CeeCee

I can totally relate, although it's not due to the pandemic. Except for the negative impact on roaming freely for travel and shopping, it actually helped us with more time and energy on our hands. We had some stuff going on, so I lost track of this forum for a few years and I didn't cook so elaborately as I used to do. Getting back here has been inspiring, but I don't recommend you all stay away for such a while. It would be very quiet and less informed here!😋 What is it that holds you back? It can differ greatly if you just need a break from cooking, a new routine or new inspiration.

If we're talking substitutes, I feel seaweed should be mentioned too. Ao nori is already flecked, but I've used cut up nori as well.

A food professional, he trained as a cook and impressed me with spaghetti and fresh tomato sauce from scratch. I trusted his judgement. It might not be so extraordinary, as I don't think we had access to proper fresh artichokes back in those days. Lucky you @heidih!

Now that is something I have succesfully avoided! I didn't even like asparagus up to a few years back, their limp look when pulled from a can pretty much described my feeling towards them. Green are my favourite, but white is de rigeur around here. I think the Dutch have that in common with the Brits. Ontopic again, to my defence I was told by a professional not to bother with fresh artichokes. Maybe the fresh produce wasn't that good here back then? Artichokes have since become more well known and appreciated. They seem to be grown locally now, that might make a difference.

Me neither. I imagine that they prefer a more blank canvas to mop up the leftover sauce, which is called fare la scarpetta if I remember correctly. I tried googling fare la scarpetta and ragu bolognese and so far the only ones that show up with garlic bread along side seem American.

I guess I have no excuse left to find out for myself how much it differs😋 Great suggestion, thanks!

In my country the wholesalers opened up to consumers as well, but have since closed for us regular folks again. It was less popular than I expected, there were barely any people there when we went shopping. We felt safer than at the supermarkets and visited several wholesayers over the course of our so called intelligent lockdown. As we barely went anywhere else and thoroughly enjoy food, this was a very nice and even exciting outing for us. Discovering new products, reminiscing stuff we knew, buying in bulk to save up, and having more time on our hands to cook and eat was quite a joy actually. At the start of the lockdown we have seen some empty shelves, but if you knew your way around ethnic stores it wasn't that hard to get your hands on flour and yeast etc. My SO finally saw the light and considered my slighty obsessive stocking in general a very nice feature, when he figured out that we could be ok for a few months if the suppliers couldn't keep up with the crazy demands or if a complete lockdown would occur.

Mostly I use canned artichokes, as I'm a bit intimidated by them and too lazy. My last artichoke supper was a combination with a lemon-ricotta ravioli, which we liked and will repeat.

I love fish sauce for this! When I want it to be quick, I just whip some ready made mayonaise and garlic sauce together. To thin it out and tang it up, I add apple cider vinegar and fish sauce. No skimping on the cheese though. It always disappoints me when people finely grate the parmesan, as I like having the texture with the salt crystals and such. Hmm, I going to make one tonight🤤

Hands down this has got to be one of our favorite foodie memories ever, as we continue to talk about it til this very day. We think it was in 1990 when we visited, I was a kid. It was my first time in the US and I totally went all out at all the buffets. My savvy mother couponed away, while I swooned over all those options that we just didn't see back at home. 1 dollar breakfast buffets, including spag bol and a dessert department? Oh yeah😍 Bill Wong's was the place were I first saw people who had to sit on two chairs at once. I lost count how many plates of gamba's they ate, it was insane. My score was 8 cups of wantansoup, before I moved on to the rest (which of course is insane as well). Last time my mom went to Florida, I tried finding Bill Wong's for her and saw it is now defunct. Sad, but at least we got to visit once in a good time and our memories were never tainted by their decline. We have tried other Chinese buffets during other visits, but were always underwhelmed. Although I do remember one that advertised having 250 dishes on offer when I was in my twenties. I ate so much I walked out looking a few months pregnant. The magic obviously lies in having so many options, not in the quality of the food itself. A lot didn't differ that much, but it was an experience so to say.

