Jenni

For what it's worth, a pinch of bicarb added to a pan of beans that are taking ages to soften does seem to make a difference - sometimes I have resorted to it with really old kidney beans and they seem to soften very quickly once it is added. I have no idea why.

If you are concerned about having stuff you'll never use, why not just buy stuff as you need it to actually cook a dish? That way you'll only end up with things you really cook with. On moving in week, I suggest you organise yourself to cook very simple, comforting dishes that you like the most. Write down what these meals are, in advance. Work out what you need to buy, and you may well find yourself with quite a comfortable amount of staples straight away. As someone else above posted, kitchen staples can be rather personal. For instance, for me, the absolute basics would be rice, several kinds of dal and bean, dried tamarind, ghee and spices. With that, plus added fresh fruit and veg, I could be quite happy for sometime! For a baking fanatic, flour, sugar, yeast, baking powder, etc. would be quite high up the list. For others, noodles, pasta, tinned tomatoes, dried herbs, olive oil and tinned beans might be the most important things to have on hand right from the beginning. Put it this way: what do you like to cook most often? And what do you cook on those times when you don't have time to run to the store? The ingredients for that should be in your cupboard.

That sounds so cool! Mind you, faux-eggs are somewhat dear to my heart, due to the best April-fools breakfast ever: My brother and I (both rather young) were staying with my Gran and for breakfast, after the usual toast and cereal, she insisted we had a boiled egg each. I was still trawling through the cereal (have always hated the normal sweet cereal and toast breakfasts, and was longing for the savoury stuff from home! I was also putting off getting to the egg, as I hated egg as a child and now I don't eat them at all.) when my brother started his. After about 2 minutes of whacking the egg as hard as he could with his spoon, it was extremely clear that it wasn't a normal egg. Taking the initiative, I grabbed mine and bit into it as hard as I could. Ow! It was a solid and rather thick sugar shell incasing chocolate-y goodness! But from the outside, it looked just like a normal egg. Delicious, and much better than a normal egg, to me! We got my Gran back with a prank involving polos, ketchup and my "clumsy" brother "smashing" his face into a door....good times!

My family have become "regulars" at a Turkish restaurant called "Oz" in Bristol, even though we don't go that often. The lady knows that my Mum and I often like to order a number of starter dishes each instead of a main, that I like plenty of cream with my baklava, that we will always order a lot, and she has also got used to my Dad's "interesting" sense of humour. Perks include a warm, familiar greeting when we come in (as of visiting relatives returning after a long time away), always giving us the same table, and the kind of friendly chat that one gets when your server knows the kind of things you like ("You know I told you my mother-in-law makes the best baklava? Well, she is in town so you must try tonight!" "That fish dish you like is on again, we're doing it very slightly differently now so let us know what you think."). And on my Mum's birthday, we were given a bottle of sparkling pink to take away.

I recommend that you starve yourself from now until you get there....sounds like you will need to be ready to eat a lot of food!

Why not try some of the South Indian red rices? They are absolutely delicious and lighter than many of the brown rices. Kerala's rosematta rice is a favourite of mine.

What else is on your menu? May not be that important, I just wondered what kind of food you are cooking. Rice is naturally gluten free, and you could make a delicious dairy free rice pudding with coconut milk. Along the same lines, two Thai snacks come to mind: Sticky rice with mango, and black sticky rice in coconut milk. A little different from rice pudding but similar, phirni is a delicious and creamy dessert from India made with ground rice and milk. You could use soy milk or coconut milk to make it. Sample recipe here There are a number of sweets that can be made with pretty much just nuts and sugar, and are utterly delicious. Peanut chikki is one I can think of, this is close to peanut brittle but it is made with jaggery instead of sugar so has more flavour. Then their's kaju katli, which is a sort of fudge made from cashews and sugar. And there are some fabulous dried fruit salads or stews. Figs, prunes, apricots and almonds cooked with sugar and water till soft and juicy...served hot or cold with a dollop of something creamy (whizzed up tofu sweetened a little? Soy yoghurt?)...delicious. In the cake department, there is a steamed Filipino "muffin" called puto made from rice flour, coconut milk, sugar, baking powder and often anise. There are recipes made with eggs, but also plenty without. You could serve it with a chocolate dipping sauce, or you could ice them and serve them like little cakes. Sample recipe here Good luck with your meal!

^^^ Thanks Steven, I had no idea about any of that. I thought it was to do with the use of animal rennet in the cheese.

I am in the UK, but it is basically true of all "curry powder" sold in the world, because it is a mixture largely sold to a Western audience. India may utilise various masalas to add pep to dishes, but curry powder was invented by the British Raj so they could add the spices they had grown to love in India to their dishes back home in England.

