This is a multi-blog series, looking at the various ethnic grocery stores in the Madison area. This week, we look at Indian grocery stores.

If you’re looking for a vegetarian-based meal, you should consider shopping at Indian grocery stores, which are stocked with vegetable-based items as well as spices and sauces to enhance your dishes. In Madison, we have places like Swagat Indian Grocery (which has a large video selection, too), Bombay Bazaar and Maharaja Grocery.

I was fortunate to have Sara Parthasarathy, founder of Fill My Recipe (which sells pre-measured Indian spices for various recipes) be my guide as we went shopping at India House (same owner as Minerva Indian Cuisine) near Woodman’s West.

Recommendations for conservative palates

In the frozen section, some safe bets are the chapatti (a flatbread similar to naan except unleavened), samosas (fried pastry often filled with potatoes), fried paneer (un-aged, non-melting cheese) and khaman (sort of like a cake but made with chickpeas). Based on Sara’s recommendation, I fried the paneer until golden brown, then I sauteed it further in tomato sauce. It’s not too dissimilar from fried cheese curds, although a bit more bland.

The samosas and khaman can be eaten as-is, but the chapatti is best served with something with a lot of flavor, like curry or some of the things I bought for the next section of this report.

Other items I purchased were gulab jamun (deep fried ball made of milk solids and soaked in syrup), mango juice, lychee juice and plantain chips.

Recommendations for more adventurous eaters

Curry isn’t always spicy hot. Case in point, the Butter Chicken sauce mix I got was fairly mild. Meanwhile, the jar of mango pickle had a lot of kick and is best eaten with something like chapatti.

I also walked away with a jar of mint chutney (a great dip for the samosas), a bag of frozen snake gourd (a mostly bland tropical vine that’s in the fruit family), malai kofta (vegetable dumplings), red jalebi (deep-fried flour soaked in syrup), curry chili powder and a bag of fried “ribbons,” as Sara called it (they’re slightly spicy chips).

Those ribbons make for a really good snack. I also absolutely adored the creamy sauce that bathed the malai kofta.

This is a multi-blog series, looking at the various ethnic grocery stores in the Madison area. This week, we look at Asian grocery stores.

I’ve shopped at the various Asian grocery stores in town, such as Asian Midway Foods, Lee’s Oriental and Yue-Wah Oriental Foods, but my favorite is Viet Hoa in Monona because of its large selection. Still, you can’t go wrong with any of the aforementioned shops.

One of the first things you’ll notice in these stores is that you can find essentially everything canned, from fruits to vegetables to meats to sauces to pastes. You’ll also find a large produce section, as most Asian dishes are vegetable-based, not meat-based.

Recommendations for conservative palates

In the frozen section, you’ll find dumplings, shu mai, buns (vegetable and meat) and other items typically found on restaurant menus. You also can purchase wonton skins if you want to make your own at home. I suggest trying fried sticks, which are essentially light, airy breadsticks that you fry in oil.

If you’re a noodles fan, you’ll find endless variety, and many are so much better than the Maruchan ramen that are favorites of the budget-conscious. You also can buy soup broth that you can then add your own ingredients, such as beef and pho noodles.

I also like to buy canned lychees. While the fruit may look odd, they’re actually quite delicious, and you can mix the syrup with vodka for a lychee martini.

Recommendations for more adventurous eaters

Congee, which is a soupy rice often served at breakfast, can be pretty bland, unsurprisingly. That’s why you want to eat it with various accompaniments, such as pickled cucumbers (small, softer pieces of cucumber), dried shredded pork, fried dace or other canned fish and gluten (you’ve seen it in the buffet line at places like Flat Top).

For fans of banh mi, Viet Hoa often will have the Vietnamese sandwiches for sale. They go well with shrimp (flavored) chips, which you can buy in bags (try the Calbee brand) or as little round chips that puff up once you deep fry them. Speaking of seafood, dried, shredded squid is a tasty, protein-rich snack.

Finally, pick up a bottle of oyster sauce (it’s not at all oyster-y) and some broccoli. Cut the broccoli into pieces and boil until semi-soft, then stir fry it with the oyster sauce. You’ll always want to eat broccoli this way from now on.