WCIF achiote paste or annatto seeds in Taiwan?

oh please oh please oh please oh please! :pray:

Try any area with lots of Filipinos that has Filipino shops - the area in the lanes just to the east of Zhongshan N. Road between Minquan and Yuanshan MRT stations, especially on a Sunday, is a good place to start.

In the Philippines, annatto is called atsuete and is used to color some foods. Therefore, a Filipino market should have it or know where to get it.

Iā€™m not sure if this will help, but Cafe Alexandre (Zhongshan N. Road, Tianmu, between Maryā€™s Burger and Whose Books just a little ways north of the Japanese School, but on the righthand side rather than the left) has a very small ā€˜shopā€™ area that sells lots of weird things. Annatto is sometimes used in cheese and she sells a lot of cheeses so itā€™s worth a shot if the Filipino market idea doesnā€™t work out. No promises though.

Thanks, Iā€™ll definitely check that out. I did find the annatto seeds online:
botanical.com/products/bulkherb/a.html

Annatto?

Dunno, but I know where to get natto.

Weā€™re talkinā€™ pibil here, dude! :cactus: :lick:

Num num num!! :lick:

(Plus the word ā€œpibilā€ is a prime example of how adjectives are formed from nouns/verbs in Yucatec Maya: take the root [pib- in this case], repeat the vowel, and add L. :bow:)

Hach yaabach dios botic tech!

I get the achiote for my rice at the Filipino stores in Taipei Underground Mall -the oldest one- 25 nts a bag. I do not use it frequently so small bags are OK with me. Are you looking for biggish quantities, right?

Now, that pibil would make a great Christmas/New Year dinner dish.

How about some Rosca de Reyes?

Beautiful, thanks for the info! Weā€™re about to head out now to look for a Filipino store in Nangang to score some more achiote. :lick: EDIT: nope, it turned out to be a Thai & Indonesian store, without

Yeah, I use at least 55g achiote paste (not powder) per large dish (for 2kg chicken). Thatā€™s half a tablet based on the 110g (3.5oz) tablets they sell in little boxes in Mexico. The recipes often call for a whole tablet but I skimp because I want my 3 boxes to last!

EDIT: The little bags at EEC-Elite Mart at #39 Zhongshan N. Rd. and at Bing-Go at #49 are a mere 10 g. of annatto powder for $20 NT each. Thatā€™s about double the price of bulk annatto seed online, but about the same per gram after adding shipping.

Ooh yeah!
Hereā€™s the recipe I made last night btw ā€“ it was GOOD. [color=#BF0040](EDIT: I adjusted the amount of achiote paste, which I had overstated earlier)[/color]

Achiote Chicken #1 by Dragonbones
Prep: 20 min. plus overnight marinating; cook: 1.5-2 hours
Ingredients: Marinade
ā€¢ Achiote paste (55g, or half a Mexican tablet of paste); see instructions online for how to make from annatto seeds if needed, but you could probably substitute about 2-3 of the 10g bags of annatto seed powder (atsuete) from the Filipino stores at #39 and #49 Zhongshan N. Rd. Sec 3.
ā€¢ 3 pasilla chiles, dried; slice open, remove seeds and stem. Soak in 2 c. very hot water for 30 min. Remove and chop; reserve water.
ā€¢ 1 c. orange juice
ā€¢ 2 Tbsp. balsamic fig vinegar or other vinegar or lime juice
ā€¢ 1 tsp. brown sugar
ā€¢ 1 heaping Tbsp. cumin powder
ā€¢ 6 ā€“ 10 cloves garlic
ā€¢ 2 Tbsp garlic powder or garlic spice mix
ā€¢ 1 heaping tsp chile paste
ā€¢ 1.5 Tbsp oregano
ā€¢ 4 Tbsp olive oil
ā€¢ 1 heaping tsp. corn starch if thicker final sauce is desired.
ā€¢ black pepper
ā€¢ 2 Tbsp onion powder
Blend the above in a blender. Add:
ā€¢ 1 large onion, chopped. Add liquid from pasilla chile soak if desired.
Pour into large Tupperware-type container. Add:
ā€¢ Approx. 2-2.5 kg of chopped or whole chicken legs or de-boned legs, chopped (Costco bulk pack is economical); remove skin and excess fat (will replace with healthier olive oil); score deeply with knife to allow marinade to enter.
Rub marinade into cuts in chicken. Seal and refrigerate overnight.
Next day: Place in large casserole or stock pot; add:
ā€¢ bell peppers, chopped (optional)
ā€¢ 1 can Italian tomatoes stewed in basil, from Costco; drained & chopped (optional)
Bake in hot oven for 1.5-2 hours (regularly ladling sauce over chicken, and turning chicken pieces halfway through), or cook in large stovetop pot, or wrap in foil (use banana leaves if you can get them). Near end of cooking, add:
ā€¢ fresh or dried basil
ā€¢ salt to taste.
Taste sauce, and adjust spices liberally to taste. If too thin (oven version), pour off some sauce and reduce in a sauce pan; optionally add 1 tsp or more of cornstarch dissolved in cold water and reduce, thickening. Return to oven pan for final baking. Serve with freshly cooked greens, and either white rice, Mexican rice or freshly warmed tortillas. The leftover can be shredded when cold, and saved for making enchiladas, tostadas, tacos and so on.

