Saturday, June 20, 2009

She Shoots, She SCORES!

It was my birthday recently, and my wonderful friend JJTHWH got me a super awesome foodie present! She knows what a food geek I am, so she looked in the back of Madhur Jaffrey's "World Vegetarian" cookbook at the "recommended resources" area... and ordered me up some super cool specialty items:

First to arrive: Fresh Mangosteens and Mini-Coconuts.

Here is a beautiful mangosteen... white pulpy fruit, deep red peel, gorgeous purpley red exterior. I should write a sonnet or something!

Fresh Mangosteens are one of my most favorite fruits of all times. They are so delicious!! The flavor is very sweet, but not in an overbearing way. The larger segments have a nutty seed inside that is also eaten - it actually has a nice nutty flavor of its own, is easy to crunch, and goes well with the fruit. It's a watery fruit, even more so than most fruits, so it's extra refreshing. Also, I happen to think mangosteen is just plain beautiful. I made a special little video of Mangosteen Appreciation, since most of you have probably never seen or eaten one.



(side note: every time I make a video, I am left wondering "Do I really sound like that!?")


Yes, you heard right. MINI COCONUTS. They are called "Coquito Nuts" and they look like tiny coconut babies, and they taste like coconut, but the coolest thing is that you can just pop them in your mouth and eat them like this. They are fun and tasty and wonderful!

Next to arrive, a wonderful shipment of cool Persian and Indian ingredients & spices! I still need to do some serious sleuthing around on the internet for recipes with all these neato things: Charoli Nuts, Anardana Powder (sour pomegranate seed powder!), Amchoor (sour mango powder), Anjain Seeds, Dried Limes, Radhuni, Khak Shir, and Char Magaz. I already made some dahl and added the Anardana powder - lovely! I welcome any and all recipe suggestions!

Thank you JJTWH!! What a wonderful present!!!!

20 comments:

  1. mangosteen, o mangosteen, wherefore art thou mangosteen.

    ;)

    such awesome goodies! this is why i love international markets. just to LOOK at the ingredients is amazing.

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  2. OMG mini coconuts - i had no idea such a thing existed!!

    what a great gift!

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  3. What a wonderful present. Everything is interesting, but I'm especially intrigued by the sour pomegranate seed powder. I might have to look for some of that!

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  4. Those little coconuts are adorable! I had to laugh when I read your side note about how you sound - being Canadian, I sometimes forget how different I sound from some people, and listening to myself on a video will often prompt the same response as you had. Oh well, so what if I say 'eh' a lot, and pronounce 'about' as 'aboot'? LOL

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  5. Anonymous1:30 PM

    Happy Birthday! And what an awesome present--that is SO cool!

    Courtney

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  6. I love mangosteen! I love your video! Yes, you do sound like that! Sweet and silly and full of wonder. I miss you.

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  7. I have an excellent Iranian cookbook called A Taste of Persia that calls for some of those ingredients (I'm so jealous that you have those! I need to get myself to an Iranian market soon). Enjoy playing with your birthday goodies and happy belated birthday!

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  8. What a fun birthday gift... I've been really curious about mangosteen, but the "mini coconuts" are totally new to me. Too cool!

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  9. Oh my goodness, I must get ahold of some of those mini coconuts - they look so cute and amazing! Happy belated birthday! :-)

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  10. Happy Birthday, Amey! What adorable little presents.

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  11. Anonymous8:22 AM

    have fun cooking with all your new spices!!
    Cheers
    Tay

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  12. I've been dying to try a fresh mangosteen ever since I became addicted to trader joe's freeze dried mangosteen. I'm jealous! Good luck with the sleuthing

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  13. Anonymous9:43 AM

    mini coconuts! no way! I've never heard of seen them before. What does the 'skin' taste like? can you use them in recipes?

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  14. I love mangosteen! I had some in Singapore a few years ago, but haven't seen it much in the U.S. aside from in uber expensive drinks and, as someone mentioned, in dried form at TJ's. What great gifts! Happy birthday!

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  15. Happy Belated Birthday! I wish I had been to the potluck. I have only heard of mangosteens.

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  16. Lucky you! That's a bunch of cool stuff. I remain of the opinion that the mini coconuts were weird though :)

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  17. mini cocos? now that's gnawdorable.

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  18. omg, that was the most amazing video i've ever seen! You are awesome!

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  19. wait, wait, waiiiittt
    where did you get mangosteens? they are my favorite fruit ever but they're impossible to find fresh!!

    Teddy

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