I asked about the gas grill, because of salt dough. Looks like that is not an option on a bbq. Too bad, it could be something special when you whack it open and it's smaller than a pinyata without having to hang it somewhere. Not just celeriac, but also potatos and beets could be wrapped up in such a dough. And of course cheese. Can it be a party when there's no cheese? Haloumi and paneer are obvious options for holding their shape when grilled. But there's also provolone or provoleta as the Argentinians say, which can be grilled. You can also bread a thick cheese slice to his liking and fry it up in a pan. For some people this is casual food, but then you might upgrade it to a more exclusive cheese. Or make feta foil packages, individual ones to anyones preference. I sometimes mix a Turkish cheese like feta with fresh spinach and wilt it down in the oven with the grill on. The moisture either evaporates or makes the texture more loose, as I give it a stir every now and then. We like it with cumin, garlic and green peppers like jalapeño's or holland green peppers. Just take care that the garlic might not mellow out enough if you stick it in raw. On the other hand, people who dislike that will keep their distance so it could help keeping things covid proof😉

What do you mean with gas grill? I googled it and saw outdoorsy bbq units, so I'm thinking you're not referring to a gas grill oven in the kitchen itself? Not an expert on grilling or meat, but what about beef tataki? It's quick and can be presented festively across veggies of your choice on some nice big plate. If meat and fish is doesn't appeal that much, why not go for some big bold veg? If it's not something you do at home, this could feel special. Grill a cauliflower whole, so you have a centerpiece to cut at the table. Douse it in some colourful marinade so the cutting gets an extra wow factor. Or take a comfort food route: grill an entire celeriac and slice it thick as an alternative burger.

Great suggestion! This crossed my mind, but all the skordalia here seems dairy based. Looking up the details, I'm reminded of a Turkish tarator as well. This can consist of walnuts and some old bread. White beans could also be used as base. I like to spike it with something smokey to ham it up, like smoked garlic or smoked paprika.

You're welcome! Zutphen is nice, we visited a while ago. My SO has an interest in Hanzesteden (Hanseatic League cities), so he picked this for an outing. We stumbled upon the Europe exclusive dealer of fresh wasabi grown outside of Japan and in the UK if I remember correctly. Which was a lovely surprise, meeting very nice owners and trying wasabi chocolate truffles. They have since moved away to Bodegraven in Zuid-Holland. There is also Noord-Holland, both are in the west. Zutphen is laying east in Gelderland ,so if nitpicking you're not a Hollander. I know it's common to say Holland, but not everyone sees this fit. Especially Frysians up north and Limburgers in the south will tell you that they are certainly not Hollanders in my experience, so consider yourself warned if not using Nederlander instead 😋 And while being shamefully offtopic, I raise you that some of my relatives moved to Canada was well. My grandfathers brother moved with his wife and children after the second world war and they mostly dwell in the Toronto area. His kids and their kids that is, no one of that generation is alive anymore. I don't think they ever cooked nasi goreng or any other Dutch-Indonesian for that matter and just stuck to old school erwtensoep (splitpea soup) which was so thick your spoon could stay up in it and alike. My oma (grandmother, who I called Omi by the way. She got turned off the a as she hated being called maaaaaa) was the experimental one in the family, so I have absolutely no excuse to keep yapping away about this. So yeah, my oma somehow ended up with one of the classic Dutch-Indonesian cookbooks and started cooking, I guess the rest is history. I should look up the nasi goreng recipe in it and post about it here.

A Spanish potato based aïoli or a Levantine toum might work. Garlic is suppose to be nature's antibiotic, so if there's ever an excuse... The first uses egg, but the latter can be made without. With the right potato and a potato ricer you can get an extra nice texture. You could also up the savoury flavour with a bit of nutritional yeast or a hint of fish sauce. If looking for something creamier, maybe mash in some avocado or a different nut butter. There's more than tahini. Cashew, almond or a ready made mixture for instance. Or try silken tofu, which comes in shelf stable cartons as well. A very convenient back up and it's a breeze to whip up with practically anything. Another option when looking for fat, is to use a little bit of meat. Fry small pieces of bacon or chorizo to render out the fat and let crisp them up. Coat the vegetables in the fat and distribute the crunchy flecks evenly through out the veg. You could try a vegan option and fry up some chopped smoked almonds. All the best for Ed and his sinus problems, I hope he'll feel better soon!

