Milagai

"Late encounter with a bluefin" (Lawrence Downes) http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/02/opinion/...tml?ref=opinion "The bluefin tuna is at the pinnacle of the sushi and sashimi kingdom, and suffers greatly for it. Its numbers have plunged 90 percent since the 1970s. The bluefin is nearing collapse, and its abundant misfortune is passed on to countless other creatures — the unwanted fish, turtles and seabirds killed as bycatch, the immense tonnage of smaller fish vacuumed up to fatten captured bluefin in Mediterranean “farms.” Governments and conservationists have long sounded the alarm, but no one really controls the open seas or has found the limits of the human appetite for luxury seafood. An international conference in Turkey last month could have slowed the carnage, but didn’t. ... "We'd better marvel while we can"." Question: in the face of such trends, why do people keep choosing to consume such products?

Yeah good luck with that. My wife used to try that all the time. We had a lot of bacon and toast breakfasts. ← Actually I manage this with decent results. I have an ancient cast iron frying pan, a tiny one, that's superbly seasoned because of age and heavy use. I need almost no extra oil for most things, and I have tried dry fried eggs in this and it works. Not trying to be extra healthy or anything, just being lazy. The pan is a little too small to try mushrooms or peppers ..... I've managed with mushrooms that I put into a skillet that I had just finished sauteeing something else in. No extra oil, but there must have been enough residue, they came out beautifully.

I'm willing to wager that 20 years from now there will be a common term for the person who chooses to eat primarily non-animal-derived foodstuffs and also considers "rich, fulfilling food" a priority. "Vegan" may have accumulated too much militant, ascetic baggage to be that term, but to imply that gourmandism requires the consumption of animal products ignores the increasing numbers of non-hardcore among us who try to prepare exceptional vegan/vegetarian food on a daily basis. ← Markemorse, many thanks for that spirited response to that closed-minded post. In my family, we have experienced all that was listed: parenting, aging, etc. We are all in basically good health, and stayed vegetarian (no fish of course) though we are not vegan (we also don't base our meals on eggs, cheese, butter etc.). Guess what? Our food philosophy is: "if it's not tasty and fulfilling, we ain't eating it". We're not about a sawdust-based deprivation diet. And thanks to my desi heritage, I'm actually familiar with how to cook and eat vegetarian without dying in the attempt. And we LOVE it when restaurants actually have vegetarian choices. It's easy in much of the US, South Asia, East Africa. Europe (outside of UK) can still be a real pain, because of the vegetarian=fish notion. I am sure if we traveled to China, Japan, Korea etc. we'd be sunk. Even if something unforeseen makes me switch to meating, the last thing I will eat is fish, as even in my non-veg younger days I hated the stuff - it smells bad. Plus the environmental destruction that accompanies fish/seafood industries nowadays (e.g. the 'slash and burn' approach to shrimp farms in SE Asia: destroy the mangroves, put in a shrimp farm, in 5 years that farm can no longer yield and the area is destroyed, so move down the coast and repeat; etc.) is unconscionable. I don't know why people eat those products - maybe tickling their tastebuds is the highest priority contrasted to any thought or ethics whatsoever - and using the cheap shot of calling others 'hardcore' or 'deprived' seems a way to justify themselves. It's interesting how on that whole hog farm/pollution thread, not a single person seems to have thought of the idea of (gasp) eating less pig! Eating meat was sustainable when people ate small quantities occasionally (e.g. Easter lamb; TG turkey; etc.) rather than honking big meat hunks front and center of every meal plate; and people actually act baffled when environmental and occupational havoc follow.....

What if you take an antihistamine (before or after ingesting cayenne)? Have you worsened to the point where you need EpiPen?

Well, the cop was 'a-salted'.....

Paula Wolfert's Muhammara (on recipegullet) is about the ultimate. (Roasted red peppers, walnuts, red chili, cumin, breadcrumbs pomegranate molasses, a dash of cumin, s&p, lemon juice, etc.) It's very forgiving and can be tweaked to individual tastes; e.g. I always use much more pom molasses than her recipe calls for, and it's delicious either way.

