Category Archives: – Recipes

Gundruk: an essential food staple and flavor in Nepali cooking

Posted on November 16, 2018 by David Dettmann

Over the past several months I have been slowly exploring Nepali food and cooking with rare items from our local supplier of foodstuffs from Nepal, Friendly Market on S. 7th St. in South Philly (see here for my 2014 introduction … Continue reading →

Posted in - Featured Food Discoveries, - Featured Markets, - Recipes, Nepali food | Tagged , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Garlic scapes, fried as a vegetable

Posted on June 21, 2018 by David Dettmann

  We are deep into the season of garlic scapes. Fortunately for those of us in Philly, we are able to find these strong-flavored beauties with fair regularity through springtime in Chinatown and even at area farmer’s markets. These are … Continue reading →

Posted in - Featured Food Discoveries, - Recipes, Chinese food | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Savory Uyghur flatbread at the base of a stew

Posted on March 27, 2018 by David Dettmann

Travelers to Uyghur cultural zones of Xinjiang will be familiar with the Uyghur staple flatbread (aka nan) and its many uses at the table. It is served alongside tea, dried fruits and nuts for breakfast and afternoon tea. At kawap … Continue reading →

Posted in - Featured Food Discoveries, - Recipes, Central Asia/Uyghur food | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Delicious greens: yuchoy

Posted on December 9, 2017 by David Dettmann

Long leaf vegetables are a key component of most meals at our house, and yuchoy is a vegetable that comes fresh to Philadelphia markets regularly. That is to say it is usually in our fridge. It keeps pretty well for … Continue reading →

Posted in - Featured Food Discoveries, - Recipes, Chinese food, Thai/Lao food | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Grilled long eggplant, two ways

Posted on August 6, 2017 by David Dettmann

It is a nice day for grilling, and I’d like to use up a few ugly vegetables I have kicking around in the fridge. Some lovely hardwood smoke will do wonders to make these guys shine, and the preparation couldn’t … Continue reading →

Posted in - Featured Food Discoveries, - Recipes, Cambodian food, Thai/Lao food | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

Sino-Thai Sunday brunch: bakuteh and batonggo

Posted on July 30, 2017 by David Dettmann

Today I recreated a food experience from last summer in Bangkok, when my sisters-in-law took me out for a Chinese-style brunch at a place that specialized in “meat bone tea” (肉骨茶), or as locals in Thailand/Malaysia/Singapore/Indonesia refer to as bakuteh บะกุ๊ดเต๋. … Continue reading →

Posted in - Featured Food Discoveries, - Recipes, Chinese food, Malay/Indonesian food, Thai/Lao food | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

A Chinese pan-fried flatbread and “Chinese hamburger”

Posted on May 21, 2017 by David Dettmann

As the cuisine of China’s interior becomes popular in US cities (i.e. among the popular Xi’an-themed restaurants in NYC and Philadelphia–see here for my past post on that topic), items like “Chinese hamburger” are slowly becoming commonplace on menus at … Continue reading →

Posted in - Featured Food Discoveries, - Recipes, Chinese food | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Delicious greens: water spinach

Posted on May 10, 2017 by David Dettmann

Water spinach is one of our favorite vegetables. It is a popular vegetable to stir fry in Southern China and Southeast Asia. When quickly fried at high heat, its leaves wilt and the stems stay crunchy. Its flavor is like … Continue reading →

Posted in - Featured Food Discoveries, - Recipes, Chinese food, Malay/Indonesian food, Thai/Lao food | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Besan flour and Burmese chickpea tofu

Posted on February 19, 2017 by David Dettmann

Yesterday I had an exciting new food experience with a starch jelly common in Myanmar. There it is commonly referred to as “tofu” တိုဖူး, though it isn’t made from soy or processed in the ways in which beans are fermented … Continue reading →

Posted in - Featured Food Discoveries, - Featured Markets, - Recipes, Myanmar/Burmese food | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Kluwak seeds and a savory black beef stew from East Java

Posted on October 23, 2016 by David Dettmann

The black flesh of fermented kluwak seeds (aka keluwek or black nut) adds a very unusual and thick earthy base to meat stews in regional cuisines of Indonesia and Malaysia. It is particularly well known as a key ingredient in … Continue reading →

Posted in - Featured Food Discoveries, - Recipes, Malay/Indonesian food | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment