Laos In The House founder Catzie Vilayphonh goes to this market to stock her pantry with Lao/Thai ingredients such as Pantai fermented fish sauce and shrimp paste, Por Kwan chile pastes and curry gravy, Mama Noodles in the iconic silver wrapping, and T.O. Fun fact: Gyro cart vendors go to Aslam to get their special spice blends.
Aslam Market is a treasure trove of staples such as mixes to make momo, or Nepalese dumplings, Indian sweets, Burmese sweet curry, and Indonesian instant noodles. Over 20 years ago, this small grocery store started off selling Indian and American groceries but slowly expanded their offerings to serve the Southeast Asian and Central American immigrant communities in South Philly.
Home cooks can marinate their olives like Sayed: “Drain the olives and put in a bowl under running water for an hour or so, especially black olives which are more salty, then marinate in a glass jar with half olive and half canola oil, add the juice of one lemon, and a few cut-up pieces of lemon, and a bit of fresh oregano or thyme.” Hazami Sayed, founder and former executive director of Al-Bustan Seeds Of Culture, buys Lebanese olive oil and olives here - “look for the El Koura brand,” she says. Sonia Parikh, sister of Mina’s World co-owner Sonam Parikh, goes here for the mother spices of every Indian dish - cumin, bay leaves, cinnamon bark, cardamom, cloves, turmeric, mustard seeds, fennel, and chile peppers - as well as dry boxed masalas, DIY Indian dessert-making kits, and “crunchy favorites like tomato chile KurKure or Haldiram’s Khatta Meetha mix, which translates to ‘sweet n’ salty chips’!” The samosas you love from Mina’s World come from this South Asian specialty grocery store, which also carries many Middle Eastern products.
KurKure masala snacks from International Foods & Spices Sonia Parikh International Foods & Spices This gives you a great excuse to try popular restaurants in the same shopping plaza - or if you’re lucky, a Cantonese barbecue stall inside the grocery store. Make a day of it and get to know nearby Asian-owned shops and restaurants - larger grocery stores are often anchor tenants in immigrant business districts. These stores tend to also carry foods popular in other immigrant cuisines such as frozen yuca, tamales, and Goya products. Expand your culinary skills and palate with the naturally gluten-free rice, cassava, and gram flours, to name a few. While American consumers have started to embrace meat alternatives in the last two decades, these products have long been staples in AAPI cuisines, and Asian markets carry mind-blowing varieties including silky soft-to-firm tofu, canned fried gluten, and alternative meats shaped like their animal counterparts. Go beyond the international aisle at ACME and you’ll find much more variety, reasonable prices, and maybe even inspiration from fellow shoppers’ carts.įind expansive seafood options and specialty cuts at the butcher shop - and accompanying spices - to make braised tripe dim sum-style or congee with pork blood. Spicy Thai curry paste, warming masala, or Burmese sweet curry? Thanks to Philadelphia’s diverse Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) communities, you can make dishes with all three.
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