Exploring the Asian food market - need international help!

[arrmatie]

Every time I go to my local Asian food store I curse myself for not bringing paper to right down the names of the more esoteric vegetables so I can look them up when I get home.  Well, this time I remembered, but after excitedly googling each one I'm still mystified.  I can find crude descriptions and recipes for them, but I don't know what I really need to try, or how best to prepare it.

Here's the list:

Banana blossom
Bac-Ha/Vietnamese rhubarb
Sinquo/chinese okra/silk gourd
Opo/bottle gourd
Arrowhead/Chinese potato
Galenga root
E-too (I couldn't find out anything about this - it's some kind of leaf)
Rau-ram/vietnamese coriander
Mogua/hairy melon
Nagaimo/mountian potato/long yam
Ngo-om/sweet cumin/rice paddy herb
Ngo-gai/mexican coriander/saw-tooth herb

So for anyone who's eaten any of these, what I'm wondering is:
What's it like?  Does it resemble any western vegetables?
Is it good?
Is it worth making an extra effort to try it?
How do you (best) prepare it?

I know I could just be adventurous and try them all, but I'm worried that in my ignorance I'll break my back in the kitchen just to try four different kinds of potato.

[KCGal]

You definitely have big-time exotic produce in your hometown!  When I saw your post, I immediately thought of recommending a fantastic book that I have, called "Food Lover's Companion" by Sharon Tyler Herbst, published by Barron's.  It offers "comprehensive definitions of nealry 6,000 food, drink, and culinary terms."  But your list stumped even the Food Lover's Companion!  I looked up all of the items on your list, and found only 4 in my book:

Sinquo/chinese okra/silk gourd = Asian okra
Arrowhead/Chinese potato   
Galenga root = galanga or Thai ginger.  I recognized this one immediately, b/c I love Thai food.  It gives a tangy, bright flavor to Thai soups and noodle dishes.  A little goes a long way.
Mogua/hairy melon = fuzzy melon

I will pm you to transcribe some of the info on each of these items (so that I don't take up so much space on craftster). 

I still recommend my food book, btw.  But my other recommendation to you would be to go to the library and find a book on Vietnamese cooking or cuisine; you might find a good glossary in a book like that.  I have a feeling that some of the names of the items you listed are more colloquial and might not be the more commonly accepted names.  Good luck!

[meraonthewall]

The reason you can't find information about these items is because they go by many different names. Ask someone at the asian market to help you out, or better yet find an asian cookbook in your library written in English and for English speakers and they will provide more information about what you have there. Then with what you find go look for what interests you, it's better to try it that way than to just find something interesting without knowing anything about it.

[erikau]

Just because I like to do research...
re bac ha:  http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/asianveg/msg030338448600.html 
banana blossom:  http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,1977,FOOD_9936_29322,00.html
banana blossom:  http://www.tribo.org/vegetarian/blossom.html
banana blossom (bottom part of properties):  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banana
silk gourd:  http://www.asiafood.org/glossary_1.cfm?alpha=R&wordid=3268&startno=27&endno=51
silk gourd:  http://www.hormel.com/kitchen/glossary.asp?akw=&id=37066&catitemid=
bottle gourd:  http://www.evergreenseeds.com/evergreenseeds/calgouropo.html
arrowhead:  http://www.innvista.com/health/foods/vegetables/arrowhd.htm
arrowhead:  http://www.asiafood.org/glossary_1.cfm?alpha=A&startno=27&endno=51
galangal:  http://www.thaifoodandtravel.com/ingredients/galanga.html
galangal:  http://www.hormel.com/kitchen/glossary.asp?akw=&id=36231&catitemid=
hairy squash:  http://www.asiafood.org/glossary_1.cfm?alpha=F&wordid=3267&startno=27&endno=51
herbs:  http://www.vietworldkitchen.com/essentials/herbs.htm
herbs:  http://www.mountainvalleygrowers.com/polodoratum.htm
nagaimo/yamaimo/tororo:  http://www.hormel.com/kitchen/glossary.asp?akw=&id=35445&catitemid=
nagaimo/yamaimo/tororo:  http://www.bob-an.com/recipe/dailyjc/basic/oknomi/oknomi.html
magaimo/yamaimo/tororo (scroll down pretty far, they're discussing slimy foods):  http://members.tripod.com/runker_room/tiestalk/slimy.htm

erika

[arrmatie]

Thanks for the links, but does anyone have first-hand experience with any of these?

