HUNTING FOR SPICES IN PORTO ANTICO

I really, really like Italian food. 

But there are times when nothing but a curry full of chili and exotic spices will do. For some reason, I get this craving especially when the weather turns hot. 

  When I moved to Genoa, this was a big problem because initially I could not find any hot spices or curry pastes in the shops. Coconut milk was a particular challenge. The mainstream supermarkets stock soy sauce and some very mild Mexican salsa sauce, but that was about as exotic as they are prepared to go. 

This is one of the shops on Via Gramsci in Porto Antico selling spices, all types of rice, curry pastes, spicy sauces and coconut milk. 

   Even though chili is certainly used in Italy  - I have even come across one Italian who actually makes his own mule kick strength chili sauce - it is usually in a very mild form, unless you are in Calabria: there they make nduja salami where one of the key ingredients are roasted hot red peppers. 

   But in Genoa? I found some spices and sauces from tiny ethnic shops in centro storico. The problem was that as much as I wanted to remember the exact street corner and address, I never did and even if I did, I always seemed to arrive on a wrong time of day and the shop was closed for lunch or a holiday. 

We are definitely eating a Thai curry tonight and I already have roasted couple of eggplants for baba ganoush, where tahini is one of the "must have" ingredients. 

Then one day I was on bus number 20 coming towards Porto Antico and saw a very welcome sign for Asia-Africa-South America market on Via Antonio Gramsci. I went back there later and ever since then I have been a regular customer. This is not the only "ethnic" shop on this street, there are at least two others, where the selection is quite similar, but perhaps more catering for people looking for authentic Japanese and Chinese food ingredients.