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Milagai

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Posts posted by Milagai

  1. Milagai, that's eally interesting.

    I have no idea why this type of drink has gone out of fashion here (the same with 'anijsmelk', milk flavored with aniseed, although that is slightly more common and you can buy cubes to make instant anijsmelk in the supermarket).

    I have noticed, when I travelled in the US, that American's seem to be much fonder of spiced sweets (drinks and pastry) than Dutch people. Cinnamon, for instance, seems to be really popular, and when it's used in pastries, it's used in abundance!

    have you read Andrew Dalby's book Dangerous Tastes - the Story of Spices? I just got it and haven't read it yet, but it seems like the book for you!

    Thanks for that book recommendation! Another book that had been

    suggested upthread (when I asked why Dutch food seemed to

    *use* so little spice though spice import was such an important

    part of the economy) was Schama's "Embarassment of Riches"

    and they're on my list of books that my library will get via

    inter library loan - one at a time; very long list :biggrin:

    Milagai

    ps: I love this thread and am quite looking forward to making

    the cheese-stuffed crepes some time this weekend,

    and also the little cheese cookies (cant remember the name

    they're upthread somewhere).....

  2. Thank you to all for the fennel vs anise clarifications.

    I must admit that the seeds depicted in various links

    looked so similar to each other......

    I must figure out how to conduct a side by side taste

    test and see how they differ.

    Has anyone done that and can they enlighten?

    Thanks again

    Milagai

  3. I'll be @#$%! :blink:

    This slemp is almost identical to desi

    Masala Chai (spiced tea) that's an Indian

    staple I guess since tea entered India;

    and is now sweeping Starbucks etc. in the West!

    It's so fascinating that it's less known among the

    younger generation of Netherlanders!

    Chufi: Why do you think it faded away?

    Milagai (getting so fascinated with similarities

    along the spice route, not only on the sending countries'

    end, but now also on the receiving countries.....)

  4. Does anyone have a solution to this bean-related problem?  Since I've been cooking a lot of red beans in my (formerly) white crockpot, the insert has gradualy become pink.  No amount of elbow grease removes the pink stains, not that they're hurting anything, but it makes the pot look dirty all the time.  Any suggestions?

    Have you tried simmering some vinegar and water in that

    for a good while; then empty most of it out, add more vinegar

    and baking soda (bubbles over); then scrubbing?

    If that does not work, then I fear diluted bleach soak may be

    yr only option. If the insert is glass/ceramic or similar, then

    it should be OK, and with a good dish soap scrub afterwards

    safe for cooking again...

    Milagai

  5. I don't think fennel and anise are the same thing,

    Splendid Table, NPR, has an answer to this ... :wink:

    Thanks GiftedG! One lives and learns!

    The item in my grocery store appears to be fennel,

    based on the description in that link. I'm off to google

    images of fennel and of anise to see how different they look.

    ps: I just did that, and I am still confused about the difference.

    They look very similar to my eyes. The only thing that comes

    out is that the thing in my grocery store is almost definitely fennel......

    Milagai

  6. I'm not an expert, I don't think fennel and anise are the same thing, but I thing braised anise would taste wonderful!

    Uh, obviously I'm not a vegetarian either.... no milk products?? That would be a challenger fro me.

    Hathor:

    Ok: I'll try braised anise, same recipe as for fennel?

    And do I use the upper frondy parts along with the bulb?

    Re milk products - a vegetarian is a person who does

    not eat dead animals (so no fish, chicken, shellfish, animal stocks, etc.)

    But vegetarians usually consume dairy products (because

    the animal is not killed in milk production) and some eat eggs.

    So they're called lacto-ovo vegetarians.

    Vegans on the other hand don't eat anything animal in origin,

    so no dairy products, no eggs, no honey, don't wear silk or leather

    or wool or fur, etc.

    My remark to you was in response to your description

    of your one vegetarian meal a day saying "protein twice

    a day can be so heavy". I wanted to point out that:

    1) vegetarian meals DO include protein, whether from

    bean type ingredients, or as in your pecorino pasta dish, from dairy products.

    So your vegetarian meal cannot be described as a no-protein meal.

    And also, there are small amounts of protein in almost all foods.,

    which add up.....

    2) dairy products ARE animal-origin ingredients, but are acceptable

    to most vegetarians (unless they have food sensitivities) since

    it's not directly a dead animal. Vegans on the other hand would not

    find dairy products acceptable.

