Incredible Edibles and More @ Kings Plant Barn

We went to Kings Plant Barn in Saint Lukes last weekend, and I was amazed by the diversity of edible plants you could buy from there. I expected maybe herbs and different varieties of things you can find at the supermarket, like lemons, tomatoes, feijoas and even figs and passionfruit, but there were plenty of other exciting plants too, including ones I would never have thought of growing (like peanuts or pine nuts) and ones that I had not heard of till now (like orangeberries).

The Incredible Edibles Range

Many garden stores (as well as hardware stores like Bunnings which have garden sections) now sell the Incredible Edibles range of fruiting plants, and there are so many delicious-sounding things I would love to try!

Here are some that I have seen for sale:

• Chilean guava (a.k.a. NZ cranberry)
• Coffee
• Guava
• Japanese raisin
• Mountain pawpaw
• Mulberry
• Orangeberry
• Pepino

Orangeberry plants next to a sign with precautions because of the Queensland fruit fly.

Unusual Citrus Fruit

Apart from the lemons and limes, there were some interesting citrus varieties for sale. I was particularly intrigued by the finger limes and limequats.

Finger lime plants.

Limequat espallier.

Asian Herbs and Vegetables

Asian ingredients are widely available these days, but if you want to grow your own, you can do that too! Growing herbs (Asian or otherwise) is always a good idea because you only need a little bit, and they are so expensive if you buy them when you need them.

Here are some Asian herbs and vegetables I came across at the garden centre:

• Lemongrass
• Vietnamese mint
• Curry tree
• Snake bean
• Edible chrysanthemum ("tong ho" in Chinese)
• Peanut

Edible crysanthemum.

"Superfoods" and Medicinal Plants

If you are after plants with supposed health benefits, you are also in the right place. For example, you could grow your own:

• Chia
• Goji berry
• Gotu kola

Chia seedlings, amongst other plants.

Gotu kola and goji berry plants.

I don't have a big enough garden, or enough time and experience to grow these things, but it's good to know the option is there!

Bulk Food Savings

There's this little shop on Dominion Road, tucked out of sight behind the Two Fifteen restaurant, a hair salon, what used to be a Telecom shop on the corner, and that delicious tapas restaurant, Serafin [Added 28 July 2014: that corner shop is now Murder Burger and the spot where Serafin was is now another branch of Mink Cafe].  The easiest way for you to find it would be to make like you want to go to the Wendy's drive-thru, with entry off Walters Road.  Then you will see a car park and a squat building labelled Bulk Food Savings, a treasure trove of cooking supplies.

It's funny that I should get excited about a store with no fresh vegetables, but there are just so many things I don't normally see here.  And unlike many ethnic groceries, which also contain inspiring discoveries, this place is spotlessly clean, with plenty of organic options for the health conscious, and a simply-labelled assortment of products for the culinary adventurer.

Bulk bins, a wide range of dried fruit and spices, and much more.

Take the spice rack on the far wall, for example.  Apart from your usual parsley, rosemary and sage, you can find ajwain (carom seeds), amchur (dried and powdered unripe green mangoes), amla (Indian gooseberry), annatto seeds, asario (garden cress, Lepidium sativum) seeds, dill tips, fenugreek leaves, juniper berries, karela (bitter melon) powder, whole mace, whole nutmeg and tukmaria (basil seeds).  They even have a great range in something as basic as pepper: take your pick from whole black pepper, New York cut pepper, ground pepper, cracked pepper, lemon pepper, pink, green or white peppercorns, and of course, organic black pepper.  Szechuan pepper is not really pepper, but you can buy it at Bulk Food Savings too.  There were also things I have never heard of before, like sanchora, which I later discovered was just raw sea salt.  (You can also purchase coarse Sicilian sea salt, kelp mineral rock salt, volcanic black salt, and a pink-coloured mineral salt.)  Not everything is always there though.  When I went a couple of days ago, they were out of cinammon sticks.  Fortunately, I wasn't even half way through the packet I bought there, oh, probably a year ago.

Dried fruits are pretty standard grocery items, right?  But have you seen the variety here?  From dried apples (both sliced and diced), to dried strawberries, to kiwifruit to pear, pineapple, papaya, this shop has all you need to make the most awesome cereal mix, or perhaps the most inventive fruit cake.