Chufi's Dutch blog was how I ended up on this forum, so I am forever grateful. I'm nowhere near her expertise, but I can read Dutch so I checked out a few other palingbroodjes recipes. None out of four different sources mention mayonaise or any other component to be stuffed into the bread along with the fish. https://www.zalig-zeeland.com/agenda_archief/palingbroodje-zo-zeker-zeeuws-als-maar-kan https://www.smulweb.nl/recepten/1119900/Palingbroodjes https://www.trouw.nl/nieuws/palingbroodjes~bab358e6/?referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fduckduckgo.com%2F https://www.koopmans.com/recept/palingbroodjes/

In my neck of the woods you get this when ordering tompouce/tompoes. It's considered a very Dutch pastry. Another very Dutch thing is the Hema store. Youtube has some of their old tompouce ads from the '90's. The original OG's retailed at 6 for €7,50 now down to €4,95 back in those days. The special ones were €1.95 a piece, €5,75 for 4 items. Currently you can get your hands on the OG for €0,75 a pop. The stuffing is described as the light/airy Hema stuffing and defines the flavour as "yellow cream". See how they make it: There's only one luxury version atm, setting you back at €1,35 but is only available in a set of two. It has two layers of creamy filling with a crumb topping instead of the much loved pink glazing one usually finds. Specs say it has a vanilla flavour. Well, that narrows it down.😒 Wanna pick your own topping? Order a foto tompouce with your picture of choice on it, in either mini squares or the regular rectangle format. The tompouce flavour has been popular enough to branch out into other adventures. The southern Dutch province of Limburg is famous for its vlaai, so you can kill two birds with one stone with this luxurious tompoucevlaai. Luxurious apparently refers to the double layers, so don't get your hopes up too much. Multivlaai has one as well. Or choose soesjes (choux) dipped with that pink stuff. Van Delft had tompoucepepernoten (which technically are kruidnoten but not enough people care about the difference). They aren't mentioned on their website now, but that could be because it's a seasonal thing peaking from September to December. Easter has seen a similar thing happening to its chocolate eggs. Trailblazer Hema has been followed by if I'm correct candystore Jamin and supermarketchain Albert Heijn selling tompouce easter eggs. Back to the real deal. Christiane Muusers is a Dutch culinary historian, who runs www.coquinaria.nl and also writes in English (hooray!). She'll give you a background on the Dutch millefeuille. Digging deeper in Dutch, she compares tompouce prizing and ingredients here. Holtkamp is a famous name in pastryland here. There's more than one though. Meet an employee from Koos Holtkamp in Maassluis Cees Holtkamp acquired national fame for his kroketten and baking. His granddaughter Stella joines him to make tompouces. Robèrt van Beckhoven holds a Meester (master) title for both boulanger (bread) and patissier. He's also judging the Dutch version of Great British Bake Off, called Heel Holland Bakt. Here's the video and the recipe they used on the show https://heelhollandbakt.omroepmax.nl/recepten/details/tompoucen/. On the celebratory Kingsday you'll find many things orange, including tompouces with an orange glaze. Both recipes use a swiss cream filling.

