Jenni

My favourite thing to do with blackberries is to put them straight in my mouth as I pick them off the brambles! However, my Mum always makes apple and blackberry at some point. This is bramley apples and blackberries cooked together with a bit of sugar. You can put a crumble topping on it too, but often she makes it without.

I haven't made the recipe yet, but that does sound like a lot of oil if it is indeed supposed to be roasted, which leads me to think that what he is calling for is un-roasted. Initially when I got to the market I felt elated as there were lots of brands of oil all simply labelled 'sesame oil'. It's only on close inspection of the label that you find the word 'roasted'. I think that when I get to the point where this has to be added I'll do the 'mise en place' with both types of oil and (try to) apply a 'sanity/taste' test to the ingredients for the mix. However I'm hoping someone here has done the recipe and can throw some light on it. Thank you. BB I have no idea what HB is actually calling for in his recipe. However, you can easily untoasted sesame oil in an Indian grocery store, especially one that caters to South Indians, as it is used quite a bit in South Indian cuisines. It's also a great massage oil

It's very slightly off topic, but has anyone else here heard of penotti, and their other product duo penotti? The first is chocolate-hazelnut, and the second has ribbons of vanilla flavoured spread through it too. I think we mostly got the original penotti, the other was a bit too sweet. My Mum used to buy it and carefully ration it out to us for a treat. Then when the jar was finished, she would clean it up and it would become a drinking glass! Don't mock, the glasses were nicely ribbed and rather attractive, they didn't look like jam jars or anything. I think it's the only reason Mum let use eat the spread! In later years, she used to occasionally buy us a small jar of nutella, and we would do the same with the jar. It wasn't as nice a glass - smooth and plain - but it still did the job. I think almost all of our ordinary drinking glasses were old chocolate spread jars for several years. Then my Mum treated us to some "fancy" shop bought ones because my brother and I had broken too many of the jar-glasses.

Maybe try a green-mango-ish way of eating them - sprinkle with salt and chilli powder and devour? Also can add a little crumbled jaggery to that if you are so inclined. Signed, a person who likes sour things

Oh, cou cou! But the OP would need to make their own from scratch for that, cannot use ready made.

So have you got a solid block of pre cooked stuff yeah? My fav thing made from polenta I ate at a restaurant once was fried polenta topped with nicely cooked mushrooms in a little sauce.

Best use for it, IMO, is for falooda. Mmmmmm.... As a drink, I have only drunk it mixed with milk (cold) or on occasion mixed into something lemonade-ish. Mixing it with alcohol seems a vaguely strange idea given its association as a non-alchohlic drink especially enjoyed by Muslims, but I suppose the choice is yours!

What happens if you cook the rosematta rice like normal rice? It's just that it never occurred to me to cook parboiled rice differently to regular rice (the first time I did this, and noticed 'parboiled' on the bag, I did wondered how that was going to affect things, but I've noticed no difference). I don't think you can get Uncle Ben's in Denmark Er, I've never cooked it any other way so I can't tell you! But several Keralites have assured me that it was the best way to cook this kind of rice, and I trust them. Have never had bad results. Also this rice takes longer (30-40 minutes total boiling time) to cook than raw rice. I've never actually bought or eaten Uncle Bens, but several times when I have innocently been talking about parboiled rice, people have jumped on me and mentioned this and what a horrible processed food it is and why-are-we-eating-rice-like-this and I got rather annoyed.

MJX, the parboiled rice I have is South Indian, and that's the usual way of cooking that rice. Specifically, it is rosematta rice. I sometimes get other kinds but that is my most common because I love its beautiful pink-ish hue. In South India and several other parts as well actually, parboiled rice is very traditional, please don't think of Uncle Bens! Actually parboiling the rice drives vitamins (especially vitamin B1, deficiency of which causes beriberi - a disease not uncommon in those who subsist mostly on rice) into the core of the rice, making it more nutritious than white rice.

Confession - I basically never measure the water for rice. But I can tell you that I certainly don't use a ratio of 1:2 rice to water. When you soak rice, you end up needing much less water to cook it, but I will say that the quantity of water required varies from rice to rice. Our daily rice is sona masoori and it requires water to go just above the level of the rice to be cooked perfectly. I usually wash it, soak it for 30 minutes and drain it for 10 before cooking. Of course, if I'm cooking parboiled rice, I cook it like pasta in tonnes of water.

Also have just thought that fried aubergine is always divine....Dusted with a little chilli powder, turmeric and salt and fried in mustard oil for instance.... And dahi baigan is great - this is aubergine cooked in a yoghurt sauce. And any stuffed aubergine dish - especially if the stuffing involves coconut, peanut and jaggery... And simple baigan aloo....aubergines cooked with potato. A favourite comfort dish in my house. Basically aubergines are amazing. I love the big round roasting kinds (in Allahabad, they are often lighter purple than the ones in this pic), the slender finger length ones (can't find a decent pic of this kind, but basically like this pic but thinner and shorter) and the little egg shaped ones (not a great pic but you get what I mean) the best. The big ones like this are ok but not as tasty, if you ask me.

