Tejal India Grocery

In many ways, Ganesha, the elephant-headed Hindu God, is a perfect metaphor for the Tejal India Grocery in Thornton.  First of all, you must look beyond the outward appearance. Ganesha’s elephant head, and plump human-body with multiple arms does not fit the expectation of a deity; just as the dark strip-mall with minimal signage belie the sensory wonders within this little store.

When I shop in our local chain supermarket, the only time I feel my nose is engaged is when I’m in the produce section. And depending on the season, even that can be minimal. In the Tejal India Grocery, I had this desire to smell everything. As soon as you walk in, your nose wakes up, like a four-year old from a nap, ready to hit the park. What to smell first? The incense or soap? The fresh curry leaves or mint? Regardless of the teas and spices being factory sealed, the plastic bags could not hold back their aroma. Even items that I know have little odor, like the bags of rice, my nose wanted to suck it in.

 

The small aisles were so densely packed with items, I found myself wandering back and forth, noticing all the things I had missed just five minutes earlier. The backroom storage seems to be spilling out into odd corners and high shelves. If it wasn’t the exotic items that caught my eye, like banana powder, orange blossom water or whole turmeric, it was the beautiful packaging. Labels with elephants, hibiscus flowers, and gorgeous dark-haired children were selling everything from cookies to noodles.

The sheer plethora of foodstuffs made me realize just how little I knew about India cuisine. Go beyond the mango chutney, Tejal India Grocery has coconut, mint or hot chili chutney. I had never heard of Toor Dal, Ponni rice, or Rooh Afza, but they were occupying such large amounts of shelf space, that one could only assume that they must be popular. After a bit of research back home, I learned Toor Dal is also known as “Pigeon Peas,” Ponni rice is popular in Southern India, typically eaten at breakfast and Rooh Afza is syrup used to flavor drinks, especially milk over ice. (Or you can make your own Fruit Punch.) If you are an Indian food novice like me, do not be intimidated. There are lots of prepackaged curry mixtures to choose from.

While the dry goods are overwhelming, there is a good amount of fresh and frozen items as well. Naan bread, multiple flavors of samoas and ice cream lines the freezer shelves, with a separate freezer dedicated to fish. In the refrigerated section, there was mango lassi, various sweets and some produce including peppers.

On this Monday afternoon, most people coming into the store were returning their DVD-rentals of the latest Bollywood films, while I marveled at the bags of whole garam masala.  For a “grocery,” this place goes well beyond foodstuffs. Here you could pick up saris, jewelry, henna paste, music CD’s, even cricket bats. Near the statues of Ganesha, there were jars of Holi Colors, the powdered pigments used in Hindu religious ceremonies, especially the during the Spring festivals.

As I gathered my purchases, I could only image how welcoming this store would be for an East Indian, looking for that elusive ingredient for their mother’s famous dish. Remover of obstacles, indeed. 

Tejal IndiaGrocery

10351 Grant Street, Unit #6

Thornton, Colorado

Little Brazil

This week's market will take you South of the Equator where Summer is in full swing, and plans for Mardi Gras are heating up

Little Brazil lives up to it's name. Situated on Federal, just north of 80th, the only sign you'll see from the road is the Brazilian Flag on the Missions Hill sign. The space is divided into a small grocery, with mainly dry goods from Brazil, and an dining area with a few table. There's neither produce nor a deli counter.

On the grocery side, there are several hard-to-find specialties, such as guava or coconut paste. Little Brazil carries Manioc Starch (Almodón Dulce, also known as tapioca flour,) and Sour Starch (Almodón Agrio), which both come from the cassava, or yucca, plant. Both are essential ingredients for Pao de Queijo, an addictive Brazilian cheese bread. Since Almodón Dulce is not wheat based, you can experiment with it for gluten-free recipes.

If you are more into grilling than baking, Little Brazil carries several different barbeque salts. They even have two types of guarana soda - think of the flavor of a Monster power drink in a lighter soda.

Currently, Little Brazil carries a full menu on the weekends, with only snacks (street-food) offered during the week. Of their snacks, we sampled the coxinha, a chicken croquettes that pair well with the vinegary hot sauce. While the kibe (a bulger wheat and meat croquette) looked over-cooked, the interior was still moist. The ham and cheese risolis looked more like a grilled cheese sandwich than a filled pastry. (They were out of the corn and the ground beef versions.) My favorite was the Torta de Frango Brazileira, a savory little chicken pie. While technically these classify as street food, a couple would make a great lunch.

Clockwise from top left: Kibe, Torta de Frango Brazileira, Risolis and two Coxinha.

Hopefully, Little Brazil will expand their offerings and add more Brazilian specialties. This little store holds great promise.

Little Brazil
8020 Federal Blvd.  #3
Westminster, CO  80031
Closed Sundays and Mondays 

European Gourmet and Tripe Soup

Now that our stomachs have finally digested the last bits of food from the holiday festivities, we can all start to get back into a normal routine. With the new year, maybe you've made a resolution to eat better, try new foods, or adopt a foreign eating style, with bigger lunches and smaller dinners.

European Gourmet is a small Polish deli, with a wide selection of cured meats such as juniper sausage, head cheese, and black sausage. There is also a niceselection of canned and dried goods including sauerkraut soup, chestnut puree, plum butter, rosehip butter, and many herbal teas. Christine and I picked out a few delicious sausages along with a jar of Lingonberries. Lingonberries have a usage somewhat like cranberries. They can be a side to meat dishes, or on a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, or even an ingredient in a rub or glaze. The flavor isn't as bitter as a cranberry, and has a darker profile, somewhat like a blackberry.

Lingonberry jam

A "Cracow" sausage

    

A juniper sausage

There is a small frozen section where they have some savory & sweet pierogi's. Looking further in the case, my eye was immediately drawn to the tripe soup. I'm aware that what I eat is not necessarily everyone's cup of tea. I can accept people's reluctance to follow me in my search to eat tongue, eyes, testicles and other oddities, but I feel tripe should be approachable and common in today's household.

Offals, the odd cuts, including the highly perishable intestines, have been slowly coming back into favor with the public. People are not only becoming more adventurous, but with the economic strain, they want something cheap. Restaurants are also starting to look towards offals to replace New York strips, or tenderloins, which make almost no money and can lack flavor. Tripe has a bad reputation from the 1930s and '40. During the depression, it got families by, but it wasn't the best tasting. Not only was the texture odd, but improper cleaning and cooking left many people seeing it as sub-par. Once the war hit and the economy started growing, people were finally able to afford the more expensive cuts and stuck with them. Now many people are too stubborn, or grossed out to try it. With the advancement of kitchen techniques, and technology, we know how to better clean and cook tripe, and with the internet, it isn't hardly out of anyone's reach.

Tripe Soup. Great on a cold winter day. 

This tripe soup was delicious. It included small strips of tripe, along with some standard veg, including carrots, celery, and herbs. When I first tasted it, I was filled with warmth and excitement. In trying to describe it, I related  it to a chicken soup. The broth was darker and richer than a typical chicken soup, but there was no chicken. The meat was the small tripe strips that tasted like thick cut noddles. They had substance behind them, and I looked forward to getting more strips in the next spoonful