Glad to hear, thanks for the heads up! I tried to find our Indonesian chef Lonny Gerungan on Youtube. He has made some culi travel shows years ago and produced an Indonesian line aimed at supermarket audience. Current one is at Albert Heijn (the same who started selling Conimex way back), named Samasaya and this is a Dutch video of him using the nasi goreng cooking sauce. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ZyT9yeadPo You won't find this product anywhere now, it has been nixed in favor of a paste. Ingredients: Water, garlic, onion, trassi (shrimppaste), chilipepper, natural vinegar, vegetable canola oil, salt, bell pepper, white pepper, natural thickener (xanthaangom). Find his recommended recipe here His old line at Albert Heijn (AH in short, which you pronounce quite similar to the famed Swedish band A-Ha) consisted of several products. Some were microwave meals, which had two components. One rice and the other was a saucy meaty, fishy or vegetable one. My absolute favorite was the dengdeng blado, a beef concoction. I still use some of those braided packaging to this day, quite convenient. Here's a picture of a steamed fish and an ayam (chicken) paniki, to get an idea. That url shares a story. Poor Lonny couldn't keep up the rising demand and sold his line to a business that went belly up. They still own his imaging and won't allow him using his own name, which is how Samasaya came to being. In Dutch we could say that it's flauw. This means bland or in this case lame, although I rather call them bastards. Thought the flauw/bland would be a funny addition to a post on Dutch-Indonesian stuff. Now that you've met Conimex, Inproba and some of Lonny's work, what else can be found here to help out with nasi goreng? Kokkie Djawa is a brand that can be found in both toko's and some supermarkets. Toko Lien looks quite similar. Koningsvogel (English language available) has tubs, but is probably best known for their line of sambals going beyond the generic oelek and badjak varieties. Here are the nasi goreng options at the online webshop of the biggest toko chain in The Netherlands. Remember Conimex starting out with canned nasi? Different brand still does this. I've watched a friend eat this, while camping at a music festival in Germany. He referred to it as nazi göring. Tasteless humor one might say... While browsing Youtube, I found some other vids that might be of interest. Mingfang Wang migrated to the Netherlands from China. She inherited her brothers Chinese restaurant 'De Chinese Muur' in Hilversum (a city between Amsterdam and Utrecht) and wrote a book about her experience in the lowlands Chinese restaurant scene. The restaurant was sold after 12 years and seems to have some trouble keeping up to prior level. Looking at the menu, you can see the Chinese - Indonesian crossover unique to The Netherlands that unfortunately nowadays has been deemed as a dying breed. Watch her make nasi goreng Chinese style for a Dutch audience: Masterchef Australia's alumni Adam Liaw cooks a Friday fried rice series on Youtube. #3 is Indonesian nasi goreng. The other recipes might be offtopic, but I'll include direct links for easy access: #1 Yangzhou fried rice (the original fried rice, his words) #2 Hokkien fried rice #4 Homestyle Japanese omuraisu #5 Kimchi fried rice