As one of my coworkers said: this is the time of the year to have friends with REAL ovensā€¦ :smiling_imp:

Just scored a frigginā€™ POUND of annatto seed powder by mail order, woohoo! This place, called mountainroseherbs.com, has almost any kind of herb, spice, tea or essential oil you might want. After shipping, the annatto works out to almost the same price as (maybe $1NT less than) the tiny packets in the Filipino supermarkets, but you can have it delivered to your door along with other hard to find items like neem leaf or muira puama bark ā€“ who can live without that, after all?

This store has nice chile powders like ancho and chipotle, achiote paste, and habanero sauce, FYI, and they deliver USPS to Taiwan:
spicesgalore1.com/chilevarieties.html

Iā€™ve also found an eBay seller, richsas, who will ship annatto (whole or seed) here.

ā€¦seeds, powder, or what-have-you?

I always screw that up.
I searched WCIF, honest mistake, right?

OK, Iā€™m a little fuzzy on the chronology here, first you went to Little Manila and bought a bunch of sachets, but then later you got a crapload shipped, is that right?
That was like a year and a half ago, have you restocked since?

[quote=ā€œthe chiefā€]I always screw that up.
I searched WCIF, honest mistake, right?[/quote]
:laughing: No prob, people do that on a daily basis.

Yeah, thatā€™s right; well, not a crapload ā€“ just enough to make the occasional chicken pibil, really. I keep the stuff refrigerated or frozen just like with any seeds, as oils in them can go rancid. Iā€™ve got a little bit of achiote paste, annatto seeds, whole, and powdered left. The paste is my favorite.

I havenā€™t been to little Manila since, but did order a little more paste in from the States, since I like the paste better and they donā€™t have that here AFAIK. It makes a GREAT marinade with a bit of vinegar, wine and/or OJ, and a load of garlic and onions, S&P plus a few dried Mexican peppers.

[quote=ā€œDragonbonesā€][quote=ā€œthe chiefā€]I always screw that up.
I searched WCIF, honest mistake, right?[/quote]
:laughing: No prob, people do that on a daily basis.

Yeah, thatā€™s right; well, not a crapload ā€“ just enough to make the occasional chicken pibil, really. I keep the stuff refrigerated or frozen just like with any seeds, as oils in them can go rancid. Iā€™ve got a little bit of achiote paste, annatto seeds, whole, and powdered left. The paste is my favorite.

I havenā€™t been to little Manila since, but did order a little more paste in from the States, since I like the paste better and they donā€™t have that here AFAIK. It makes a GREAT marinade with a bit of vinegar, wine and/or OJ, and a load of garlic and onions, S&P plus a few dried Mexican peppers.[/quote]

Wicked, thanks.
Does the paste keep Ok in the fridge?
I was looking at maybe ordering some Bijol Powder, but keeping powdered stuff can be such a pain here, I guess the paste is the way to go.
Is this kind of what weā€™re talkin about???

Yeah.

Same item name (achiote paste), but I donā€™t know how that one differs from what I get. I wouldnā€™t buy a container that big, though. What on earth are you planning to marinate, a whole goat? :laughing:

Yeah.

Same item name (achiote paste), but I donā€™t know how that one differs from what I get. I wouldnā€™t buy a container that big, though. What on earth are you planning to marinate, a whole goat? :laughing:[/quote]

Wellā€¦what, you think I should spread it out over a few different meals??

Seriously, Chief, what are you planning to cook with achiote?

Ok, I was kidding.

Half a goat.

Nothing special, I just been faking arroz using paprika and tumeric (like Iā€™m going to pay 2 weeksā€™ rent for a little bag of saffron? Zif!), and I was figuring I should break down and get the real stuff, if it can be done.