Guar -- Indian Green Beans -- At Eastern Bazaar

Go exotic without leaving your comfort zone by buying some unusual green beans at Eastern Bazaar.

Guar are also called "cluster beans."  They're thin green beans with tiny, tiny beans inside the pod.  Visually different from your regular beans, almost looks more like the green from a chive.

They're $3 a pound in the cooler at Eastern Bazaar in Laurel.  I had never seem them before, but a Googled a recipe on the spot and grabbed curry leaves to round that out.

Very easy to cook with some canned Muir Glen tomatoes and new potatoes.  Eastern Bazaar stands out among the Indian stores because it offers fresh produce.  I had actually stopped for curry leaves because I couldn't find them at the Grand Mart.  Eastern Bazaar often has eggplants, herbs and other items that stand out.

Try something exotic.  Try something authentic.  And it's green beans so it's not like I'm getting you to intestines or lungs.

If you want to try guar beans, check out the "Cluster Beans and Potato Bhaji" on Mamta's Kitchen.  Substitute a small can of chopped tomatoes for the two tomatoes.  And remember that a pound is about 500 grams, so it's about a quarter-pound of beans and half that much in potatoes.

Fresh Curry Leaves At Eastern Bazaar

New recipes call for new ingredients, and you should check out the fresh curry leaves and new a lentil dish by stopping at Eastern Bazaar in Laurel.

All the Indian grocery stores have freezers, but Eastern Bazaar stands out because it offers cool along with the icy cold -- fresh produce, including specialties like the fresh curry leaves required by the recipe that I tried out this week.  I had seen them at the H Mart in Catonsville, but my shopping list was specialized enough to send me to an Indian market, specifically to Eastern Bazaar in Laurel where you can get the standard spices, flours and frozen naan along with unusual peppers, squash, and other vegetables.

You can also get curry leaves.  They're in a basket in the refrigerator that faces the freezer in the back.  They're more than $20 a pound, but that's meaningless when my recipe called for only six leaves.  I picked two fresh-looking sprigs and didn't even notice how much they cost in the end.

Any basic vegetables that you can't find at Eastern Bazar are probably available at the Panam Supermarket in the shopping center that backs against Eastern.  If you are looking for Indian groceries inside Howard County, check out Apna Bazar in Laurel, Food Cravings in Columbia or Desi Bazaar in Columbia.  

Eastern Bazar
15101 Baltimore Ave # 100
Laurel, MD 20707
(301) 490-4666

NEAR: The market is just east of U.S. 1 near the intersection with Rte 198.  It actually faces onto Rte 198, although you can only reach it from the north-bound lanes of U.S.1.  From Howard County,  you need to take U.S. 1 south past the Five Guys, then U-turn back onto north-bound U.S. 1 and turn into the last parking lot before the Rte 198 intersection.  Turn left in the shopping center and drive past the Aunt Jenny's Jamaican restaurant to reach Eastern Bazar.

Pani Puri at Eastern Bazar (or any other Indian market)

Pani puri is an Indian snack food that I will always love because my friend's family took us out on our first night -- or maybe the second -- in Bombay.

To make pani puri, you buy the crisp hollow balls of impossibly thin dough.  You break a hole at one end, then you fill the hole with a mixture -- made as far as I understand of onion, potato and chick pea flavored with the pani puri sauce.  Bags of the

 crisp balls and jars of the sauce are available at local Indian grocery stores.  The bags in the picture are from Eastern Bazar in Laurel, but I have seen similar displays at Desi Bazar.

The "coolness" to "work" ratio with pani puri is off the charts.  You buy the crisps and the sauce.  You just cook up some potato and onion, add some canned chickpeas, some of the pani puri sauce and some water.  Then you serve them one at a time by cracking a hole in a crisp, spooning in a teaspoon or so of warm filling, and handing them out to enjoy.

Look for all the supplies at one of Howard County's Indian groceries, including Food Cravings in Columbia, Desi Bazaar in Columbia, Apna Bazar in Laurel or Eastern Market in Laurel.  In May 2009, someone was opening a new Indian grocery near the Gateway Pizza in Elkridge.

Pani Puri

This is a very general recipe based on how I made pani puri.  I'm sure you could find another recipe on the Web.

1 bag of pani puri crisps

1 jar of pani puri sauce

1 large new potato, diced

1/2 onion, diced

1 c. chickpeas

1) Boil a pot of water and add the potato.  Test them after five minutes to see if they're tender.  Cook until they're tender.  Drain the potato when its tender.

2) While the potato is cooking, saute the onion until it is soft.

3) Add  the potato and chickpeas to the onions.  Saute until everything is warm.  Pour all the vegetables into a bowl.

4) Add two tablespoons of the pani puri sauce.  Add about four tablespoons of water.  Taste the vegetables.  As far as I know, this is just personal taste.  The pani puri sauce that I bought was spicy with about two tablespoons.

5) With a spoon, crack a hole in one of the pani puri crisps.  Spoon in a tablespoon or so of the vegetables.  Eat.  Repeat.  (They're best crunchy and fresh.  I think they're best eaten right away like a snack.)

Eastern Bazar Supermarket in Laurel

You don't need to leave Howard County for a good Indian grocery store, but the Eastern Bazar Supermarket in Laurel is worth a drive because it offers all the standards plus speciality produce.

Like the other local Indian markets, Eastern Bazar is a resource for both cooking and convenience food.  You can buy spices, rices, lentils, chickpea flour, and dozens of other items that you'll find in an Indian cookbook.  Or you can buy frozen naan, jarred pickles, chutneys, grill sauces, and boxes of ready-made curries for a packed lunch or a quick dinner.

The real difference is the produce arranged in coolers in the far left corner when you enter the store.  There are neatly-arranged boxes with items like long squash, curry leaves, spiny melon. methe, and daiku.  Even great local markets like Lily's Mexican or Caezar's International stock little or no produce.  So it's a treat to see that you could buy your vegetables -- including unique ones -- on a single visit.  Any basic vegetables that you can't find at Eastern Bazar are probably available at the Panam Supermarket in the shopping center that backs against Eastern.

The owner/clerk at Eastern was really helpful -- which I have found common at the Indian markets.  I stumbled on pani puri -- a snack that I ate on one of my first nights in India.  He explained to me how to cook the vegetables and where to find the jarred sauce that he stocks.  I'm not sophisticated enough at Indian shopping to spot the differences between the local stores.  I assume there is some regional variation -- Indian vs. Pakistani, northern vs. southern, or even just Coke vs. Pepsi if they stock different brands.

If you are looking for Indian groceries inside Howard County, check out Apna Bazar in Laurel, Food Cravings in Columbia or Desi Bazaar in Columbia.  In early summer 2009, it looked like Food Cravings might also be expanding to Elkridge.

Eastern Bazar
15101 Baltimore Ave # 100
Laurel, MD 20707
(301) 490-4666

NEAR: The market is just east of U.S. 1 near the intersection with Rte 198.  It actually faces onto Rte 198, although you can only reach it from the north-bound lanes of U.S.1.  From Howard County,  you need to take U.S. 1 south past the Five Guys, then U-turn back onto north-bound U.S. 1 and turn into the last parking lot before the Rte 198 intersection.  Turn left in the shopping center and drive past the Aunt Jenny's Jamaican restaurant to reach Eastern Bazar.