From my experience it's the brand in general being frowned upon and not just a certain product or a particular line of products. The products I do see being used the most are the soy sauce and the sambal oelek, which are pretty basic. I can imagine choosing their sambal oelek over a more expensive brand. Soy sauce not so much, but we'll see how far Kikkoman and ABC will change that in the upcoming five years as they too have entered the supermarket assortment here and there. I guess there are also some other factors at play, here's my take on it. In general as with any processed food, the way it is produced can alter the flavour, as do economics. If you haven't grown up with a proper oma/nenek or ibu, cooking from scratch as much as possible and by taste, not compromising on cheaper ingredients trying to make up a certain flavour profile, how would you know the difference? Would you even care? Some people favor convenience anyway over the elbow grease needed for a more real deal or simply don't have the budget or the time to get all the ingredients involved to cook from scratch. I wonder how much of the art will simply die out along with the older generations, as the younger ones don't have the time to put in the effort and might not even remember the difference of the good old handwork. Or think it was grannies or momma's magical touch while grabbing their trustworthy kitchen appliance that they have grown accustomed to or even grown up with. Personally it's quite hard to mash an entire boemboe or currypaste as my hands can't keep holding to the pestle with such force. Or much else after such an exercise and my goodness you never know much you use your hands until you simply can't! I can't charter or piss off a young one nearby to do it. Certainly not for a second time of such a tedious task to end up with a uniform fine product. But I guess I now understand the appeal of making a minion kid yourself a little bit better. Jong geleerd is oud gedaan is another Dutch saying equalling to teach 'm while they're young. I could ask my SO, but I feel bad to make him do it as he won't notice much difference anyway and he'll probably leave me the washing up to do instead. Generally, I don't make just one boemboe or one dish when cooking these things, so that means cooking and cleaning a lot of dishes. Am I really this passionate about the difference? More so than being independent to get things done when I want them to instead of having to wait on others to do it? I guess not, so I'll shut up about it after I admit to enjoying the independence that a nifty kitchen machine can bring me. If you don't buy it yourself, chances of getting a taste of Conimex and recognise the brand is greatest at a Dutch dinner table I guess. Some say the (in)famous Dutch taste is simply a lack of flavour and believe it was caused by the calvinistic preference for toned down and sober things. Others, like culinary expert Johannes van Dam, think it was caused by the home economic schools, which deemed lusciously spiced food unnecessary for the common people. Either way, most Dutch home cooking was not so spicy, or even spiced for that matter. This was a big factor if you were to market a new product for a wide as possible target audience in The Netherlands of the last century. Now imagine getting to know Conimex at such a bland dinner. What kind of advertisement could you convince otherwise after such an experience? Conimex (CONserven (cannes) IMport EXport) started out in the 1930's with mediterranean produce like ansjovis and even Kellogs cornflakes, before trying their luck with a canned nasi and bami adjusted to the Dutch palate. The founder and co-owner met a local couple with Indonesian roots and started working with them. The lady was born on Java island, where she had met her Dutch expat husband. His contacts back in Indonesia turned out to be very usefull in trading, as her cooking skills improved the produce itself. The Dutch army was a big client before the second world war (not sure about now). Fun fact, the marine department still has a tradition of serving Indonesian food one day a week, this is called blauwe hap and it is served on Wednesdays. Blue bite is the literal translation, but let's replace that with grub and think of the rijsttafel. Why blue you might ask? It could be because the black Indonesian haircolour appears to be black in a certain light and calling them black or brown was deemed more derogatory than blue. Other suggestions include the colour of the uniforms, a somewhat blue hue in the rice cooking water, the blueish spot at the bottom of the spine on newborn Asian baby's or even the aprons of the cooks. Supposedly those blue aprons were washed in the same water as the plates, which stained blue as well. Hygienics aside, wouldn't those plates be blue the entire week? But I digress. Another fun fact, an old marine collected 900 blue recipes and turned into a cookbook called Selamat Makan. To my knowledge it's only available in Dutch, but don't let that stop you from taking a look at this legally free version here. You can download it and copypaste a recipe into an online translator to join in on the fun. Just keep in mind that it uses both Dutch and Indonesian words, so you might need to select both languages to tackle it in the best way possible. During the war, there was almost no import or export. When Conimex started up again afterwards, they changed their produce and gained access to the supermarketchain of Albert Heijn. As Indonesia got it's declaration of independence over a quarter million people returned or moved to The Netherlands during 1945-1968, thus making their mark on demographics and the culinary scene so to say. A Dutch saying goes wat een boer niet kent, dat eet hij niet meaning what a farmer doesn't know, he won't eat. If your momma deemed it good enough to cook with, you might happily stick to it without ever venturing out. That nostalgia might differ if you have an Indonesian or Indo (Dutch-Indonesian) background, but let's skip the non-culinary and hurtful history to simply say that you might rather choose products from your former home country when possible to not be reminded. You could support those producers overseas, feel more included and closer to the family back home as they cook(ed) with the same stuff as well as the flavour itself that is targeted at an audience that is much better informed on the authentic flavour. Ok, back to nasi goreng and your post on dried mix versus wet paste. I'm still a bit hung up on Surinamese cooking. It's what actually got me