I think my favourite aubergine recipes are where the aubergine is roasted. I like to use the round light purple-ish baigan (aubergine) for roasting. One such dish is chokha. I like mixed chokha made with potato, aubergine and tomato. All of these get roasted, ideally in a cow dung fire but you can do them directly over a flame or in the oven too. They should get nice a roasted on the outside and very soft. I usually make a few slits in each vegetable and stuff a garlic clove or two in. Then you let the veggies cool a bit, peel and mash them (best with your hands for a coarse texture) with chopped raw chillies, garlic, onion and fresh coriander. Also add salt and some raw mustard oil. Heaven. Ideally eat with litti (balls of dough stuffed with roasted and powdered chana that has been seasoned with various fresh and dry spices, that are roasted in a fire and dipped in ghee before eating) or sattu ka paratha (flat bread stuffed with seasoned roasted and powdered chana). Whilst the mixed version is my fav, you can do it with just aubergine too. Baigan bharta is a very similar dish. I think it is best kept very simple. Roast the aubergine over a flame until the skin blackens and the inner is soft. Cool a little, peel and mash coarsely. Heat some mustard oil in a pan. Add some cumin seeds, followed by chopped onion. Stir and fry until lightly golden, then add some minced ginger, garlic and green chillies. Fry a bit more, then add a little chopped tomato, turmeric, chilli powder and salt. Stir and fry until the tomato softens, then add the aubergine and stir and fry a few minutes more. Add some chopped fresh coriander and serve. Best with roti and yoghurt. Finally, a South Indian version - aubergine gotsu. For this the aubergine is roasted, peeled and mashed coarsely as before. Then you heat some oil in a pan, I prefer sesame oil for this. When hot add mustard seeds, urad dal and a little hing. When the dal reddens and the seeds pop, add some curry leaves, stir once, then add some chopped green chillies and onion. Stir and fry until the onion softens and gets a little golden, then add the aubergine, a pinch of turmeric, some tamarind paste and salt. Add a splash of water if necessary as the dish should be moist with a slight thick sauce, not dry. Simmer for a few minutes. Ideally, eat with pongal (a "porridge" or roasted moong dal cooked with rice and seasoned with lots of ghee, black pepper, cumin and hing. Fried cashews are a must, IMO).

I am very puzzled...he thinks you cannot cook without meat? I understand that a lot of people prefer to cook with meat, but surely he must realise that it is possible not to. Very strange...sounds like he is having a bit of a personal/moral crisis and I do hope he comes through it.

There are a number of vegetarian kofta made in Indian cuisine. Most traditionally they do not use egg as this is not considered vegetarian, but dairy is often a factor. Often grated vegetables are mixed with spices and gram flour is used to bind it all. Then balls of this are deep fried. Other kofta are made with paneer or khoya. They are generally quite rich and delicious dishes.

Actually ricotta is made of whey. The soft unpressed paneer is called chhena.

Trust me that packaged paneer is not that good...very tough and not as good a taste as homemeade. Since all paneer requires is milk and either yoghurt, lemon juice or even vinegar, it is much better to make at home.

Just as an extra bit of info, here is a vegetarian rennet commonly seen in the UK in supermarkets and other shops. It's made from "Mucor Miehei" apparently and after looking that up on Wikipedia I am confused as to whether it is "vegetable" or "microbial" or indeed what the exact difference is. I am only skim reading though, 'tis late here. Fascinating stuff though and plan to have a proper read up on it all tomorrow.

That pizza almost looks like a layer of cheese with tomatoes on top - and no bread! And whilst pizza experts may disagree, I mean that in a good way

Vegetable rennet must work well enough because as a vegetarian, I only buy cheese made with non animal rennet and the mozzarella has always been fine.

Absolutely. Bring milk to the boil. Lower the heat to the lowest setting and add yoghurt. You can sour the yoghurt by keeping it out of the fridge for a few hours in a warmish place. Let me see, I think for 8 cups/2 litres of milk you might use 1-1/2 cups yoghurt. Stir gently in one direction. The curds will separate out leaving greenish looking whey. As soon as this happens remove from the heat and strain through a piece of muslin (keep the whey for adding to soup, dal, etc. or for using instead of water to make roti. Also many paneer dishes utilise the whey instead of adding water). Rinse the bundle with cool water. The idea is to not heat the curds at this point as it can toughen them. Now you can press the cheese for varying lengths of time, depending on what you are making.

I am not surprised. As mentioned above it is how I make paneer, the best way IMO. No lemony taste, nice texture and higher yield as yoghurt milk solids also contribute.

I agree, it's good to share failures and successes. I certainly am learning things from this, so thanks for sharing. If it's not too much trouble, would you consider uploading some pictures of the process? Even if it doesn't come out right, it would be good to actually see what you are doing and also to see what the end texure that you are currently struggling with looks like.

Maybe in some parts of Europe. In other parts of Europe, both celery and celeriac are used and they have different uses.

Even if your recipe doesn't call for it, maybe pressing would help get the excess water out. I suppose the citric acid does need to be dissolved, but the amount of water you added seems like a lot to me...

Er...don't think this is right at all. Celeraic is used for different purposes than celery. In terms of mirepoix vs. no mirepoix, surely it is down to personal taste?