Spice blends are used in Indian cookery. However, one spice blend is not used for every dish, and also many people prefer to make their spice blends at home, often shortly before cooking a dish. Specific spice mixtures are often associated with different dishes. There are a large number of dishes just call for individual whole spices and individual ground spices rather than a specific blend such as garam masala. Then there are others, such as the South Indian dish sambar, that call for a particular masala. Still, it is better to make this yourself, preferably not long before cooking. These days, more and more spice blends are appearing in shops in India and the UK/US to give busy working families a shortcut for making dishes quickly. These same busy home cooks may also use instant dosa mix and frozen parathas to speed up their meals - neither of which are a recommendation. If you want to make delicious traditional Indian food at home, grind your own spices. This doesn't just mean making your own garam masala, I also reccomend grinding your own coriander and cumin seeds and so on. The difference in taste is enormous. The fact that Indian restaurants use spice blends is not really relevent - Indian restaurant food is, 9 times out of 10, a world away from home cooking. Even in India, the food that is served outside of homes is different. Many people have the feeling "who would go out to eat what they could easily make at home?" A word on "curry powder": The blends sold in this country often not only bare little resemblence to the specific masalas (such as garam masla, goda masala, sambar podi, panch pooran) that are used in Indian cookery, they also often use more of the cheaper filler spices such as turmeric, coriander and cumin. By all means, use them if you enjoy using them. But don't rely on them to flavour all your dishes.

^^^ Not Jewish, but I am vegetarian so this question is sort of similar. Many cheeses are made with animal rennet, therefore they would be unacceptable to anyone avoiding animal products including those people who do not mix milk with meat.

Wow, this thread is kind of funny to me because my Mum refuses to buy Lurpak because it's "that nasty Danish butter". She makes sure we buy British butter, preferably local. Isn't it strange the way the world works!

^^^ liuzhou, I think we are in agreement on the substitution issue. But somehow I felt your post seemed a little harsh, when I felt that David only said he wanted to know more about cooking lamb in an Indian style, not that he knew how to already. Re-reading, I do not feel the harshness I first felt. So I will be quiet now! Incidentally, I did not spot the saffron or the ras-el-hanout in David's post till you pointed it out (brain has not been in gear in this thread!) so thank you for that. Indeed, when I use saffron in a rice dish I would definitely not add turmeric. I may well use a few other spices though, I would just use them in a subtle way so that the turmeric would shine through. As for the ras-el-hanout, I cannot really imagine it in this dish. I suppose however that it does contain some spices used in Indian cuisine (in fact some ras el hanout I have seen for sale often appears to be garam masala with chilli powder and rose petal added to it!) so I suppose I can see it's usage in a fusion situation. And remember that there are many Muslim dishes in India that do have quite a bit in common with middle eastern, arabic and morrocan muslim cuisine. But I agree that it is probably better to concentrate less on fusion dishes and more on the basics when first learning about Indian cuisine! Curry powder? Well, I don't use the stuff myself and certainly in India it is not used on a daily basis in every dish and it has no place in traditional Indian cuisine. More people in India now are using some store bought spice mixtures to speed up the cooking process, but even then these do tend to be more specific than "curry powder". I know that quite a lot of Westernised Indian recipes call for curry powder along with other spices, so I assumed that it was called for in the recipe. I am sure David can clarify this, and perhaps he can also tell us if he made it himself or bought it. Regarding the oil blend, I got the impression from David's comment about making it himself that he thought it was an infused oil, hence I decided to explain it in my reply. This may account for why he tried to substitute it with a variety of other oils. By the way, sesame oil is a very traditional oil in India, but it is not the toasted kind like that which is used in East Asian cookery.

^^^ Well yes, that's one way of putting it! I must admit, I thought that David was asking for advice on cooking lamb in an Indian style, not claiming that he necessarily has in this instance. Maybe I have misread.

Hi David, just so you know, the mustard oil used in India is oil pressed from mustard seeds, so it's not really something you would be expected to make at home! You should be able to find it in stores that sell Indian groceries, and I'm also told that it can be found in Korean stores too. Make sure you get 100% pure, as there are some that are mixed with other vegetable oils. 100% pure will be labelled "For external use only", because it has a high erucic acid content which apparently has concerned EU and USA food health officials, but I believe the studies done on erucic acid that caused these concerns are now being debated. In addition to this, it has a long history of safe usage in the subcontinent, and whilst this is not really scientific evidence, I found it to be quite compelling and often use mustard oil in pickles and Bengali dishes myself. Back to the lamb, what regions do you think you are interested in cooking from? Or at least, what kind of flavours and textures are you after? Something searing hot and piquant, something creamy and aromatic, moist stews, or dry fries, kebabs, chops, etc? I am a veggie, so I will probably not be much help, but I can tell you that I don't think lamb itself is that common in India. I think lamb is usually used in Indian recipes outside of India as a substitute for mutton, which often is actually goat rather than sheep. I am sure there are at least some dishes that are actually lamb rather than older sheep though - perhaps an omniviourous South Asian will chime in and help you out!

Hmm, I posted this a few posts up and everybody ignored it....

^^ I know it's just a dish name, I was merely saying that the parmesan in the dish may not be vegetarian. Obviously your is. Incidently, I wish you were in the UK near Bristol - my Mum loves parmesan style cheese but sometimes it's quite hard to find a veggie one. And your goat's cheese looks divine...