    Like others have pointed out, it's not that hard to have to

    leave out animal products from one's diet as there are

    myriad ways to omit or substitute. It's a matter of habit.....

    HTH

    Milagai

  7. Tejon, are you sure you're not me? :blink:

    You described almost identical to what

    we ate for dinner today - mixed dal (mostly chana with a

    little moong and masoor) with onions, tomatoes,

    red chilli and panch pora.

    Rice; and asparagus with the black mustard seeds!

    Yogurt...

    This is one of our comfort staples too.....

    Simple every day food.... :smile:

    Your description of what you fed your veg*an friends

    (the chinese-ish meal) was heavenly too....

    Hathor - question - is fennel same as anise? I saw

    anise in the grocery today, and wanted to make your

    braised fennel for TG....

    By the way - vegetarian food means getting your protein

    from mostly plant sources, it does not mean "no protein"...

    And you had pecorino in your pasta, so a hunk of animal protein

    right there :wink:

    MissAmy - the reasons you gave for going mostly vegetarian

    is the same as why my family is vegetarian. I have the

    "easy out" of my Indian food background so it's no hardship

    for us to be fully lacto-ovo vegetarian, (though

    we rarely eat eggs but don't

    rule them out, though we do consume a fair amount of dairy.)

    And GiftedG - you didn't go wrong at all! Your daughter is lucky

    that her mom is open to her very thoughtful dietary choices

    and there's really no deprivation there - on the contrary -

    a universe of exquisite food....

    Our TG obviously is vegetarian, and having no Thanksgiving

    traditions we have to replicate, our "thing" is to find a new and interesting

    set of recipes every year and splurge.

    So far on this year's menu much inspired by eg:

    Lunch:

    Hathor's braised fennel

    (maybe) the stuffed baby artichokes from the Medieval food blog

    roasted baby potatoes and brussels sprouts

    EITHER

    Chufi's Dutch cheese-filled crepes

    OR

    Spiced up spanakopita (more likely this as I have

    an oversupply of fillo that needs to be used up)

    dessert yet to be determined......am open to

    suggestions.......

    Dinner:

    Evening a TG pot luck with friends,

    our contribution:

    Daniel's fillo-wrapped camembert cheese triangles

    which I will take up a notch by slicing and spreading

    with a spicy spread before wrapping.....

    and whatever the others make......

    Milagai

  8. Thanks SheenaGreena (D'oh! thwaps self on head!

    definitely need an emoticon for that).

    I am aware of SE / E Asian beans more fermented or processed

    (as RanchoGordo says): eg. tofu, tempeh, black bean sauce / paste,

    sweet bean paste etc. I'm less aware of beans "as is" in the cuisine,

    though Abra has pointed some items out. Please elaborate on black beans

    in Korean food?

    Thanks

    Milagai

  9. Soy milk can replace cow-juice, you may have to adjust

    the sugar i the recipe some,

    and lactose-free dairy milk is also an option.

    There are many web sites e.g. vegan sites or

    food-allergy related sites, where specific recipes

    and techniques are given....

    The results apparently are really good.

    In the final picture, with the flavorings

    and other ingredients, the taste component

    of dairy milk may not be that major.

    So there should be no reason to doubt that

    dairy-free or lactose-free pie can be superb.....

    Milagai

  10. Abra:

    Thanks for making me aware of the Rancho Gordo site.

    I know what my upcoming food obsession is going to be!

    Please share some of your favorite varieties from this

    site and prep methods?

    Also, the word "Rajmah" means "kidney beans"

    (literally Royal Beans), rather than

    the method of preparation . :)

    It's home cooking, it used to be considered a

    slightly fancier preparation - Sundays, parties etc.

    but now it's become very commonplace/everyday.

    It's one of the most popular Indian recipes, along with

    chana/chhole, to "convert" newbies to the food..... :smile:

    However, you can use that method of preparation with

    any suitable bean - and after I saw a picture of Rancho Gordo

    Rio Zape on line, I think why not, and would love to hear

    back from you whether it worked.

    It's almost identical to the BEP recipe I posted, and those

    recipes can be used interchangeably.

    To modify that recipe to use chickpeas type beans, you take

    that same basic recipe and add lots of sour notes -

    pomegranate powder, mango powder, tamarind, rock salt, etc.

