Ethnic Produce: Where do you go in NYC?

[lalmirch]

eGullet virgin. Hi Everybody!

This post goes with the one Ethnic Groceries: Where do you go?

I've lived in the Lower East Side for the last decade. Dowel. Hong Kong Supermarket. Kam Man. muchas bodegas y supermercados. So while many ethnic grocers of many nations are around within a mile, I still do not know where to get many fresh ingredients. Many things we can get by with frozen or dried versions, or even close substitutes, but these have no substitute:

Curry leaves. Sri Lankan it's karapincha. It's kari patta in Hindi. Knowing how to say it still doesn't help me locate it. I cannot find them fresh. Can anyone help? Have MetroCard, will travel.

Also having a rough time sourcing fresh Thai kaffir limes (and leaves, and ripe prik kee nu suan!) and Moroccan blood oranges.

This is New York. Someone's gotta know someone that knows someone thats...

Anyway thanks for reading even if you don't have an answer.

[Pan]

Dowel has fresh curry leaves. They keep them in the refrigerator.

I don't know where you can get fresh kaffir lime leaves. Is dried good enough for you? They have the same taste, and when I was in Malaysia, I didn't find the lime leaves they were using to be edible, either (except when in small strips). They just give a wonderful taste to pad prik, chicken soup, and so forth. I get lime leaves at the Thai-Indonesian store on Bayard St., but try the Thai store on Mosco St., too. I'll bet you if they don't have something fresh, they'll either get it for you or tell you where to get it.

As for the limes, I've never seen them for sale in New York and wonder if they'd travel that well, but if you find them, let me know. The limes I most wish I could find here are limau nipis, the jewel of Malaysian limes.

But there are some things that really have to be picked off the tree or plucked from the ground. As an example, I'm glad we can get "fresh" lemongrass here, but it isn't really fresh. Fresh lemongrass in Malaysia is tender and can be eaten up completely. Lemongrass here is tough and can be chewed but not eaten.

And welcome to eGullet!

Edited September 28, 2003 by Pan (log)

[elyse]

No idea, but welcome!

I'm assuming chinatown doesn't interest you? Have you gone to Lexington in the high 20s? I'd go there and ask around. Maybe Queens, maybe Hunts Point in the Bronx?

[Suzanne F]

Welcome, lalmirch! Here are my suggestions, with the caveat that I tend to be almost 100% Manhattan-centric:

I get fresh lime leaves at Asia Market (74-1/2 Mulberry) and the Thai grocery on Mosco, next to Fried Dumpling. Never checked if they are Kaffir lime, just "lime leaves."

For items like those blood oranges, I'd try the fancy stores on the Upper East Side, like Litsakos or Agata and Valentina. Or Fairway. Or someplace on Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn (maybe the folks at Sahadi can point you in the right direction).

And there's always Kalustyan, in Curry Hill.

[lalmirch]

Hey thanks Pan! So Dowel carries curry leaf in the fridge? Excellent. I'll check today. Right now in fact!

Lime leaves: I've been getting super-refrigerated/frozen ones from that store on Mosco, actually. Bangkok Center Grocery, very nice people and great prices on Mae Ploy stuff, rice, etc. but the "fresh" stuff--- well I guess it depends on what day you are there. (FYI non-NYC's or people that don't get to Chinatown much - http://www.templeofthai.com/ is Bangkok Center Grocery.) I'll check out Bayard St for your other source too.

Suzanne if they are "double leaves", that is, a shiny smooth-edged leaf that looks like two are attached end-to-end, and very stiff they are probably bai ma krut. Kaffir limes themselves look kinda like limes only if limes were cratered like the moon's surface. But your suggested store is right by Mosco and Bayard where I'm already headed so I'll certainly stop in. Thanks!

BTW While this has nothing to do with produce - If you guys go through a lot of coconut milk, I'm currently on a quest to find the best per-can price. 0.79 for Chaokoh or Aroy-D at Hong Kong Supermarket. Not that the Goya at the local bodega is any different, but it's $1.49...

Thanks for the fast replies, I'm off to Dowel for curry leaves!

[tommy]

Curry leaves. Sri Lankan it's karapincha. It's kari patta in Hindi. Knowing how to say it still doesn't help me locate it. I cannot find them fresh. Can anyone help? Have MetroCard, will travel.

that place on lex at 28th has fresh curry leaves.

[lalmirch]

UPDATE

Man, eating and shopping with you guys is going to be fun.

No wonder some of you have thousands of posts!!

Spot-on with Dowel's curry leaves. Fresh, and he says that they are rarely out of them and that if I want larger quantity we can work something out. They are $1.75 per bag, each bag containing about 6 stalks 10-12" long. Very expensive compared to the dried, but the smell oh the smell. The bags were in an old soda fridge on the right closest to the front window, on the bottom shelf.

Pan's other place on Bayard St. is called Udom's on the south side of the street. You might have to look for it, it's one of those storefronts that blends into the background and you can look directly at it without seeing it. I think this will be an excellent resource. I'm going back again on a weekday when all the tourists aren't there. (in a post-911 bad economy I won't say "damn tourists" but I won't shop on weekends unless forced at gunpoint or rumbling stomach.)

Pan, wisdom beyond your years. Thanks a million. I'll try the first resturant you suggest, on faith.

HEY! Can you do anything about BBC America cancelling EastEnders?!!? :angry:

Seriously, thanks for the help folks...

[elyse]

Catch it on WLIW - 21. Maybe NJN too.

[schaem]

Actually, depending on the day, the Thai grocery on Mosco has fresh lime leaves, and fresh kaffir limes. Also: holy basil, fresh galangal, "mouse shit" peppers, and...really good pork rinds. Great people, too.

[Pan]

Very glad my suggestions were helpful.