^^^ Actually, there are vegetarian rennets and there are rennets from animal origin. So some cheeses are vegetarian and some aren't. A casual vegetarian (and there is nothing wrong with that) may not mind cheese made with animal rennet. But strictly speaking it is not vegetarian, and there are plenty of vegetarians who do their best to avoid such cheeses. Vegans of course do not consume cheese at all, as it is made from milk. Parmesan (or so I have been told) is traditionally made with an animal rennet, and certainly where I live there are just a few parmesan-a-likes that are similar hard cheeses made from vegetarian rennet, but they have to be called something else. Perhaps it is different in the US?

^^^ Ok, interesting. I was led to believe that traditional parmesan is never vegetarian. But you are a cheese maker so what do I know For the record, I wasn't implying you were trying to mislead or trick. I am a lacto vegetarian and I find it pretty easy to eat out myself. Veganism is of course going to be trickier in many places. However, the few vegans I know are not so insane as to go nuts if they think a bug has been squashed near their food! They like to avoid animal products as much as they can. If they accidently eat a bit, they don't beat themselves or others up, they just shrug and move on. Mind you, I know there are some vegans who are much more...how can I put it...anxious.

Sorry xxchef, I read this: and to me that means one is an ovo-lacto vegetarian. I've never heard that expression used to mean anything else. And by the way I was not criticising what you have done, I was merely indicating my feelings about the situation. Since you asked, and I am just saying so please don't be offended, but technically those aren't meals that would satisfy any vegetarian, as parmesan is not vegetarian. But some vegetarians will eat animal rennet cheese so it would be ok in some situations. Again, I am just saying. It's not really a relevant point to this situation anyway because you are trying to be helpful and your guests are the ones coming up with difficulties. Since you have offered them some options, I think you have done your bit. Some people are fussy and difficult, and honestly there is only so much you can do.

Not an ipad in the kitchen, but it certainly mixes ipads with food: What day is it today?

Personally, I would let them know that you can provide a vegetarian option (as I don't think this is an unreasonable request) but that you are unable to cater to personal likes and dislikes beyond this, and that they are welcome to make their own eating arrangements if this is unacceptable. Not sure why someone who's almost vegan is coming to your cheese making course...

I realise that for most people, familiar food is better in the morning. Also, don't forget that a large number of people don't really like eating much in the morning full stop! I was wondering though, thinking about the people who do like to experiment and enjoy more unusual foods for breakfast, is this part of a more general food-related adventurous-ness? Do these people tend to be more adventurous when it comes to food than others at all meals of the day? Or is it just a quirk? For instance, I would consider myself an adventurous breakfaster. I live in England and am 3/4 English, yet my breakfast of choice is something savoury and spicy from India. This is often something South Indian. However, I also enjoy occaisionally experimenting with East Asian breakfasts, from miso soup and rice to congee and noodle soups. Back when I ate meat and fish, I was very fond of the famous Trinidadian breakfast buljol (sweet peppers, onions, chillies and salt fish) and bake, and wouldn't say no to a fry up either. Fried halloumi with spinach and tomatoes for breakfast? Yes please! Labneh, pide, olives and veg crudites for breakfast? Definitely! Churros and thick chocolate? Absolutely! When I was younger and less discerning, leftover takeaway was a welcome breakfast. I also remember my brother and I getting up very early on some Summer mornings and making "sorbet" by freezing pineapple juice or cans of fizzy drink, and eating it for breakfast! My point is, I am as adventurous at breakfast as any other meal. Am I alone? Judging by my tastes and what I am willing to try, I would say that I am a more adventurous eater than the majority of people I know. I have tried and enjoyed durian, I am a lover of bittergourd, I find the fermented cassava porridge gari to be quite pleasent actually...in fact it's only my vegetarianism that stops me from eating pretty much everything!

I find this thread very interesting. Ever since I was little, I remember my Dad growing vast amounts of garlic, and to this day we grow a lot. Not quite enough to cover all our garlic-y needs though, so we do also buy garlic. I prefer to buy whole bulbs for several reasons. One is that I like to see what I am buying - personally I prefer the red skinned garlic that is quite small, as it has a stronger flavour. It is the kind of garlic you get in Asia. The second reason is that I have access to very good garlic, and I am certain that it would have a better flavour than pre-peeled. Finally, I can peel garlic very fast and have never found it difficult. My technique is to slice off the tiny bit at the end, then crush with the side of my knife. This is very important as it breaks down the cell walls and releases the full aroma and taste of garlic. Otherwise your garlic will be tasteless! The skin is now easily brushed away and the garlic is already partly crushed, so chopping is quick. One thing I am finding extremely interesting from this thread is that many people say that they think the pre-peeled garlic is sweeter and less bitter, so they prefer it. Someone upthread mentioned that it is less pungent. Well guys, I think we have our reason why much of the garlic that is sold in America is not of great quality - it seems that many people do not like the strong taste of garlic! Therefore supermarkets will sell milder, less flavourful garlic to appeal to consumer tastes. It also confirms to me that I should not bother with the pre-peeled stuff, as I do not think I would appreciate the milder flavour.

These have been commonly available in the supermarket chain Tescos for several years now, and are a favourite of the rest of my family (don't like the sweetness much myself, plus they make me burp!). They use them just like regular peppers.