I would also appreciate an answer. Where I currently live, the garden is full of long yellow slugs (around 4 to 6 inches in length). One even crawled in the window yesterday and had to be ejected with two cardboard pieces. They're everywhere. Our next dinner party, if these are edible, maybe these can appear; a double advantage?

These things have saved my hide many a time. When my kids were much younger, and my goal was always to make one meal rather than separately for each person, khichdi was always a popular option - one pot; rice + dal + veggies, at a spice level all could enjoy. If you don't fancy khichdi, then you can always make a simple mixed veg pulao: Fry the relevant spices in a little ghee (e.g. cumin seed, whole cloves, cinnamon stick, cardamom pod, bay leaves, black peppercorns); add rinsed baasmati rice and stir fry until translucent; Add the correct amount of water (not too much, you don't want to drain away the nutrients or have a mushy result); some frozen mixed veggies (e.g. 1/2 cup for 1.5 cups rice); salt, and pinch of haldi. Boil until done, and there you go. Very simple baseline veggie pulao that you can either jazz up with other additions, or use as the background for whatever else you're serving (and it will go with a wide variety of other dishes and cuisines).

Parve foods are foods that contain no dairy or meat ingredients and are generally plant based (they can contain fish or eggs). The chicken soup bases jackal10 mentions are parve and completely vegetarian (vegan). They are often used in kosher cooking when preparing a meal where no meat is allowed. ← Thank you for the clarification. Now I shall know this...

Thank you! M

Hi Naughty Literati: thanks for yr book recommendations. I love Chitrita Banerjee's writings too. Cheers Milagai

Can someone point me to the Smithy's creamed eggplant recipe please? I did try the search function a few ways, but didn't find it. Thanks in advance

What would you like to do with it? I love Sriracha: use it like ketchup as a dip; or a few drops in anything makes a great taste, etc. Great balance of hot, sour, sweet, salty. ps: what is your recipe for homemade chile sauce?

Did you seriously mean to recommend chicken stock for vegetarians? Unless you know of some chickens that grow on trees, chicken stock = dead bird juice = NOT vegetarian. Unless parve chicken stock is fake chicken stock made entirely from plant based products, in which case it would be OK. And that's umami, not umani....

Cut into lengths a few inches long, peel, hollow out into cups to drink sake. Eat them after the sake is gone I suppose.

Thanks for the tip Bague. I'm not in North America at this time, but will try and find such a shop. Funny thing is that I am in a country with a huge Asian (=Indian) population, but the many grocery stores only seem to carry that Vandevi nonsense..... sigh...

Curry powder is not the same thing as sambar (not sambhar) powder. If you google 'sambar powder' and recipe, you can toast and grind your own sambar powder if you have something like a coffee grinder or spice mill. It's not hard (mostly coriander seed, fenugreek, maybe cinnamon, dry red chillies, coconut, and a couple of other things - recipes vary) most of the ingredients are available in a regular US supermarket. Re hing: try mail order, there is no substitute for it really. Or leave it out I guess. But that aroma will be missing. Or just mail order the sambar powder too.

I haven't seen pastes in the market. In fact, I am striking out while seeking the lump hing (lucky Dianabana). I am getting quite fed up of the powdered 'compounded hing' which is 78% rice powder and god knows how much actual hing in it. It's pretty weak, and getting progressively weaker. I find myself adding outrageous amounts to get even a whiff of hing aroma...

