Asia Nuts

[DonaldW]

Are there any fellow Asia nuts in town? Again I am only here less than half the year so I wouldn't be dependable as a source or a scout at this point, but I wonder if anyone else longs for Asian food like I do after being away from the US for some time?

I realize that Guanajuato is a great place to find prospects of it, with the large population of Japanese students which are likely responsible for both the great Delica Mitsu and (???) another Sushi place in town. But what about those who go the extra mile and like to prepare raw seafood dishes on their own? I once asked the good sushi restaurant (name?? near the center of town) but he would not share or allow me to purchase bulk quantities of the raw tuna or salmon I tried to buy from him.

Potential sources I have found so far include the yellow triangle fish market (??? name I forgot) in San Miguel who the owner (along with his wife the French Chef) also sells fish at the SMdA Saturday Market. He has frozen sushi grade tuna that comes in the pre-sealed packets that I have purchased before. The sizes are not that great but it's better than nothing. I find the flavor acceptable but of course not as rich as your typical sushi restaurants. And in fact in Texas, sushi grade fish is near equally as hard to find but I often find relatively good tuna at the Sprouts chain as well as H-Mart. Still that does nothing for Guanajuato but opens possibilities for other nuts with bags and bundles of dry ice ;-).

Otherwise there is a gourmet food market and sandwich place (again name??? sorry) next to the central plaza Primera Plus station that often has Japanese cooking items or Vietnamese items including the round rice paper for making spring rolls, they sometimes have bamboo rolling pads, Japanese sushi rice and various other oriental seasonings. And of course you can order-in from US just about all of the dry-form makings and enjoy over time while they will hold in storage for quite a while.

Without the fish I often make creations including the previously mentioned round rice rolling papers to create great shrimp rolls. Shrimp seems prevalent here. The recipe I love is here:
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/vietnamese-...ing-rolls/

Note the fish sauce is very important to the dish. It is an anchovy based liquid and mixed in at a very light value along with the red pepper and garlic is an important ingredient (available at Asian chains in the US like H-Mart). Finding mint locally is tough, sometimes the ladies have it around the corner from the Hidalgo Market, under all the white tents near the stairs going to the bus stop below. Albaca or basil is pretty wildly available as is the other ingredients.

For fellow Asia nuts, may I suggest one of these, as I use them extensively in my Asian dish preparations: http://amzn.to/1IUWCha (Note that this simple one is quite adequate) Primarily I use this when preparing sashimi. It works well on carrots and diakon radish for the base of a good sashimi serving plate. The shoestring vegetables it creates also go well in salads and spring rolls. I often add to the spring rolls shoestring sliced beets to go with the carrots. Sometimes the market next to Primera Plus also sells wasabi which is the green horseradish base of your dipping sauce for sashimi and serves as a good backup for the very hard to find regular horseradish root in all of Mexico, a must-have in creating typical Louisiana shrimp sauce.

Otherwise raw salmon and tuna are my personal favorite raw fish ingredients and these are the two items that I would be interested in obtaining locally, finding a source for them or possibly in the near future forming a buying cooperative if there is enough interest.

Other favorite dishes with raw fish include the Italian dish tuna carparccio which I make by searing raw tuna about 1 minute on each side, tossing it then into room temp bowl of water to cool, then pat drying and then slicing it paper thin. This of course requires a very sharp knife. I slice the tuna and place all around a large platter. I cover the tuna in paper thin sliced garlic, top with capers and drizzle an Italian herb infused olive oil all over the mix, then cover with a heavy crystallized but very thin layer of salt and ground pepper.

Otherwise another favorite dish of mine is a Korean one, called Hwe Dup Bap and consists of common mandolin sliced vegetables, salad base, sticky rice, topped with a raw fish mix and covered in a gochujang sauce (note there are many variations of this dish http://www.thekitchn.com/recipe-korean-m...chn-204619).

Otherwise Thai and Chinese dishes are not my specialty while cooking but I always am on the lookout for someone else who can. I do have to admit a weakness and that is some of the news articles I have read in Mexico about the source of ingredients of some Chinese restaurants and because of this, I am typically not that into experimenting with them in Mexico, which I realize may or may not be a serious mistake.

[The Duck]

Super Oriental/Super Kise, S.A. de C.V. in Coyocan is in my opinion the largest Oriental Foods retailer in the country - larger than any of the shops in the San Juan market. They will ship to GTO by bus - usually Estrella Blanca. Patti and Alejandro Sekaguchi speak English. Also this Facebook page

In Leon TOYO foods has a small branch oriental foods shop on Calle Guanajuato across Lopez Mateos from H.E.B. and there is also a very small Korean mkt but I don't recall the name of the street - and still another place the unfriendly Chinese mkt on the right side of Pancho Villa between Escobedeo and Bocanegra

[DonaldW]

Super! Have you found frozen fish of sashimi quality in the area? Thanks again!

[pianoheat]

The Mega sell pre packaged raw tuna looks like it is for sushi also salmon