Curry pastes by mail

[DTBarton]

Just received some curry pastes from this place: http://www.importfoods.com/

I got the panang (my favorite) and the green. Tried the panang last night and it was excellent. As good a panang chicken as I've ever had.

They offer a few different pastes, this is the one I got: http://importfood.com/cphb5003.html

They have one in a can, one in a tub, and this one's in a pouch. Touted as the gourmet version. It's 40 cents more than the tub!

With respect to preparation, use the paste judiciously. I looked at several panang recipes and the amounts of curry paste are all over the map. I think I ended up using about 2 tablespoons with maybe 1 1/4 lbs boneless chicken and 10 ozs of coconut milk. The paste is mildly spicy, I added some fresh chiles for heat. It is also very salty based on the label, so start slow, you can always add more.

Looks like they might have a bunch of other interesting stuff. Prices and shipping are reasonable and I got my stuff in 3 days.

I noticed they do offer golden mountain sauce as touted in this thread:

http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=100385

http://importfood.com/sagm0705.html

[Abra]

I have their red curry in a pouch and it's an excellent product. Rounded and rich, it's got a lot more going on than what I've previously been able to find in a jar.

They have a lot of terrific products.

[The Blissful Glutton]

Not a paste, but very good sauces: www.currysimple.com

Hard to believe they came out of a pouch. I am very picky about eating pre-packaged anything and this stuff is good. I like the red and green the best.

Edited March 19, 2007 by The Blissful Glutton (log)

[Octaveman]

The Mae Ploy brand tub of curry lasts a real long time. I use these exclusively whenever I want to make a good quick curry. BTW, Importfood.com is very good and carries a huge selection of hard to find stuff. I've made many purchases from them in the past.

[nduran]

They do have a lot of stuff, but their prices are like 500% of what I pay retail for the exact same items. I should start my own reselling business

Edited March 20, 2007 by nduran (log)

[DTBarton]

They do have a lot of stuff, but their prices are like 500% of what I pay retail for the exact same items. I should start my own reselling business

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You have better oriental shopping where you live than I do. I can find some of that stuff somewhat cheaper in big cities, but not too much here. The local groceries have some stuff, but it's mostly from big national producers like La-Choy or Kikkoman brands.

I didn't find $3.89 for what appears to be enough good curry paste to make about 100 servings to be too dear. I did pay $6 for shipping from Washington state, but that's a lot cheaper than gas, train, or plane tickets!

[Octaveman]

Agreed, there's only so much one can do locally so there's no choice but to get them online. IF.com is comparable to other online retailers and they carry fresh produce as well. A year ago when Kaffir lime leaves were nowhere to be found in the stores, I asked the owner of IF what's going on. He said there were hurricanes, flooding etc where most of the suppliers got their lime leaves and the crops were destroyed. The lemon grass was also affected and I couldn't get that either. I checked back every couple of days and the local 99 Ranch and others were completely out of both items for over a month. IF.com had their own supplier and I bought it. He gave me a deal on the leaves and LG and the quality was very good. Price is super high on these items but supply and demand is the rules if you can't get it locally. BTW, this catastrophic event is what prompted me to buy my own Kaffir lime tree and grow my own lemon grass. HERE is where I posted about them. Check this out as this may also be an option for when you need those items. Further down is where I got the Kaffir lime tree.

The Mae Ploy curry pastes on IF.com are not 500% more than in the stores. That would make a tub of it cost $0.70 in the stores and I know it doesn't. If anything it's double but not much more.

Grocery Thai.com is another place that has a lot of stuff. Might be a tad cheaper than IF.com

Temple of Thai is another.

[nduran]

The Mae Ploy curry pastes on IF.com are not 500% more than in the stores.  That would make a tub of it cost $0.70 in the stores and I know it doesn't.  If anything it's double but not much more.

Never bought any, but the 20oz bottle of Golden Mountain they want $6 for costs about $1.25 here. I imagine that puts the store's actual cost at somewhere around 50 cents. And the very same $40 mortar and pestle they have I got for $12. I don't even want to know what the shipping charges would be for that hunk of rock. Yowza.

I realize the land-locked have little choice in the matter, I'm simply amazed by the profit margins.

Edited March 20, 2007 by nduran (log)

[kristin_71]

ok I have what may constitue a stupid question. Rogan Josh, what is it? I got some from one Indian market and it is a paste with seasoning and some other stuff in it. The other Indian market did not have it, but Penzys sells it, as a spice. So which is it? A spice or a paste? I have a recipe for a lamb braise ( from Daniel Boulud's Braise Cookbook ) and it calls for Rogan Josh. I am figuring he means the spice because he lists Penzys as one of the sources in the back, but I would like to know which is right, for my own personal knowledge.

[Pan]

ok I have what may constitue  a stupid question. Rogan Josh, what is it? I got some from one Indian market and it is a paste with seasoning and some other stuff in it. The other Indian market did not have it, but Penzys sells it, as a spice. So which is it? A spice or a paste? I have a recipe for a lamb braise ( from Daniel Boulud's Braise Cookbook ) and  it calls for Rogan Josh. I am figuring he means the spice because he lists Penzys as one of the sources in the back, but I would like to know which is right, for my own personal knowledge.

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Rogan Josh is neither a spice nor a paste, but a dish (and a tasty, rich one at that). Here are Google results.

Edited March 21, 2007 by Pan (log)

[Blether]

Rogan Josh, what is it?

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Yeah, "Rogan Josh" means literally 'red meat' (IIRC). It's a North Indian dish, a stew/braise normally of lamb or mutton: Madhur Jaffrey's recipe suggests lamb shoulder, and I've adapted one recoipe (don't remember of it was MJ's, but for a Kashmiri asfoetida-but-no-alliums version) too, to lamb shanks. It's traditionally red from being stoked with red chilli peppers.