Looking for something filling?  Apart from bulk breakfast cereal items like rice bubbles and corn flakes, and the usual baking goods like flour and cornflour, you will find a variety of grains and pulses, such as rice in different forms (from arborio to wild rice), organic amaranth flakes, organic buckwheat flour, polenta in various grind sizes, organic burghul and couscous, toover dhal (split pigeon peas), lentils (beluga, french green, red), beans (adzuki, chana/chickpea, brown chana, moong) and popping corn (available loose in the bulk bin, as well as still on the cob).

Nuts and seeds are not overlooked either, so you can buy a big bag of hazelnuts rather than several of those tiny packets in the baking section of the supermarket.  Some are coated in chocolate.  There are nut butters, which I love, though peanut butter makes me happy as much as a fancier one.  Organic chia seeds and organic ground flaxseed are also available, along with the more familiar poppy seeds.

Those into natural health remedies will be interested in the psyllium powder, bee pollen, and stevia powder (both in white extract form and green leaf form).  There is also a range of alternative milks (soy milk, organic almond milk, organic rice milk, oat milk) and herbal teas.

More into trying ethnic foods?  Here, you can find sesame helva from Israel, rose water from Lebanon, biscuits and tinned vegetables from Europe, various sauces, wild arame, organic miso and organic tamari sauce, as well as convenient packets of Indian food, such as ready-to-fry masala papad.

In short, Bulk Food Savings is a great place to go for your cupboard staples, as well as unusual and organic ingredients.  Despite having little branding or information on most products (I am never quite sure how much of something is in one of those pre-packed bags), chances are, there will be something that takes your fancy.

Store Details

Bulk Food Savings
217 Dominion Rd, Mount Eden, Auckland
(09) 630 6235

Opening hours:
Mondays to Saturdays 9am - 6pm
Sundays 10am - 4pm

To find the shop entrance, follow the sign to the start of the Wendy's drive-thru.

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Sohan (سوهان) or Iranian Saffron Brittle @ Persian Network *CLOSED*

[Added 30 January 2017: Note that Persian Network closed several years ago amidst accusations of fraud]

There was an Iranian girl in my class at primary school.  She was loud and cheeky, and I didn't try very hard to get to know her, but I admired the flowing lines of the Arabic script on her plastic stencil ruler.  I didn't understand how she could tell the characters apart, because they looked nearly the same to me.  I also discovered that her language was called Farsi, not Iranian, and you write it from right to left.  That was the extent of my knowledge of her world.

And so it was that when I came across Persian Network, one of the many interesting shops on Dominion Road, I wondered why it was painted in the Italian colours of green, white, and red.  As you might have guessed, it wasn't becaused someone had confused Iranian with Italian.  When the tri-color stripes run horizontally rather than vertically, that is in fact the Iranian flag.

This shop isn't crammed full, but there is a good range of things for sale, from sweets, breads and spices, to rugs, trinkets and utensils.  As you can tell from their website, they are not dumbing things down for tourists like me.  Although there is an English label for most things, you need to use your powers of deduction to work out that the reddish powder labelled "dried nuts and fruits" is in fact sumac, and the box of confectionery made of sugar, egg whites, rose water and pistachios holds Persian nougat, or gaz (گز).

I decided to purchase a beautiful tin box containing what looked like crunchy biscuits, which the Iranian owner warned me would be very sweet.  This dessert, called sohan (سوهان) is essentially a brittle toffee made of wheat sprouts, saffron, flour, sugar, pistachios, butter, cardamom, egg yolks, and rose water.  Not unexpectedly sweet, but quite oily or syrupy.  Somehow, it manages to be crumbly and leave a chewy lump stuck to your teeth at the same time, an enjoyable mix of flavours and textures.

Sohan in a detailed and embossed tin.

From what I can see, I have purchased sohan qom (سوهان قم), which is primarily produced in the city of Qom and is a common souvenir from the place.  It is quite different from sohan asali (سوهان عسلي), a honey-based toffee usually with slivers of almond, which is a harder and shinier candy, often eaten for Nowruz, the Iranian New Year.  A variant of the honey-almond toffee is sohan konjedi (سوهان کنجدی), which instead has sesame seeds set in the honey and saffron translucent brittle.

Does anyone have a recipe for this delicious sweet, or shirini (شیرینی) which I have bought? The closest one I could find on the web is in this video from a TV cooking show, which makes use of honey and corn syrup in addition to sugar, but no egg yolks.  It also uses whole wheat flour instead of wheat sprouts, if indeed that was the correct translation.  According to this video of sohan qom production, the brittle shouldn't stick to your teeth either.

