KennethT

Is that green Hanukkah gelt?

I love culantro - but I commonly refer to it as they do in Thailand and other parts of SE Asia - Sawtooth herb. From what I am to understand (and could be completely wrong), culantro is the name for it in Mexico. I gather is is pronounced with a hard c - like koo-LAN-tro which would be how you would pronounce it in Spanish. I agree with you - I personally don't see that much connection to cilantro - although if I really stretch, I guess you could think it was a much more intense version of cilantro. I used to grow it as it's not easy to come by in the stores near me. I can get it in Chinatown or in Mexican markets. Unfortunately, I'm not nearly as lucky as you and can't get the crown/roots - here they usually snip the stems at the crown so the plant continues to grow and put out more. If I could, I'd get a few crowns and plant them. I've tried growing from seed, but it's notoriously difficult with a ridiculously long germination period. Once growing, it doesn't like a lot of light, similar to cilantro, but it is more heat tolerant before it bolts. What is interesting is that the texture of the leaves varies with light proportion. With the proper amount of light, the leaves and teeth (for lack of a better word) are nice and soft, but with too much light, the leaves can be much more tough and the teeth are REALLY sharp!!! Don't ask me how I know... hehe. One day soon I'm going to order a few plant starts (I just hate to pay all that cost for shipping) for some sawtooth and some other herbs that either only propagate via cuttings/division or are difficult to germinate.

Something similar happens in NYC - tons of people come in from the suburbs on the weekends, so many NYers go out for dinner either during the week or on Sunday. Most NYers want to avoid what is called teh Bridge & Tunnel crowd - as in people who don't live there. Personally, I appreciate the B&T as well as foreign tourists - we need their tax revenue!

As I'm sure @liuzhou has as well, I've spent a decent amount of time in SG - basically, EVERYONE speaks English. There is no language to learn because there are so many different cultures there - if you were to walk around getting snacks everywhere, you'd have to learn like 20 languages! Which is why they all speak English. More important that the actual words are where you plan to spend your limited time there! So much great food, so little time!

Wow!!! That is insane!

It's gonna get nice and steamy in there!

In my neighborhood, most of the hot dog carts are actually Middle Eastern carts that also do kebab, etc, so yes, those dogs are grilled. I haven't noticed a true dirty water dog carts in my neighborhood in a long time.

I definitely need to look into this!

Bitterness? I always think of it being a sour agent - less sour than lime juice and more fruity. It also withstands cooking while lime juice needs to be added at the end. Sour tamarind is very common in Peranakan food - it's practically in everything!

One of my wife's favorites - Sichuan style twice cooked mahi mahi

I always thought this to be a one pot meal type thing - how much cleanup is there?

Shouldn't Beverages have been called Rinse?

Like always, thanks for bringing us along! Just looking at your photos warmed me up....

Mapo tofu with ground elk and lots of Korean leeks (they're like a giant scallion). A little too much sauce (I needed enough liquid to cover the leeks and then they REALLY wilted) but still very flavorful.

Haven't made this is a while but it's one of my wife's favorite, for our anniversary. Yunnan Dai style elk with herbs (7 of them!)

Vietnamese roast chicken. Crispy skin and rau ram soaked in chicken juices! With quick pickled cucumber salad.

What is the fried ball-like thing next to the grouper?

I wound up buying a super cheap Vigor (Webstaurant brand) just to try it out. It was like $50 for a 8Qt stock pot - it's practically disposable, but I'm curious as to how it behaves - it should be fine for things like boiling water/cooking pasta.

@liamsauntGlad to see that your husband is feeling better!

Eric Ripert had a recipe for lemon confit in his book, A Return to Cooking. After reading it, I kept a jar of it in my cupboard for years - they were great to have on hand. I don't really do the kind of cooking that would benefit from it anymore, but if I did, I would definitely keep these around again.

Has anyone used Vollrath cookware? They are mostly geared toward pro use and there are some that are "optimized for use with Vollrath induction units", which I've been eyeing a high powered 240V unit lately....