back here as I read a blogpost by The Food Dictator including a post I made in this very topic 😆 This might be dangerous to say with him being a dictator and all, but I think I've never had one that includes lemongrass so far. Nasi goreng is generally not my first pick at Surinamese or Indonesian toko's. Perhaps due to the tendecy of having to be cheaper, making ends meet could mean scaling down on ingredients? My experiences with homecooked Surinamese food might be influenced by the background of my friends and co-workers, who are mostly Indo (Dutch-Indonesian/Indisch) or Surinamese hindustani, Surinamese Chinese or marons (maroons, descendants from African slaves) and not Indonesian or Surinamese-Javanese. But I have been eating this grub for quite a while now, so I'd like to think I should have noticed some lemomgrass by now. Maybe I forgot? I'm not getting any younger and neither are you reading this long text, so let's take a look at some of my online sources. https://www.priyalovesfood.nl/surinaamse-nasi-met-ei/ is from a Surinamese Hindustani and doesn't include citroengras (Dutch) or sereh (Indonesian) Francesca is married to a Surinamese hindustani. She uses piment/jamaica pepper, which I feel is much more common than lemongrass in the Surinamese kitchen. I failed to mention this in my prior post, which is a shame as it might be used more than kencur in the Suriname cuisine. Making your own spiced soy sauce for Surinamese nasi and bami. These Surinamese sisters don't have a nasi goreng recipe online yet, but refer to it in this recipe with ginger and star anise. No lemongrass or kencur, but the kencur does appear as a separate ingredient in their bami recipe along with said spiced soy sauce. The piment is included in de homemade Maggi stock cube recipe. Surinamese nasi boemboe which seems to have a bit more Indonesian/Javanese influence. They exclude trassi due to an allergy in their family. Another more Indonesian influenced recipe without lemongrass https://surinamcooking.com/nasi/ If it's in here, it's hiding in the Helen brand marinade. This nasi goreng includes bayleaves and laos This one looks familiar I discovered a website named Dutch nasi goreng, but it's not a dedicated one. It doesn't mention lemongrass in any of the articles on nasi goreng or in the Surinamese recipe Perhaps it's not that Surinamese, but Indonesian and specificly Javanese? English sources: Written by someone born in Yakarta on Java, without lemongrass https://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2019/06/nasi-goreng-recipe.html Might be hiding in the Balinese paste the BBC recommends https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/nasi-goreng-indonesian-stir-fried-rice Nope at https://www.196flavors.com/indonesia-nasi-goreng/ Nor at https://rasamalaysia.com/nasi-goreng-indonesian-fried-rice/ At Wikipedia a Balinese one mentions lemongrass https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nasi_goreng Dutch sources: Four nasi goreng recipes at Kokkie Slomo, but no mention. Not even in the nasi goreng Djawa The kokkie blanda site hails from Indo/Indisch background, but has a broader asian scope and anyone can upload a recipe. Indonesian nasi goreng kencur with kencur, but no lemongrass. https://www.kokkieblanda.nl/indonesian/nasi-mie-mihoen/2982-nasi-goreng-jawa-gebakken-rijst-uit-java-met-kool-en-kip Indonesian from Java, no lemongrass. East Javanese nasi goreng with seafood but no lemongrass Yakarta lamb nasi goreng no lemongrass mentioned Nasi Goreng from Yogyakarta Java that does include lemongrass/sereh Nasi goreng bumbu pepes with chicken and lemongrass You see mr dictator, it's not just me. I hope you will be very busy punishing all those people before you get to me or at the very least don't leave me to die all by myself. Can you imagine all the foodie conversations I would have being stuck in a cell? Speaking of culinary convo's while being imprisoned, there's another book in Dutch. Not a real cookbook, but one consisting of stories about food and fantasy recipes during the war periode of 1942-45 in Indonesia. The prisoners in the camps were so hungry that they wrote about the food they longed for. The book title translates as 'The taste of longing' accordingly. Also, no mention of use in nasi goreng at https://www.aziatische-ingredienten.nl/citroengras/ There is mention of using lemongrass as a tea, which is probably the only reference I have when combined with Suriname as there is a Surinamese brand of dried herbs to be used as health tea. If you want to take a look, check out the packaging here as proof. Wait Ceecee, what about those other dried products? Well this is probably not a surprise, but my go to at the moment is Surinamese by Paradise and actually a bami mix. Paradise brand includes kencur (kentjoer), but no lemongrass in the ingredient list nor in the published recipe. Aren't these products actually one and the same thing? Probably yeah. How about the competition? Surinamese Maussi offers one with more components. I like that both Paradise and Maussi don't pretend to be the complete flavour profile. Yes, I'm petty like that. There's Inproba, which I think should rank below Conimex. Their factory is currently located in Baarn, the birthplace of Conimex. Indeed, a small world. Did you see those ingredients? Yes, citroengras means lemongrass is included! Is this the dried product from Conimex you tried ElsieD? This "herbal" mix consisting of mostly vegetables (45%) includes red bellpepper, sesame oil and "curry" spices including mustard. The Conimex boemboe for nasi goreng is indeed a different beast and boasts lemongrass to my surprise, among other things. Is that shrimp powder even fermented or just regular not so stinky ground up stuff? Not sure if this needs to be specified by law. It should be in my opinion, details are awesome and the more the merrier. The description says you shouldn't have to add any other spices, herbs or soy sauce as everything is included. Just add chickenbreast, vegetables and rice for a spicy Indonesian dish. Yeah, I bet that their spicy is at best piquant pour moi and as a bonus they try to balance their "heat" with too much sugar for my liking. Meaning I would have to tweak this anyway and I don't think just a scoop of sambal will do that trick. I'd rather opt for a convenience product that already includes my beloved kencur and needs less tweaking to please me. Of course I totally understand that this makes me a stubborn and lazy snob. Sorry, I don't mean to be offensive. Alrighty then, this post is long enough.