Whatever the secret, this is why I love living in Auckland, having the opportunity to taste exotic flavours from around the world without needing to leave the country.  I am looking forward to tomorrow too, not because it will be April Fools' Day, or because Daylight Saving will be over (yay for an extra hour's sleep), but because the Auckland International Cultural Festival will be on (bring on the Ethiopean, Croatian and Burmese food!).

Store Details

Persian Network
1/718 Dominion Road, Mount Eden, Auckland
(09) 623 0070

Persian Network is on the corner of Balmoral Road and Kensington Avenue.

D. H. Supermarket (大華超市), Mount Eden (or Eggy Experiences)

I've already waxed lyrical about the Avondale Sunday Market, but on other days, or if I don't want to venture so far for fresh and inexpensive vegetables, I head to the D. H. Supermarket (also called Dahua), a Chinese supermarket which was formerly Silver Bell.  The specials they have at the moment, for instance, are two (that's 2) small watermelons for 99c (!!! - we tried them and they were juicy and sweet too), and gala apples for 49c a kilogram!  The place is not as big and clean as the Tai Ping quite a bit up the road in Mount Roskill, but you can pick up some good bargains and they even accept credit cards for payments over something like $20.

Shelf of Asian vegetables, close to closing time.

Like other Chinese supermarkets, they have a separate meat and fish section, and you can buy groceries from other Asian cuisines like Korean and Japanese as well.  There is also a separate room for the grains and another for the alcohol (this is where you look for the Chinese cooking wine).  By the back entrance leading to the small carpark, there are mini shops within the supermarket, selling things like roast meat and Chinese street food, where you pay separately from the main supermarket cashier.

A nameless shop within the supermarket, selling such items as fried bread sticks (yóu tiáo, 油條) and sweet and savoury stuffed glutinous rice packets wrapped in bamboo leaves (zòng ​zi, 粽子).

Make sure you check what you are buying, because something which is being discounted may be expired or about to expire, and turn up early to avoid the crowds, get the best pick of produce, and perhaps breakfast on a Chinese crepe.

Highlight: Jianbing or Chinese Crepe (jiān​ bing guǒ​ zi, 煎餅果子)

[Added 4 August 2013: Sadly, this stall disappeared some time ago now.]

You go to D. H. Supermarket for your fresh vegies, mainly, but I also like the jianbing I had from one of the nameless shops there the other day.  I first ate one of these Chinese crepes at the Taiwan Cultural and Traditional Games Festival (see my previous post for a video of this being made) and have been on the lookout for it ever since.  Basically a very thin pancake with an egg cracked into it, in this case wrapping two squares of crunchy wonton wrapper, brushed with hoisin and chilli sauce, and garnished with spring onions and black sesame seeds, it is the perfect mix of sweet and savoury, softness and crunch.

A half-eaten jianbing.

Eat it immediately, while it is hot and the cracker still crisp.  Well, maybe exit the supermarket first, but don't dilly-dally.  It is such a delicious and filling meal for only $4.50 ($5 if you get it with soymilk as a combo).  The sign for the jianbing shows a photo of a multitude of grains that presumably went into the batter, so I guess you can claim it is healthy as well.

My only reservation was to do with hygiene, but I have the same concerns when I go to an icecream store and see the scoops sitting in a container of murky water.  Let me assure you that there were no unfortunate consequences to my breakfast (other than an overly full belly), and in any case, the thing is cooked for a good few minutes.

To order, point to the menu item labelled "Pan-fried roll", or look for a photo which includes an egg in it, at the stall pictured above.  A1 is currently the variety with a fried bread stick inside, while A2 is the option with the crispy wonton wrapper.  You will also be asked whether you want it spicy.  You do, because that chilli sauce is lovely.

I have seen jianbing for sale at the Pakuranga Night Market as well, but this place at D. H. Supermarket is closer and available daily.  I am tempted to say it is also more delicious, but I would have to go to the night market to verify.  In any case, I really enjoyed my crepe here.  Give it a go, even if it is weird ordering hot food from a supermarket stall.

Highlight: Eggs, Wondrous Eggs

Another great thing about D. H. Supermarket is the variety of eggs they sell.  I have seen fresh goose, duck and quail eggs here, in addition to the usual chicken variety, including free range chicken eggs.  The more exotic eggs aren't cheap, but I do an internal happy dance every time I find something novel for sale.

Fresh goose eggs for sale, when in season.

