Jikuai Feng Tiao Liang Cai (Chinese Chicken noodle salad) China……page 112
Today I went to Portobello Market as part of my grand ingredient search. (And I can neither confirm nor deny that I may or may not have ended up purchasing up to five books as part of it…ok, I can confirm it.) I wandered around stalls of fruit and veg, consulting my little post-it notes and I feel confident that when the time comes, I will be able to identify kale, endive and okra. I learned, shockingly, that mung beans are not typically fresh but are dried. And no one had heard of galangal.
I got very excited when I saw that there was a store simply called The Spice Shop. Surely, this would be THE place to find some of my missing ingredients. But unfortunately, it was being run by some very haughty individuals who did not seem interested in helping me AT ALL. And then I also learned via another customer that the saffron was EIGHT quid. The person behind the counter reassured another woman that this was THE BEST SAFFRON IN THE WORLD and would last her for ages. She muttered, “it better.” But I, having spent aforementioned money on books, just could not bring myself to buy the saffron today. And I feel conflicted because I have since researched the history of this store and I really want to be a customer – I want to be the kind of person that shops there! It was started by a woman who was doing an international business degree and needed to supplement her income. Unfortunately, I think I would have to supplement our income in order to shop there. Stay tuned….I may save up for this super saffron…(but that is at least HALF the cost of a theatre ticket!)
Then I headed to Chinatown to look for some of my Chinese ingredients. I found the rice noodles, mung beans and ……galangal! Very very exciting. I think viewers will note a shocking resemblance between the character on the rice noodle package and a restaurant icon of Midwestern America…
Is it just me or does "Thai Boy" look EXACTLY like "Big Boy" in the States??
I also think "mung bean" sounds like an insult but that's just me...
Galanga, we meet at last!
I realized that I had not seen chopsticks in the house and I would need a pair to feel that I was authentically honoring the spirit of Extending the Table. But, there were only two pairs of chopsticks in my price range…Power Rangers or octopus ones. I will let you guess which one I chose.
With my new rice noodles, I decided to make the Chinese chicken noodle
This seems like alot of noodles....
Finished!
salad.
Overall, this was good but lacked something for a main course. It would be a wonderful side or a nice lunch.
Emily's Extending the Table Experiment 
Sounds and looks delicious! One trick I’ve learned with making crazy Asian dishes is to go to Chinatown during a meal time and try to eat whatever it is you want to make. Having an idea of what the final product should look/taste like is often really helpful (or at least for this white boy 😉 Oh, and the package of my favourite mung bean thread has a pic of a flying mung-bean boy with a beanie…
By: Jonathan on March 14, 2010
at 1:19 pm
One good source for info on saffron I found was:
http://www.gourmetsleuth.com/Articles/Exotic-Herbs-Spices-and-Salts-639/saffron.aspx
It might be fun to head into some “indian sub-continent” stores of which there must be lots in London. You’ll probably find some of your ingredients at a much cheaper rate.
By: mum on March 14, 2010
at 9:25 pm
I have fallen behind on your blog. Just so you know, there are loads of chop sticks in the main kitchen.
By: phyllis shirk on March 24, 2010
at 4:12 am