer quality and selection that make them fun for anyone who loves food, and the Super Grand opened in October to offer those benefits for people in Columbia and south.

Right inside the door, Super Grand offers fresh, low-priced fruits and vegetables that run from traditional American items like cukes and peppers through Asian and Latin American specialities.  Pomelos.  Asian pears.  Thai peppers.  Lemongrass.  Tomatillos.  Baby bok choys.  A half-dozen Asian greens.  Fresh jack fruit.  The exotic selection makes this a great place to carry your ethnic cookbook.  Pick a recipe once something catches your eye.  The reasonable prices let you experiment, and the quality makes Korean markets worthwhile even if you only buy items that Safeway normally stocks.  I bought chard last weekend that was twice as large and way fresher than I had seen anywhere outside My Organic Market.

As you circle the other aisles, you will see a great fish section with live and whole offerings on top of the normal fillets and steaks.  You'll see Asian groceries like rice, noodles, sauces, and desserts.  You'll also see Hispanic groceries from fresh tortillas and Salvadoran cheeses to Goya canned goods to an entire aisle of El Chilar brand spices and dried peppers.  (They even have Zambo's plantain chips and a display of Mexican candies.)   On the weekend, Super Grand offers tastings of Asian spice mixtures and stirfry sauces.  They weren't my favorites, but they could make nice fast dinners. 

The Super Grand difference is that it offers more Mexican goods and several aisles of American products -- Herr's potato chips, Nabisco cookies, Pop Secret popcorn, laundry detergent, napkins.  At Lotte and H Mart, those are often a single aisle, and they don't carry all the national brands.  (Update: Super Grand even carries Jamaican, African and Indian products.)  The Laurel store is about the same size, so it must offer fewer Asian products.  Certainly, the vegetable section is smaller than the H Mart, but my first visit found everything that I wanted.

Thanks to Sheri for telling me about the Super Grand in a comment to an earlier post.

If you want to read more about Asian grocery stores, start with my posts about "My Favorite Place For Food" and "Ten Easy Pick-ups."  Those will tell you what kinds of items you should expect to find at the Grand Mart.  On a first trip, I definitely suggest that you look for produce, for some fish, for frozen dumplings, and for the seaweed wrappers mentioned in the "Ten Easy Pick-ups."

In the back, Super Grand does have a selection of prepared food, and last weekend, they were offering samples of beef, chicken and pork cooked with some bottled sauces.  To my eye (because I didn't try anything), Lotte still has the best set-up to try some Korean panchan and marinated meats for a quick cook-at-home dinner.  H Mart has improved its selection, but the Super Grand still seems aimed at Korean shoppers who know exactly what they're buying.

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.