Being a Chinese supermarket, preserved or century eggs are also available.  There are two types for sale, one with what looks like a coating of clay and rice husk, and another with a smooth, blue-greyish shell.  I am not sure yet if are any flavour differences, but I will find out and let you know.

Quail eggs and two sorts of preserved eggs.

Unfortunately, they didn't appear to have any salted eggs on my last visit, which led me to purchase some  "fresh" duck eggs instead...

Lowlight: Exploding Rotten Duck Egg

What you want to do is to buy the things that everyone else buys, which are replaced regularly.  Those Asian greens are fantastic.  Avoid the things which look like they have been sitting there for a while, like the duck eggs in the fridge, which I have seen the last few times I went to the shop, but finally decided to try anyway.  I thought they were dodgy looking, the last four in the same tray for the past few weeks or longer, but there were no salted eggs for sale, and I had the idea that I would make my own.

The fact that the cashier had to leave the counter to check the price of them should have been ample warning, but I bought my duck eggs anyway.  They felt well chilled; what could be wrong?  I discovered the answer when I sat down in the car.  Just as we were about to drive home, there was a sound like a gunshot.  Something wet hit my face and the horrible sulphurous smell of rotten egg spread through the car.

The case of the exploding egg.

So there you have it.  There's good and there's bad, not to mention plenty of eggs-citement to be had at your local D. H. Supermarket.

Store Details

D. H. Supermarket (大華超市)
83 Dominion Road, Mount Eden, Auckland
(09) 630 2900

Opening hours:
Mondays to Sundays 9am - 7pm (inner shops close 6:30pm)

D. H. Supermarket is at the city end of Dominion Road.

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A week of surprises

It's been an exciting week for me, being able to try a number of different items I've never had before.  Who knew Auckland had so much to offer?

Mountain Caviar and Piko Piko @ Cocoro Degustation Dinner

I'd heard plenty of good things about the degustation dinner at Cocoro, so when Valentine's Day rolled around, it was the perfect opportunity to give it a go.  I usually find that such dinners present far too much food for one person to eat, and this was no exception.  The problem is, the dishes taste so good you don't want to let them go to waste.

The seafood, such as the blue fin tuna (sustainably farmed in Japan), was exceptional, but I was particularly happy to be able to taste some ingredients I have never seen before.  On top of the beautifully light and crispy courgette filo tempura, which looked like a bird's nest, there was some "mountain caviar".  The waitress assured us this was vegetarian, and the menu called it "belvedere fruit".  I didn't even know such a thing existed.  It didn't taste like much, but I guess it's used as a garnish (the Japanese call it tonburi and it's apparently a delicacy of the Akita prefecture) because of its caviar-like texture.

One third of the third course: Courgette filo tempura, Worcestersire sauce, egg tartare, belvedere fruit or "mountain caviar".

While Cocoro is a Japanese restaurant, the chef also uses plenty of New Zealand ingredients, from the karengo seaweed sprinkles to the whitebait in the chawanmushi.  For the first time ever, I was also able to try eating a piko piko frond.  This Maori fern shoot tasted like a bitter green bean or asparagus.

From the vegetarian degustation menu: Summer vegetable tempura of courgette flower, piko piko, eggplant and baby carrot with micro mizuna, karengo and cauliflower in white vinegar dressing.

6-course degustation dinner ($80) at
Cocoro
56a Brown Street, Ponsonby
(09) 360 0927
Sundays and Mondays closed.
Tuesdays to Saturdays 12 - 2pm and 5:30 - 10pm

Exotic Fruit @ Bhana Brothers

While wandering around the streets of Ponsonby, I found myself in what looked like a well presented dairy, with fresh flowers outside and spacious aisles inside.  It had no sign on the door, so it wasn't until I bought something that I discovered this was Bhana Brothers, a family business that has existed for over 70 years now.

Apart from the handmade tortas de aceite (Sevillian olive oil wafers) which Anna from Eats By Anna had raved about, and other upmarket products like Clevedon buffalo cheese, this shop has fruit I haven't seen for sale before, not even at my local Nosh Food Market.  I call them exotic for this reason, though plenty of New Zealand families have figs and cape gooseberries (I first knew of them as "physalis") growing in their (grandma's) backyards.  Presumably figs aren't often sold because they don't transport or keep well, and I had never come across the very sweet and green little spheres called greengages before.

Greengages, fresh fig and cape gooseberries from Bhana Brothers.