    To any of the above, some greens component can be added

    (=saag) - spinach, fenugreek greens, etc.

    I can't imagine (like I said) disliking any form of bean,

    because all of them seem to have a generally neutral-ish

    flavor, and it's all in the recipe and treatment.....

    My palate has been so shaped by Indian spices that I can

    rarely imagine the flavor of the bean alone rather than

    as part of the dish....There's one bean however that stands

    out to me, it's a large, flat, whitish or palely freckled bean

    that's common in South India and called "butterbean" there.

    No idea what it's called elsewhere and whether it's available.

    But it's really buttery and yummy.....

    Onigiri, glad you liked the BEP recipe. Now that I live in the

    American South, I make that BEP recipe with chopped greens added,

    for my version of "Hoppin John" :biggrin:

    but shhhh or I'll get run out of town on a rail...

    Interesting about the lack of beans in Thai food, other

    than tofu. What about other SE Asian cooking?

    Now that you mention it, I can't think of beans in Chinese

    restaurants either (other than steamed bean paste in desserts).

    What about in Japanese cooking?

    South Asia seems to be "bean central", along with Central/South America.

    Beans and dals are, of course, the cornerstones of vegetarian cooking

    in the former, while in the latter they are part of a meat-based

    cuisine.....?

    Obviously if someone like me didn't get their daily dose of

    dal or whole beans, I'd fall down from hunger and/or lack of

    nutrition....

    :biggrin:

    It's like peeping into an entire different planet for me to see what

    other people do with beans and think about them, and how it's

    exotica for some....

    Milagai

  11. Guys, Guys, those are not long beans,

    they are "drumsticks", moringa oleifera,

    a very common vegetable in Southern India

    (murungakkaai).

    [...]

    Wow! Cool. Thanks for setting me straight.

    They sound intruiging, I'll have to give them a try if I see them again.

    If you do try them, buy a bunch and try this

    great sounding recipe from one of my favorite

    food blogs and tell me if it works.

    It's an art to get the moringa cooked to the correct

    degree - if you undercook they taste raw and rubbery inside.

    Overcook and the inside disintegrates and the outside

    comes apart in woody fibres....

    http://www.nandyala.org/mahanandi/archives...kaayadrumstick/

    Please tell more about Pineapple Guava?

    Taste and uses - l ike regular guava? or sweeter/juicier/different?

    Thanks again

    Milagai

  12. gallery_27569_3867_19591.jpg

    I think these are some sort of bean.  Anyone know what sort?

    They look like long beans from here.

    Guys, Guys, those are not long beans,

    they are "drumsticks", moringa oleifera,

    a very common vegetable in Southern India

    (murungakkaai).

    Cut the long pods into smaller pieces and

    add to sambar, godju or similar.

    The leaves can also be used as above, or made

    into a yummy chutney etc.

    Moringa is supposed to be HIGHLY nutritious,

    though the funny thing about the entities who

    tout its nutrition focus on the leaves more than the pods:

    http://www.treesforlife.org/project/moringa/default.en.asp

    The taste and approach - think artichoke.

    After cooking moringa, you eat the pulpy insides

    (seeds and all) but discard the fibrous outside.

    It's an art to do this politely.

    Moringa is also jokingly called "Brahmin bones" as

    it's the nearest South Indian vegetarians get

    to the (supposed) delights of gnawing bones......

    Your blog is great fun eje, brings back so many

    good memories of our days in the Bay Area,

    we still desperately miss the abundant inexpensive

    and multi-varied restaurants; and the great great produce....

    Despite the ever-present clammy cold weather - now

    THAT I don't miss......

    Milagai

  13. Abra - those beans look beautiful!

    I've yet to meet a bean I didn't like....

    Would gladly eat any form of beans + chapati

    or with rice, for breakfast......

    MIzducky - if you still find kidney beans "blah", try

    a "rajmah" recipe, like this one:

    http://www.recipezaar.com/51062

    or this one:

    http://www.route79.com/food/rajmah.htm

    This site has pictures, but I feel that the recipe

    is missing an essential ingredient - cumin!

    You can make any whole beans with this recipe.

    BTW: dal != beans as dal refers to the split forms

    and the whole beans are referred to as the "whole ____ bean".....

    Milagai

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