I gave you a package of my curry powder - you can make it yourself!!!

Done! Thanks for the push.

A large component of this curry is the curry powder. You can use a store bought curry powder, but unless it's specifically a Nyonya style one (I can't find a good one in NYC, but maybe those in Asia can), the final curry can come out quite differently. It's hard to make a small batch of curry powder from scratch due to the scaling - the batch I make is just under one kg total, which I then split into 85g packages which are put in zip lock bags with the air removed as much as possible and then frozen. The rempah (spice paste) isn't very complicated so I don't make it in large batches. This recipe is for 4 chicken thighs, a little less than 1.5 pounds. Curry powder: 420g coriander seed 150g cumin seed 100g anise seed 150g whole dried chilli (dried prik chee faa or other medium spicy chilli), snipped into pieces, seeds removed 50g turmeric powder 50g white peppercorn 26g true cinnamon 14 pieces whole clove 1 whole nutmeg 18 cardamom pods 1 whole star anise 25g poppy seed Put all of the spices on a baking sheet, except the poppy seeds, and bake at 200-250F for about 45 minutes or until completely heated through and fragrant. Add all the spices to a heavy duty blender (in batches if needed) and blend on high speed until completely powdered (or preferably a large spice mill). Spread on a baking sheet and allow to cool completely. Portion into 85g packets, seal and freeze the extra. ============== 4 skin on, bone in chicken thighs 8.5 ounces coconut milk 1/3-1/2 cup oil (rice bran oil or other neutral oil) - you need a lot more oil than expected to fry the rempah properly 55 g curry powder 1 stem curry leaves, destemmed 4 kaffir lime leaves chicken seasoning: salt msg sugar 20-30g curry powder rempah: 120g shallot (preferably the Asian shallot), finely chopped 25g ginger, peeled and sliced thinly 5 cloves garlic 1t Malaysian belacan (shrimp paste) - different from Thai shrimp paste 1. Season the chicken thighs on both sides with a sprinkle of salt, msg and sugar and then the curry powder and let sit at least 30 minutes to marinate. 2. Pound the shallot in a mortar until broken down a bit, then add ginger and pound more, then add garlic and pound until it is a rough paste. Break the belacan into small pieces and then pound into the paste 3. Heat the oil in a saucepan or small wok big enough to hold the chicken over medium heat and fry the rempah until soft and fragrant 4. Add the curry leaves and kaffir lime leaves and fry until fragrant 5. Add about 1/4 of the coconut milk and whisk to combine, then whisk in the curry powder. If it gets too dry and paste-like, add a bit more coconut milk. Fry until some of the red oil starts to separate out of the liquid. 6. Add the rest of the coconut milk reserving a tablespoon or two, plus about 1/2t salt, 1/4t msg and 1t sugar, and whisk to combine. 7. Bring to a low boil (if not already there) and add the chicken thighs, skin side down. Add a little bit of water if necessary to cover the chicken then cover the pot and cook over low heat (to maintain the low boil) for about 8 minutes. 8. Remove the cover and turn the chicken (scraping the bottom of the pan for any spices that may have stuck) and continue to cook uncovered until the chicken is cooked through. The curry should thicken considerably. 9. Once cooked, remove the chicken and set aside. Remove as much of the layer of oil that has accumulated on top of the curry as possible, then add the reserved coconut milk and taste for seasoning. 10. Serve with jasmine rice

Thanks. I probably should put it up there if for no other reason than so I can remember what I did so I can do it again! Do you think I should make a separate recipe for the curry powder or combine them into a single recipe? Of course you can use your own curry powder but I can't get a good Nyonya style one around here - one store has what they call Malaysian curry powder and I've used it many times for this dish but the homemade one is much better. I make a big batch grinding all the spices in a blender and then freeze in batches. Opening up the bag now, many months later, it's as fresh as it was when I made it.