So I came across amasi while reading in a South African cookbook. On Wikipedia it says it's a fermented milk that tastes like cottage cheese or plain yoghurt. Would these be agreeable substitutes, even when it's made of pasteurized milk? Looking at a container it's being sold in, I guess should definitely look out for a rather thick product?

Vegan whipped cream can be made with the fatty cream that splits from the watery part in the can, if you get ones without an emulsifier. This can also be used for a mousse. Temp sensative, it will melt when temp is too high, so not the most stable option perhaps. Chocolate mousse could be done with avocado, if you can get a suitable chocolate. A silken tofu might be a possibility as well for something creamy or mousse like. Meringue can also be made with the can residue of chickpeas and other legumes, which apparently doesn't differ that much taste and texture wise from the real thing. No eggs recquiered, just google to find gospel for vegan meringue. Speaking of chickpeas, have you looked into Indian barfi and ladoo's? Perhaps these could come in useful as a base for something pie like or as individual pieces for a grand dessert. Here's a coconut version for the burfi, you can sub brown rice flour for the semolina Ladoo's can be made into many versions, like besan (chickpea), gram, coconut and dried fruit versions. Swap the optional nut decoration for (black) sesame seeds. Perhaps swapping the cashew for pepita's, would make this gajar halwa an option. Beetroot halwa exists as well, fab colour. Shrikandi and kheer might also be of interest as well, spiced yoghurt and rice pudding. Thai black rice coconutpudding. If you can get your hands on a suitable bread, an eggless breadpudding could fit the bill. The Allergen-Free Baker's Handbook might be convenient if you get more of these guests. I have a copy, so if you something in the index that tickles your fancy and want to try it out before purchasing it, let me know and I'll PM it to you.

AVBytes created a musical love tale about an apple and a tomato:

http://forums.egullet.org/topic/91541-bellawrieh/

The salad is more Dutch than Indonesian. Orak arik can be a simple alternative or gado gado, boiled veg with peanut sauce. Sambal goreng buncis (spicy green beans) is quite common in rijsstafels here. Sayur lodeh, veg in coconut sauce, might be nice as well. Can confirm this, aspic was left behind in the 70's/80's I guess. Brought Jell-O to an occasion once and was met with many weird looks by both adults and kids. I got to take it back home, as only one person politely tried it while wearing an akward smile.

Check out Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero. They started with a cooking show on Brooklyn Public Access Television and are now some of the best selling vegan food writers. Isa's website includes some recent video's. You can find somewhat dated old shows on youtube Disclaimer: I'm not a teen anymore, so this might be a totally uncool suggestion anyway. If the teens are not too young and listen to metal, they might enjoy Vegan Black Metal Chef. You probably want to check the volume level, before you start this video. Unless you dislike your closeby neighbours and have earpluggs available that is. Hail seitan!