Because like Preserve and others said, cooking is an art while baking is a science. Like many of you, the first few times I make something I measure. Then when I know what it looks and tastes like at all stages of cooking then I wing it. Re why volume based recipes: it's visually and intuitively easier. We can see what we are putting in, and we have a spoon in our hands anyway. Weighing is a pain (though necessary for baking) it's an extra step. Volume is much easier: any way you're scooping up the ingredient with a spoon or cup, so just keep using that! Milagai

Dal texture varies by dal type and recipe; most dals however will end up mushy. Crunchy dals (except in a few recipes like fried snacks) = tummyache, because they are difficult to digest). Even recipes using the sabut dals (=un split dals) like kali dal / dal makhani etc. the dal will look 'whole', but it will be very soft and creamy to eat. These are not European lentil recipes; you bite the dal it is not supposed to bite you back. And most Indian dal recipes are like a very thick soup; i.e. rather liquidy. They are supposed to form a textural contrast with dry sabzis. There are some dry dal recipes however. Masoor dal, the pink lentils you used, will typically end up mushy. Esp if you use 4 water : 1 cup dal. I usually use not more than 3 cups water. It's still plenty liquidy. Have you not eaten any dal dishes that you've liked in local restaurants? Try and duplicate the textures there. Re the whistle logic, as you saw, your new model pc won't have that; however that lwhistle ogic is most unscientific. The first whistle is to let you know that the pc has reached its full head of steam. Thereafter you should turn the heat low to maintain pressure. More than one whistle is just a waste of heat, fuel, and sounds noisy ... Milagai

When hing is heated the strong smell when raw gets absolutely transformed into a mild and lovely aroma. The two odors are completely different. Plus, only a tiny pinch is used. I wonder if those who find hing objectionable enjoy fish sauce or stinky cheese.

Mizducky: You are one fabulous person. May your shadow never grow less (in a metaphorical sense, of course). I absolutely understand where your friend is coming from. Once the food-emotion connection is strongly established with a particular style of cooking, that's what you tend to revert to when the body is stressed. You can enjoy other things, but they can be psychologically unsatisfying after a point, though actually delicious......

Wouldn't it have been more convenient if you made it in your coffee pot? ( OK, Groucho Marx I'm not; sorry folks)..... Milagai carry on ....

You may choose to be in denial about it, but this is a classic example of ageism. Like any other "ism", it is a prejudice about a group of persons, based solely on membership in that group (young age in this case), and irrespective of their actual behaviors; seeking to limit their participation. (By your own description the child was acting up only "a little"; and we are not talking about a child in any dangerous place or legally disallowed environment like a casino gambling area.) People may be horrified by racial profiling or religious discrimination, or gender inequality, pr prejudice against the disabled. Ageism shares many features with these , though potentially everyone can experience age discrimination, (unlike race or gender) either as a very young child, or as a much older adult. Would you dream of repeating your statement above, and instead of "kids", substitute the name of a race/ethnic group? Surely not, and it's the same principle when referring to children..... Like Carrot Top I think mentioned months or years ago, some people only want shiny happy people around them. Anything outside that narrow envelope ruins their environment and they seek to exclude them. And they may be oblivious to the obnoxious behaviors of their own group while stigmatizing those of others. Where do you think tomorrow's fine restaurant patrons are coming from? Today's children, who may be lucky enough to be taken there, and who through repeated lessons, will learn appropriate behavior. (Do you think that happens in one shot? Or happens in isolation at home or at McKidsHappyLand?) And if treated with tolerance, the children will hopefully develop tolerance for cranky old geezers.

Sentiamo: curry powder is not inferior because it is pre-ground. It's inferior because it's ONE spice blend added to everything to create some illusion of Indian flavor, in a one-spice-fits-all approach. I have specific pre-ground, purchased, spice mixes that I use for specific dishes (chana masala for chhole; sambar powder for sambar, rasam powder for rasam, etc.) I use these when in a hurry and I don't feel like roasting-and-grinding. Often the commercial ones give me better results. But the point is that they are specific to each dish, and almost never randomly added to just any and every dish. But I don't have curry powder, because I don't make "curry". I have Thai pastes for Thai yellow curry, green curry etc. But not "Indian curry" (whatever that is). The dishes you describe above (egg salad etc.) are not Indian, and there is no harm spicing them up with curry powder; anything that adds flavor to an otherwise bland dish must be good. So the analogy comparing commercial curry powder : home made :: Miracle Whip : home made mayo doesn't work. Milagai