KennethT

Which side of St. Thomas will you be on? The dry side or the rainy side? Many years ago, my wife's cousin had a condo on the dry side of St. Thomas - very close to the Ritz-Carlton. I was so surprised to see cactus on the side of the road! Especially since it was pouring rain when we picked up the car at the airport.

They look amazing! Were they still soft on the inside?

Thank you. Wow, the last time I purchased them from Kalustyan's, they were $29.99 for 3 ounces (90g) for A grade (large) and they're usually expensive but have lots of hard to find things. On their website, the current prices are: https://foodsofnations.com/products/pasilla-de-oaxaca-dried-chiles-mild-hot-67012300136?_pos=2&_psq=oaxaca&_ss=e&_v=1.0 normal grade https://foodsofnations.com/products/pasilla-de-oaxaca-extra-large-medium-hot-67012300133?_pos=3&_psq=oaxaca&_ss=e&_v=1.0 superior grade, extra large FYI, pasilla chilies are different from pasilla-de-Oaxaca. Regular pasillas don't have the characteristic heavy smokiness that the Oaxaca ones have and are much less expensive.

I'm a big fan of pasilla de Oaxaca but find them considerably more expensive than other chillies. How are the prices of your source?

@Tan Can Cook Ever since you start posting recently, I was looking for links to videos that I really liked and just found. I'm curious as to what you think of them. This is only one of her videos - she has a whole YouTube feed full of videos about village cooking in Kerala..... https://www.youtube.com/@VillageCookingKeralaYT

@Shel_B BTW, I was going through my YouTube feed and saw others doing the same thing - cheung fun using rice paper. Most seem to say that it is good in a pinch but the texture of the rice roll will be more chewy and not as soft as what most people are used to.

I personally like Wondra flour, but also sometimes use a combo of rice flour:starch - either corn starch or potato starch depending on what I have.

Personally, I would just use the type of rice paper used in the video to start with to make this dish. There are several different types of rice paper used just in Vietnam - typically varying by the region. The main difference between them is the thickness, thus the flexibility when dry. For instance, the one used in the video is typically used in Hanoi and also in Saigon. A much thinner version (that is flexible like copy paper when dry) is commonly used in central coastal regions like Hue and Hoi An. In the more central area of central Vietnam (away from the coast) I've even seen a version between the two and they put the rice papers out in the morning dew, which moistens them enough to be flexible. To see how the thinnest one is used in Hue and Hoi An, there are lots of examples in my foodblog from that region. I think using anything but the thickest version (which is also the one most accessible here in the US) will turn into wet toilet paper once steamed. While this may not be bad, it won't be like cheung fun, where the rice roll batter makes the rice roll slightly thicker.

Not picky at all - completely accurate. Yes, I tried a few - awful.

Like you say, there is a huge cultural and culinary diversity in Singapore. But the Nyonya are more removed from India than the Singaporean Indian communities - the Nyonya are the product of Chinese men marrying Malaysian women back in the 1800s - but Malaysia itself (especially certain regions) has had Indian immigrants - which is where the Nyonya probably got their dried spice usage. Most Nyonya food doesn't rely on dried spices much, but some dishes that do - for instance, this one.

nothing worse than a pissing contest - especially from someone who hasn't even sampled the wares yet! Personally, with that kind of attitude, I'd make him a tuna fish sandwich and call it a day, but I understand that he's your son's friend and you're a great dad so you don't want to step on anyone's toes. With a guy like that (seemingly) I don't think anything you would do would make him change his mind. Besides, why wouldn't a white guy in KC make good bbq? KC is known for its bbq!!!

I had been growing turmeric for the leaves (hydroponically, indoors under artificial lighting) and it was going great but lately, it stopped putting out new leaves and the old leaves were turning brown. I was wondering what was going on - thinking there was possibly root rot or something so I pulled the plant out of the fabric pot and started to dry root it to see what was going on. Evidently, it's time for harvest!!!! All of this came from a single 3 inch long piece of organic turmeric that I got from my local Indian grocery store. I assume turmeric freezes well - especially since I always crush it into a paste anyway. So I'll freeze most of it and replant one of the ones with a lot of sprouting sites to get a new plant and start all over again.

I make my own Nyonya spice blend which has a lot of ingredients - I make a large batch, then portion into ziplock or vacuum bags and keep in the freezer. A year later, I can't tell it from the freshly made.

On a cold, rainy Sunday, there's nothing better than Indonesian Padang food. This is a padang classic - ayam goreng serundeng - fried chicken. This version simmers the chicken in a spice paste made from shallots, garlic, ginger, candlenuts, turmeric, coriander powder and a lot of galangal, and then shredded coconut. Once the chicken is done and tender, it's removed and the solids strained from the liquid. The chicken is then deep fried and once the chicken is done, the solids are deep fried to a golden brown and then drained. It's a lot of work but so worth it! Served with homemade sambal ijo - literally green sambal made from 3 different types of green chillies, garlic, shallots and green tomatoes.

We have been missing some Singaporean specialties, so.... Old lai huat style sambal grouper Quick pickled cucumber salad

Whenever I grind coriander seeds, I can never get them as fine as when I buy preground coriander powder. I assume the pros are using a burr grinder rather than a blender type grinder. What do you use? Also, when using things like cardamom, do you remove the seeds from the pods prior to grinding or do you use the whole thing?

@rotuts For that space, I have one word: carousel! Seriously, I would consider getting rid of all of the shelves and put in a multi-tiered lazy-susan / carousel, from floor to eye level... Just my $0.02

I don't think I've ever seen a grilled lobster served out of the shell before.

Good luck getting home!

What was the conch salad like? I think I've only had it in fritter form...

Looks like a nice little hideaway! I hope you enjoy.... although that must be the smallest snapper I've ever seen! But certainly enough for 1 person - most snappers are for 2.

As @liuzhou suggests above, there is also an Indonesian bay leaf, locally called Daun Salam (syzygium polyanthum) (daun is a word for leafy things), which is very commonly used in many Indonesian dishes and is quite different from any of the other leaves that we call bay leaves.

It makes a good mash with a lot of butter and a bit of creme fraiche. You can puree it in the blender and the texture comes out great. David Bouley would say that it was also good to add about a half teaspoon of Vitamin C powder while blending which keeps it from turning brown. Or, you could roast it like a restaurant in this post did (last photo of this post) in southern Iceland.

Just an FYI to the recent few posts for clarity of nomenclature - the liquid inside a coconut that you can drain or drink with a straw is coconut water. Coconut cream is made from shredding the white coconut meat and squeezing. Coconut milk is made by adding some hot water to the already once squeezed coconut meat and squeezing again.

Mapo doufu