When I travel to Tokyo, I usually stay around Ueno Station and often use this store to replenish my home cooking spices. The store is located in the basement of Ameyoko Center Building, in the middle of Ameyoko. It has a Southeast Asian market-like atmosphere with many customers and staff from the continent, and they sell ingredients like mysterious chunks of meat and large fish that you may not be familiar with, giving it an exotic feel. I buy spices here occasionally to ensure I use fresh ingredients as much as possible. Well, I also buy them at Daikyo Value Yanaginaga store! Lately, I've been making easy dishes like Keema curry, but I also make seafood or oyster curry from scratch, and if I have the energy, I even make a Sri Lankan plate! The first curry in the picture is Roasted Tuna Paha Chicken using Hachiken chicken thigh meat, lentil curry, Teldara with snap peas and Tanba shimeji mushrooms, sambar with watercress, and carrot rapé. It can be tiring to make all of this, but it takes about 2 and a half hours. I started making spice curry during the first wave of Corona and I feel like I'm getting better at it! I still lack in presentation skills and I'm still practicing, but I'll keep trying a little harder.

I ran out of basic spices, so I went out and bought a bunch of them. From now on, I'll be cooking spiced dishes every day. Recently, I made red and yellow muffins that Indu Curry proposed for my summer research project. The colors were vibrant and the muffins were delicious. I used turmeric for coloring, which not only provided a clear color but also a great flexibility. I bought turmeric this time, so I'll be making yellow muffins. The process of making muffins is the same as usual. I'm using dry yeast but not baking soda. Since the raisins were really tasty last time, I'm making raisin muffins again this time. The acidity and flavor are really good. When I don't have blueberries, raisins are more than enough. The color turned out beautifully again this time. I enjoyed it with hot milk. #Indu Curry (#8554)

There is a spice specialty store in Ameyoko, and this one is my favorite! The store is located in the basement of the Ameyoko Center Building, and it feels like a Southeast Asian market with big fish and unfamiliar meats being sold, and both the staff and customers are mostly Southeast Asian. I bought some spices to make curry at home in Fukuoka. I tried making a seafood curry without using shrimp pilaf or frozen seafood because a request from my favorite ramen shop was to not include beef, pork, or chicken in the curry. Making shrimp pilaf involves shrimp gravy, whole spices for the rice, and cooking in a clay pot, so it takes time. The key is getting the spiciness and saltiness right! I also make sure to properly prepare the squid for the seafood curry. I didn't make enough shrimp pilaf to share, so I vacuum-packed the seafood for delivery, but I already have a request for the next one. It's a daily journey of perfecting my curry skills!

I couldn't visit due to the pandemic, but finally made it today. I was eager to buy tempeh from the online shop, but frozen products were not allowed, and the maker, Mr. Rustono, didn't have an online store. I spent my days dreaming of tempeh. Today was all about tempeh! I rushed in and managed to get 3 pieces. The staff was kind, communication with customers was perfect, and I was impressed by my long-awaited visit to Nogizawa-ya. Customers kept coming in one after another. You can find Asian food that is not easily accessible here. I enjoyed the tempeh without frying, just like the usual "tempeh bacar." Maybe I should try frying it in palm oil sometime. I will definitely visit again.

Spice shopping. Sashimi masala, grilled fish masala, can season vegetables and meat without using salt. Just the dried leaves alone have a masala fragrance.

I went to the hospital on March 7, 2018. Somehow, I got better. But I still lack "energy" (｡-_-｡) I had lunch at Toritsune with a special chicken and egg bowl with high-quality pork. The chicken meat is a nutritious food for sick people! I caught a male chicken in the backyard and received a female chicken from the neighborhood. I fed them to the chickens at home. When the eggs hatch, it will be a great find! My family's store also had eggs and chicken meat, but to entertain guests, you need fresh chicken and eggs from the backyard! I even checked the eggs by holding them up to a bare light bulb to confirm their freshness! Before climbing the art museum stairs, I bought sweet potatoes, sweet potato cakes, and sweet potato chips at Koshin. I didn't even have the energy to go to the "Eros no Moto" (adult goods store) this time. Last time I bought pickles at Sakeyoshi, so this time, I mustered up the courage to go to the underground food market at Ameyoko Center Building. When you go down to the "underground," it's no longer Japan! There were banana flowers, pig skin chips, Filipino shampoos, soaps, green papayas, and unusual fish swimming in the tanks. The employees and customers were speaking in Chinese. At Nogawaya, they had an incredible variety of spices, including curry powders from Sri Lanka, Kashmir, North India, South India, and Pakistan. Cardamom was available in green and black varieties. Nogawaya and Otsuya have everything you need, and they never disappoint. The difference between Nogawaya and Otsuya is the abundance of fresh ingredients like salted fish. I bought only one balut this time. It's my third time buying balut in my life. The first time was shortly after graduating from college at a business dinner. In the Philippines, they say, "Eating eggs gives you energy! If you eat balut, you'll feel even more energized!" There are even balut vendors there. But at Nogawaya, they bring it out from the back when you order it. If you buy it, you can visit three art museums in a row! I returned home late at night, completely exhausted. The cleaning of the pillow was done. This is a precious item from a foreign country, the Philippines... "Balut" is truly heartwarming. Will others dare to eat it? Try to muster up the courage and taste it! I received it as medicine! The taste and appearance vary depending on the individual and the level of development. It is absolutely impossible to post a photo of a peeled balut. The night-crying soba is a happy occasion. The balut alone is nothing. Balut is not a parrot, unlike a parrot. Silence by Seicho ===========

Located on the basement floor of Ameyoko Center Building, this grocery store offers a wide variety of food items from Southeast Asian and other Asian countries. They sell vegetables, spices, rice, beans, dried goods, seasonings, and miscellaneous items. Today, I bought some "tempeh" for the first time in a while. It used to be imported from Indonesia, but due to some issues, they now sell domestically produced tempeh made by Mr. Rustono, an Indonesian living in Otsu, Shiga Prefecture. This tempeh is made from 100% soybeans and is of high quality. A great store to visit!

The underground first floor of Ameyoko Center Building. A deep place where shops selling imported food line up. But it's also somewhat of a famous spot, so customers keep coming. Well, that's because you can find rare ingredients here. The top item that I personally think of is "Balut". It seems to be a popular product in the Philippines, but its true identity is a fertilized egg. Yes, it's a boiled egg with the chick already somewhat developed inside. Bringing this can really liven up the atmosphere in various ways (laughs). I go regularly to secure it, but the price has gone up from 150 yen to 200 yen. Now, about the taste of Balut. Firstly, there are some where you can clearly see it's a chick, and some where you can't. The ones with visible features like eyes or wings are quite gross... When you peel the eggshell, a dark liquid flows out. It's said that you should drink this too. The taste of the egg itself is normal, or rather, the yolk tastes a bit raw. And as for Balut, it's said to be good for health, and when you eat it... It's the ultimate challenge, give it a try!

I visited a shop where you can buy Asian food while walking around Ameyoko. There were various Asian menus and some items that I couldn't even recognize. I decided to try buying different types of century eggs (pi dan) since there were many options available. The flavor was quite salty and rich.