Shop Your Local Ethnic Grocer!

I am going to stress this more than once in the future recipe writings: Do NOT, for the love of God, purchase ANY ethnic ingredients in any major grocery store, if you can at all help it. I beg of you, seek out your local ethnic grocers!!!

Your big businesses will have you believe that common ethnic staples, if they carry them, are exotic, gourmet foods that are hard to come by, and thus are more expensive. Hogwash! Spices and rices and sauces are going to be loads cheaper at your ethnic grocers. You're also likely to support a small, often family-run business. Clearly win-win!

If you're from the Champaign area, here are a few of my favorite stores:

Am-Ko
101 E. Springfield Ave

This is a great Asian store that seems to have recently expanded it's standard Chinese and Japanese ingredients to include a lot of common Indian fare. They have a great seafood selection, including sashimi-grade fish. They also seem to carry any noodle you can imagine, and a huge selection of fresh kim-chi's, and a case full of good tortillas, nan, and pita's.

Am-Ko has a decent inventory, but they're a busy lot with a small staff. If I'm looking for advice or answers, I usually hit one of the other places.

Far-East
Fifth Street, One block south of University Avenue

Off the beaten path, but a fun little shopping experience. The door into Far-East does seem like some sort of portal to the orient. You'll muck through produce and hurdle baskets of frozen fish and live crabs to shop in actual refrigerators. The aisles in the main grocery area are almost overwhelmingly packed; this place is your best bet for hard-to-find groceries. It's the only place that I can count on to carry fresh lemon grass and frozen lime leaves (kafir) for Tom Yum Soup.

The Green Onion
2020 S. Neil St

If you're intimidated by the extremely foreign feel (and smell) of the ethnic grocers, and prefer a more Westernized environment, you'll be more comfortable at The Green Onion. It's located in the strip mall on Route 45, and thus has modern conveniences of flooring, drywall, and good lighting.

The young couple that owns this place are very, very warm and helpful. I once asked them what that good soup at a local Korean restaurant might be. I walked out with all of the ingredients, and step-by-step cooking directions (do NOT, whatever you do, take the lid off for 20 minutes!)

Also, if you run into them in public, which we seem to do quite often, they give you a piece of Korean candy.

Annapoorna
505 S. Neil

Specializing in Indian ingredients, this is a great place for bulk spices and rices. Canned and frozen ingredients are here too, but if you need fresh produce, you'll have to shop elsewhere.

Mas Amigos
607 North Cunningham Avenue

This one is my favorite Mexican grocer in town. Do I have to list what I usually buy here? Fresh tortillas, jalapenos, chili peppers, tostadas, sour cream and avocadoes. There's a cornucopia of other stuff I'm not sure what to do with...like cactus leaves. How do I cook a cactus? I don't know. Yet.

El Charro
55 E. Green Street

Part Mexican grocery and part restaurant. This place offers a smaller grocery section, but if you're looking for weird entire pieces of whole animals, they have a butcher's case. We've picked up chorizo here, but anything with a hoof still attached has never entered my shopping bag.

I've yet to order anything from the grill, though I imagine that I will not be disappointed when I do. The worst thing about this store is that it's in an old building on campus. There seems to be a bit of an underlying scent of sewage to the place, that the owners try to stay on top of constantly with Lysol cleaner. Perhaps that's why I've so far not been enticed to stick around for a meal there. Maybe I'll get mine to go.

Salsa Verde Pork Tacos

A mexican friend taught me how to make these fantastic tacos. No recipe books, no exact measurements, just verde tacos like Mama used to make....except for, perhaps, a few store-bought tortillas.

Sauce:
4-6 dried red chili's
1 large can of tomatillos, drained
1 onion, roughly chopped
garlic

Filling:
1 pork tenderloin sliced as thin as you can slice it,
then cut into small, bite-sized pieces.

chopped onion (optional)
1-2 cloves of garlic, minced

Accompaniments
tortillas
lettuce, shredded
cilantro
shredded cheese
refried beans

Directions

Snap off the ends of these chili's and shake all of the seeds out of them, if you don't want it devil-hot. Put a little oil into a frying pan, and stir them around until they're toasted. Keep your overhad fan on, or you'll be sneezing your head off.

Transfer the chili's into a blender. Throw in the tomatillos, onion, and garlic, and puree.

Saute the pork in oil, with onion and garlic. After it's browned almost through, pour that pitcher of chili-tomatillo salsa over the top. You can add a little water, if needed, and then cook it down over low-to-medium heat for about 30 minutes, or until you're ready to eat.

