Seasoning in asia specialties, anybody know where to get it??

June 27, 2008 3:48 PM

Seasoning in asia specialties, anybody know where to get it??

I just tried asia specialties ginger and lemon grass and the seasoning with the rice is the best I have ever tried. Is there anywhere where I can just get the seasoning and not have to buy the rice??.

posted by radsqd to food & drink (5 comments total)

Where do you live? Is "asia specialties" a brand? Your question is very vague.

Ginger and lemongrass is almost always available at an Asian supermarket in medium town to large cities. Heck, I live in a tiny town with three stoplights and we have Filipino fish sauce in our grocery store. Ginger is in the vegetable section. Lemongrass is not always there, but if I tell the manager to order it, we can usually get it within a week or so. Otherwise, you can get it at an Asian store.
posted by HeyAllie at 4:09 PM on June 27, 2008

According to this page, the Asia Specialties brand is just a store brand for Aldi. Go to this page and plug in your zip code into the Store Locator. The closest one to you appears to be the Aldi store in New Brunswick.
posted by junesix at 4:14 PM on June 27, 2008

Whoops, I should have read the question better. You're looking for the seasoning separate from the rice.
posted by junesix at 4:16 PM on June 27, 2008

Check your local health food store. Not exactly the flavor you're looking for, but Eden sells several kinds of Asian seasonings and dry condiments that you can top rice with. Things like Furikake, Tekka, and Gomasio are good choices.
posted by mkultra at 6:57 PM on June 27, 2008

I'm going to guess that, as with most processed foods, the part of the seasoning you like the best isn't the lemongrass or ginger, but the additional additives (now, to be fair, if this is Aldi that means the UK, and in general most ingredients lists in the UK are about half as long as those in the US). But it's very possible that there are ingredients like MSG or a similar glutamate product, or other flavor enhancers, and finally that mysterious "natural flavoring" which can be a complicated mixture of many different naturally-derived flavor extracts.

Now might be a good time to learn how to combine herbs/spices/etc on your own though. I'm sorry to say that it probably won't taste exactly like the Asian Seasoning though, for the reason I gave above -- you don't have an industrial kitchen handy.

2nding the Furikake. It's a Japanese rice seasoning and although it's not the flavor combination you described (it's generally a combination of seaweed, bonito flakes, salt, and sometimes shrimp or other ingredients), it makes rice very, very tasty.

If you're looking for something to flavor other dishes, there are tons of great sauces out there. I haven't really seen shakeable Asian spices really (other than 5 spice), so sauces are probably a better choice.

One source for lemongrass+ginger combo is curry pastes. You can buy cans of them in most Asian supermarkets. One can is enough to make a large pot of curry, so for normal flavoring maybe just a scant teaspoon or so should do the trick.
posted by Deathalicious at 10:08 AM on June 28, 2008