Other fruits on the shelf which I was impressed to see, but less excited by, included pomelos, kiwiberries and horned melons (or kiwanos), as well as fresh blueberries, raspberries and blackberries.  Not your average dairy, that's for sure!

[Added 3 March 2012: Found cape gooseberries and greengages slightly cheaper at a grocer called Kumeu Produce Market (407 State Highway 16, Kuneu) as well today.]

Bhana Brothers
129 Ponsonby Road, Ponsonby
(09) 376 5329
Mondays to Sundays 8am - 7p

Nettle Goats Cheese @ Crescent Dairy Goats

Someone told me about a little farm not far from central Auckland, where they make their own goats cheese, so I naturally had to check it out.  To get to Crescent Dairy Goats, you basically drive to the end of the Northwestern motorway and turn left before you get to Taupaki (turn off before Kumeu).  From there, it's pretty well signposted.

The softest cheese they had at this time of the year, which they called "Flat White", was delicious, creamy and mild.  They have a whole range of goats cheeses, including blue cheese, and I chose to try their "Farmhouse Sting" next, so named because the cheese is marbled with nettle leaves, which is apparently safe to eat in the cheese, though you shouldn't go around munching on fresh nettle.

Two of many varieties of goats cheese for sale at Crescent Dairy Goats.

They offer a tour of the farm for $15 (minimum of 10 people required), where you get to meet the goats, have a tour of the milking and cheese making areas, then sit down for a taste of at least ten of their cheeses with tasting notes and commentary from the cheesemaker.  I haven't got around to it yet, but I am definitely planning to round some people up for this!

Crescent Dairy Goats
177A Taupaki Road, Kumeu
(09) 412 2074
Mondays closed.
Tuesdays to Sundays 10am - 5pm

Molecular Gastronomy @ FISH

If you thought FISH was just a simple seafood restaurant, any such illusions are immediately dispelled when the waiter brings out ciabatta rolls with what looks like a pale green mousse on the side. This turns out to be a very soft and light spread made from olive oil emulsified overnight using the enzymes from some kind of tree sap.

From this beginning, the mouthful of brocolli soup served in a flat glass tube, or the oysters with balsamic and chilli sauce in eye droppers, or even the fish and chips with what looks like rice bubbles in the batter, should no longer be a surprise.

They really turned up the heat though, or cold, rather, when I ordered the nitro toffee & coffee mousse, which became a full scale performance.  A side table was set up so that we could see the swirling mist from the liquid nitrogen cooling a ball of mousse, injected with the filling before our eyes.  The outside of the ball solidified, while the inside was still gooey.

Preparing the nitro toffee & coffee mousse.

Mousse ball ripped apart.

Yes, it's gimmicky, but the flavours are right up there, and it's nice to try something like this at least once.

In related news, the first issue of the International Journal of Gastronomy and Food Science is out (you can download the electronic versions of the articles for free), and celebrity chef Heston Blumenthal has been asked to cook the first synthetic meat burger later this year.

FISH
Hilton Auckland, Princes Wharf, 147 Quay Street, Auckland Central
(09) 978 2020
Mondays to Saturdays 12 - 11pm
Sundays 12 - 10pm

Moore Wilson's Fresh, Wellington

If you drool (as this panda does) over the variety and quality of the goods available in Auckland in stores such as Nosh, Sabato and Farro Fresh, wait till you see the Fresh department of Moore Wilson's in Wellington. This food warehouse is the Disney World of food supplies, with a vast array of imported and local products, fresh orange juice squeezed in-store, live crayfish and unusual upmarket ingredients such broad bean flowers.  It also sells food-related items such as cookbooks and chopping boards.  The selection of sweet treats from Floriditas was more impressive than within the restaurant itself!

Some items will be available from your local supermarket also, while others may be too expensive to try (a packet of kumara chips for just under $8, anyone?), but there is certainly enough there that you will want to take home with you.  Happy shopping!

A wide selection of fresh produce, baked goods and deli items are for sale at Moore Wilson's Fresh department

Enough cheese to kill someone, or at least dent their wallet

Live crayfish

Station for freshly squeezed orange juice

Note

Caters for both trade and personal customers.  Credit cards are not accepted.

Store Details

Moore Wilson's Fresh
93 Tory Street, Te Aro, Wellington
(04) 384 9906
www.moorewilson.co.nz

Opening hours:
Mondays to Fridays 7:30am - 7pm
Saturdays 7:30am - 6pm
Sundays 9am - 5pm

Moore Wilson's is situated on the corner of Tory St and College St

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