Load up your tortillas and eat. These are good with a scoop of refried beans in them too.

Old World Onion Soup

Read thru this before cooking; it takes at least 3 hours of attentive cooking for this soup, but it's sooooooooo worth it! You'll need ramekins or some other broiler-proof serving dish for this soup.

3 T. olive oil
5 large sweet yellow onions, thinly sliced
1-1/2 c. dry white wine
5 cloves garlic
5 c. vegetable stock
2 bay leaves
1 T minced minced fresh thyme or 1 t. dried
2 t. minced fresh rosemary, or 2/3 t. dried
1/4 t. crushed dried red hot chilies
1 t. sea salt
1 t. black pepper
1/2 loaf sourdough French bread cut into 1/2-in. slices
1/2 c. cognac or brandy
8 oz. Emmenthaler or swiss cheese

In a large pot with a tight-fitting lid, heat 1 T. of the oil over low heat. Add the onions and cook, covered, until the onions begin to brown and have absorbed the oil.

Add 3 T white wine, cover, and cook an additional 30-40 minutes, stirring occasionally, until onions are a deep golden brown. If necessary add more wine, 1 T. at a time, to prevent from burning.

Add the remaining wine, the garlic, vegetable stock, bay leaves, thyme, rosemary, chiles, salt, and pepper. Bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to low and simmer, covered, for 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees

Lightly brush boths sides of the bread with remaining olive oil. Place on baking sheet and bake until lightly browned, (8 to 10 minutes).. Remove from oven and set aside.

Remove the bay leaves from the soup and add the cognac. Adjust the seasonings, if necessary, and divide the soup into four heavy, heat-proof bowls. Top each w/2 bread slices (trim the bread to cover as much of the soup's surface as possible). Layer the cheese so that it covers the bread completely.

Broil 6 in. from heat source until cheese is bubbling and golden.

Cooking Tip & Lentil Soup Recipe

Cooking tip: Wrap turkey leftovers in aluminum foil and throw them out.

—cartoonist Nicole Hollander

One holiday down, and Christmas chaos begins. Holiday shopping and rejoicing leaves the very idea of grocery shopping as one that's intolerable. Too tired to shop, too tired to cook. You end up eating out, or grabbing fast junk at home, along with all of the holiday goodies left on the workplace counter and delivered to your doorstep. Credit card debt ensues, and the pants get too tight. You spend even more time at the closet each morning, desperate to find at least ONE pair of jeans that still fits you comfortably. Finally settling on a tight pair and an oversized sweater, and showing up 10 minutes late for work....

Dear God: Oh, let this not be my December once again. Amen

I consolidated the Thanskgiving leftovers today, thus stocking the frig with relatively healthy, or at the very least, readily available for a quick, hot microwaved meal when we're exhausted and famished. Leftover turkey went into a pot of turkey and noodles, of which my son and his friend will polish off before weekend is over. Leftover chopped veggies were used in a large bowl of tuna salad, and lastly, a steaming hot pot of lentil soup.

This soup recipe is one handed to me by my friend and employer, and fellow cooking aficianado. Each winter he brings in gallons of this stuff, we pour it into coffee cups for a quick, hot, low-calorie snack. So, here's the super-easy recipe, and one more tip: Don't even THINK of trying to make this without the cilantro; it's what makes it special.

LENTIL SOUP

1 onion
4 cloves garlic
carrots (this job easier if you just grab a bag of matchstick carrots)
red chili pepper to taste (optional)
2 large cans chicken broth
1 lb of lentils (I rinse them before cooking)
2 bunchs of cilantro (at least!) rinsed and chopped

• Saute the onion, garlic, carrots, and chili pepper in a little olive oil.
• Add the broth and lentils, bring to a boil for a few minutes. Lentils cook fast, so set to simmer for awhile. Add additional chicken broth as needed for your desired consistency. I like mine thick and stew-y.
• After a simmering until all the vegetables are tender, toss in the cilantro, stir through, and serve. Seriously, don't skip the cilantro.

The bossman puts all of this into a blender, and whips it into a thick delicious soup. He funnels it into recycled, wide-mouthed juice jars, and we just pour ourselves a cup. It's not necessarily pretty, but it tastes goooo-dood!

I've fixed it his way, and I've also left the veggies as is. They are equally delicious, and warming on a cold winter day. Use the fat-free chicken broth, and I think it's relatively good for you too.

Enjoy! Stay warm!