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Fruit in Asian meals


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I can't wait for it to get colder so I can spend $40 on 2 boxes of 12 apples and 12 korean pears. I also can't wait for persimmon season. I love buying those japanese persimmons and letting them sit in my kitchen for a few weeks until they start to get mushy. When they get to that stage, I scoop out the insides with a spoon.

I thought concord grapes were sweet? They taste sweet until you bite into that tart skin :wacko:

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Like what the others said in here, korean hospitality always include sliced fruit for their guest when they visit. I really like this except when I am offered a bunch of concord grapes. I always tell them those grapes are usually made into wine, juice or jam, too sour to eat.

You should try them, they're not sour, especially if they're a bit more mature grapes. They're usually quite sweet. If you get an underripe concord they'll be sour.

I totally agree, Ellen.

What is the point of telling "them" "usually" of something that has no relevance to "their" food culture. You know"your" way with grapes isn't universally "correct". "They" can tell you to just eat them.

I can be reached via email chefzadi AT gmail DOT com

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bvmisa - my parents are from Cavite city and of spanish origin, hence they would eat any kind of fruit with the viand and rice. No kidding, my dad would eat bananas with adobo and rice / even mango with fried fish and rice. I found out later in my various surfing explorations that there are certain provinces in Spain where people would normally eat fruit with their meals (not after as a dessert).

Doddie aka Domestic Goddess

"Nobody loves pork more than a Filipino"

eGFoodblog: Adobo and Fried Chicken in Korea

The dark side... my own blog: A Box of Jalapenos

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Also, I hate those Korean grapes with the seeds and the skin.  They taste so good....but its so labor intensive. 

Eun Jeong's going to be eating them a lot, and I'll be seeing grape skins on all the plates. And she's going to make me eat them too because she has to share everything she eats with me -- especially foods I told her I don't like.

Just one day after posting that, I came home, and Eun Jeong had a bowl full of the foul grapes. The living room reeks. Grape season has arrived.

Give me durian to counter this smell!

<a href='http://www.zenkimchi.com/FoodJournal' target='_blank'>ZenKimchi Korean Food Journal</a> - The longest running Korean food blog

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It occurs to me that what's commonly called "tamarind" in Malaysia (asam gelugor in Malay) is in fact a fruit, and a common ingredient in curries (or at least was on the East Coast in the 70s) and asam dishes.

Michael aka "Pan"

 

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Pan - RE:Tamarind - In the Philippines we call this sampaloc. We use unripe tamarind fruit to flavor our sour soup called "Sinigang". It is a flavorful sour soup loaded with veggies like string beans, eggplant, radish slices, taro root, onions and tomatoes. The main meat of the soup can be pork, chicken, beef, shrimp or fish. My youngest son, Billy, is called sinigang boy because he can eat all kinds of sinigang every meal EVERY single day.

Doddie aka Domestic Goddess

"Nobody loves pork more than a Filipino"

eGFoodblog: Adobo and Fried Chicken in Korea

The dark side... my own blog: A Box of Jalapenos

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It occurs to me that what's commonly called "tamarind" in Malaysia (asam gelugor in Malay) is in fact a fruit, and a common ingredient in curries (or at least was on the East Coast in the 70s) and asam dishes.

I have just returned from Thailand. I took a 3 day cooking course in Chiang Mai (Northern Thailand) and they often use "tamarind juice" to cook with. I live in Seattle, WA and have never seen the tamarind juice...tamarind here is usually sold in the dried brick form or the pods, but now I'll have to look for the juice. We may have it and it just never hit my radar.

One day I was at the market in Chiang Mai's Chinatown and this woman was eating the tamarind fresh. She'd crack the outer pod, then suck out a portion. She'd eat the tamarind "flesh" and then spit out the seed. When I looked at her curiously, she handed a tamarind pod to me. It was really quite good...and before then, it never occured to me to try eating tamarind out of hand. I'll have to check to see if the tamarind pods we get here in Seattle are fresh enough to eat that way.

Commenting on above references to expensive fruit in Japan, Korea, etc. It's worth noting that the practice of actually growing the fruits is quite different as well. Much more attention is paid to the fruit by hand. It's not incommon for a leaf that may be shading an individual piece of fruit to be trimmed away, etc.

When I was in Thailand, I passed a wealthy residence. The fruit tree in their yard had plastic bags tied around each piece of fruit on the tree. While I couldn't get close enough to tell what kind of fruit it was exactly, but it was interesting to see.

Traca

Seattle, WA

blog: Seattle Tall Poppy

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I took a 3 day cooking course in Chiang Mai (Northern Thailand) and they often use "tamarind juice" to cook with.  I live in Seattle, WA and have never seen the tamarind juice...tamarind here is usually sold in the dried brick form or the pods, but now I'll have to look for the juice.  We may have it and it just never hit my radar. 

Indian and Southeast Asian markets carry jars of tamarind concentrate, which can be reconstituted to use as tamarind juice. The brand in my fridge is CTF (Combine Thai Foods) from Thailand. Latin-American markets also carry beverage cans of tamarind nectar (usually Goya or Jumex brands), but I believe that has sugar added.

SuzySushi

"She sells shiso by the seashore."

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Easy enough to make tamarind juice from the blocks - break off a piece, say about 2 in X 2 in, put in a bowl, and cover with 1 cup very hot water. Use a fork to break it up and leave to soak for 1/2 hour or more. Then pour through a fine sieve, using fork or the back of a spoon to push the seeds against the sieve and extract as much pulp as possible. Keeps in the fridge for a couple of months. Use in your recipe a bit at a time and taste to adjust sourness.

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Easy enough to make tamarind juice from the blocks - break off a piece, say about 2 in X 2 in, put in a bowl, and cover with 1 cup very hot water. Use a fork to break it up and leave to soak for 1/2 hour or more. Then pour through a fine sieve, using fork or the back of a spoon to push the seeds against the sieve and extract as much pulp as possible. Keeps in the fridge for a couple of months. Use in your recipe a bit at a time and taste to adjust sourness.

Thanks for the tip. That's what I was planning on doing but it was more of an experiment rather "knowing" that's what I should do. I can't wait to start working my way through some of these recipes!

Traca

Seattle, WA

blog: Seattle Tall Poppy

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