Al-Salam Market

Al-​Salam Market saves the day!
I was hurriedly looking for some tamarind paste before all the stores closed because I was planning to make Pad Thai noodles for our family Christmas meal and the recipe I had called for it.
I phoned another Indian store closer to my home but they were out and I was able to get the person to tell me where else I could find this unique ingredient. It was like pulling teeth but I finally got him to tell me of a few other places. He mentioned a place at the corner of Anza and Del Amo so I drove over to see if I could find it.
I got to the corner and parked in the parking lot of the strip mall and saw the sign for this market and assumed this was probably the place the other store owner was talking about.
Al Salam Market is a small store with half of the place displaying various Indian items and the other half was a butcher shop selling different cuts of meats prepared the halal way.
I looked around on the shelves and as you can imagine, I was stoked to find the tamarind paste. The owner rang me up and was very friendly. On the way out, I noticed they had frozen samosas in their refrigerated section and I thought of grabbing one but didn’t. Probably will have to go back to pick some up some time.
The owner wished me a Merry Christmas which I thought was courteous of him given that I assumed he was Muslim since the place was a halal market.
If you’re looking for ingredients to go in your Indian or Southeast Asian dishes, try stopping in at this store since I’m sure you’ll find what you’re looking for like I did.