[SecondHandRogue]

I bought Galanga root, (powdered in a jar 'cause they were out of the root) , in my local asian market. I got it to use in Tom Yum Soup, but when I ran out of ginger powder I started to throw it into other things like spice cakes and caribbean black beans (my fave Galanga use yet). As KC noted above, it is tangy and pungent, stronger than the ginger you may be used to, but seems an easy ingredient to incorporate into your cooking.

My recipe is not great, but I think that if you could find a good recipe for tom yum (spicy hot and sour thai soup) you would get a chance to use a few exotic asian market ingredients like galanga (better to get the root), keffir lime leaves, fish sauce, thai basil, and a few of those corianders, to name a few...and soup is pretty hard to screw up, if you're into sampling these ingredients but not *that* into cooking.

[smrfchic]

I bought Galanga root, (powdered in a jar 'cause they were out of the root) , in my local asian market. I got it to use in Tom Yum Soup, but when I ran out of ginger powder I started to throw it into other things like spice cakes and caribbean black beans (my fave Galanga use yet). As KC noted above, it is tangy and pungent, stronger than the ginger you may be used to, but seems an easy ingredient to incorporate into your cooking.

My recipe is not great, but I think that if you could find a good recipe for tom yum (spicy hot and sour thai soup) you would get a chance to use a few exotic asian market ingredients like galanga (better to get the root), keffir lime leaves, fish sauce, thai basil, and a few of those corianders, to name a few...and soup is pretty hard to screw up, if you're into sampling these ingredients but not *that* into cooking.

You can also use it in Tom Kha Gai (Chicken Coconut Soup).  That's my personal favorite of all the Thai soups, :-D

[tofuttibreak]

I only have experience with galangal, too. I've bought it fresh and it is very tasty. It's used in thai curries as well as soups. My advice would be to try a new one each week or so. I try to do this as often as possible. Most asian supermarkets have ridiculously cheap produce and you don't need to buy a lot to try something. It can be very interesting...

[SecondHandRogue]

I bought Galanga root, (powdered in a jar 'cause they were out of the root) , in my local asian market. I got it to use in Tom Yum Soup, but when I ran out of ginger powder I started to throw it into other things like spice cakes and caribbean black beans (my fave Galanga use yet). As KC noted above, it is tangy and pungent, stronger than the ginger you may be used to, but seems an easy ingredient to incorporate into your cooking.

My recipe is not great, but I think that if you could find a good recipe for tom yum (spicy hot and sour thai soup) you would get a chance to use a few exotic asian market ingredients like galanga (better to get the root), keffir lime leaves, fish sauce, thai basil, and a few of those corianders, to name a few...and soup is pretty hard to screw up, if you're into sampling these ingredients but not *that* into cooking.

You can also use it in Tom Kha Gai (Chicken Coconut Soup).  That's my personal favorite of all the Thai soups, :-D

hmmmm...it's 2:40 am, I'm home, and I've got coconut milk, limes, galanga and some chicken broth...
got a recipe, sadie?

[Hemi*Housewife]

Just make sure you don't use the galanga in place of regular ginger....its a different taste completely.

I too love exploring the asian supermarkets...we have some incredible ones here!  I can't believe how great the deals are on the live seafood too...we do a crab boil once a year and get all the stuff there.

I highly recommend buying a big bottle of Kecap manis...its a thick sweet soy sauce from indonesia...that makes a really awesome teriyaki-like glaze.  I mix some with a little melted butter and brush it on chicken breasts, then grill.  MMM..drool.