Sunday, August 31, 2008

This little piggy went..........to the market!

The outside of the fruit and veggie vendor area.
The inside of the fruit and veggie market.
 Front row, center left is the red snapper I bought for dinner one evening. 

He really wanted his picture taken, and for me to buy this fish!


Abu Dhabi has way too many malls and most of the shopping is upscale unless you are in the Indian and Pakistani "areas" which I will explore more when the weather is cooler.  But when it comes to food there are open air markets and they are a delight to the senses!

They are located at Port Zayed which is a huge section on the east side of the island and divided into many sections, one would struggle to cover it all in a day.  My first adventure I decided just to conquer dinner so I started with the vegetable and fruit market.  At first glance driving in it appears to be like many "farmers markets" I have seen in the states.  Especially all the small delivery trucks backed up to many stalls where they are loading up for restaurant and business deliveries.  As I drive toward the back where the large tent is located vendors with turbans and toothless smiles wave at me to come check out their wares.  I concentrate on my path as trucks and taxis weave across the open pavement each taking the most direct route to their location.  I arrive at the large tent with many vendors inside with today's fresh choices awaiting me.  And it's a cool for 11:00am, probably only 95 degrees, and being on the cost there is a nice breeze. Three steps out of my car and from my right and left I hear "welcome madame" repeatedly, which only continues as I walk up and down the aisles recognizing about seventy percent of the choices.

  No signs here like the grocery store which definitely puts me at a disadvantage.  I had the ingenious idea last week while I was at LuLu's, the local hypermarket which makes Super WalMart look like the corner store.  I figures I would make a list of all the fruits and veggies I didn't recognize and then check them out at a few cooking websites to figure out what to do with them.  It sounded like a great idea but I couldn't find a single one of the almost thirty items on my list!  So I ask locals "What is this?" I find they usually don't understand so I have resorted to,  "How I cook?"  "How you eat?"  

Everything green and leafy they call herbs here.  Many I recognize and many I don't.  I found some green onions, well they looked pretty close.  And some wide smooth leaves that were a dull green, they were not anything I recognized.  I found out it was spinach, or least what they call spinach here.  So with my "herbs" in hand I was ready to search for the rest of my dinner.  I head out of the tent with "Madame, look here" as I pass each vendor.  I have 2 bags in my hand so they know I am buying!  I find a few lemons and a half dozen bananas and head to my car.  I have now spent 13 dirhams, which is about $4.00!

I now head for the fish market.  Not having any idea what to expect I have conjured up in my head wood pallets by ocean piers  with fish and various creatures from the sea laid out for all to see.   A day trip into Manhattan last summer with a friend we wandered about and ended up in the bowels of Chinatown on a street that smelled and looked like nothing either of us wanted to remember!  So I was prepared for the worse.  After several wrong turns I located the section of the port where the fish market was located.  I pulled up to a large warehouse with many entrances.  As I stepped out of the car my nose let me know I had found the right location.  

As I walked into the market it was nothing I had pictured.  It smelled strong of fish but not offensive.  The floor was cement and wet from frequent cleaning.  There had to be at least a hundred stalls or more each one with sinks and metal tables full of crushed ice displaying  their wares from the sea.  All the workers had on high rubber boots, aprons, and thick rubber gloves.  Many people were walking about with plastic tubs in hand and I heard not a word of English spoken.  I am sure I had a dumb look of utter confusion on my face as I was approached by a Indian fish monger.  "Madame you need fish?"  Prawns is what I was desiring, the massively huge tiger prawns.  I spotted them right away on his table of many seafood choices.

Only one problem, and here is where I must digress and share my "issue" with shrimp heads.  The nasty, bug-like front end of the tasty creature named shrimp is something I consciously forget each time I devour the yummy crustacean.  I also have to forcibly forget the name group they belong too!  Becoming a complete vegetarian would only take me concentrating on the animals our food comes from.  Anyway, I hate, and that would be mildly put removing this creatures head.  So, my plan was to see if the lovely fish monger would do that task for me, remembering the communication challenges that exist on a daily or should I say hourly opportunity.  So I asked my new friend if I bought some prawns could they take off the head.  He laughed and spoke in his own tongue to his three coworkers and they all laughed.  I am sure at me!  He then picked up the large prawn with it's "adorable" face and beady eyes staring right at me and pointed at the head again asking me if I wanted it removed .  I said "yes, no head" thinking he would then take the prawn along with his little friends behind the counter and clean them.  Oh no, he asked "like this" and twisted the  nasty little head off while every inch of me cringed and who knows what kind of face I made for all four of the men were quite amused!  Thankfully he then sent the balance with one of the workers behind the counter to be cleaned.  When all was finished I had my six prawns, no heads, peeled and deveined with each tail about ten inches long and all costing 55 dirhams, which is about 18 U.S. dollars.

I then headed home and cooked a lovely dinner of sauteed shrimp in garlic, green onions, and white wine.  Freshly steamed Arabic spinach, which tasted pretty good and have now cooked several times along with saffron rice.

My first trip to the market was certainly an adventure I will never forget.  Now it is often a trip I make several times a week, not always for fish, but definitely for the veggies.  Maybe eventually I will get brave enough to even buy from the butchers at the meat markets there, but not anytime soon!

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