Cooking thread

Quote: Face

I finally ate a "real" one. Wasn't anything at all like I expected. We found it in the weeds and brought it back to the boat.

When dealing with unfamiliar foods, it pays to know about them.

Someone who's never seen an apple, but has consumed apple sauce and pie, will be disappointed if he picked a small, green apple from an apple tree. He doesn't know the good ones are bigger and red.

Then there are varieties. In Acapulco, if memory serves, there were huge (and I mean HUGE) coconuts with a large green husk, which were hawked by sellers all over the beach. They'd cut them open, too. The milk or water inside was delicious, and the meat was soft on top and got a bit harder towards the outside part. You could pick some of it off with a spoon.

Quote:

Now I can understand why Tom Hanks was so pissed.

Look up edible plants in their wild state, as you might find on a desert island. You might be surprised.

What do you think: carrot soup with coconut milk, ginger and curry?

Slice carrots thinly (I've a salad Shooter slicer gadget), sauté briefly (3-5 min) with sesame oil and minced ginger. Place in a blender with chicken broth and liquefy well. Put back in a pot, bring to a slow boil, add the coconut milk and curry.

Quote: Nareed

What do you think: carrot soup with coconut milk, ginger and curry?

I did just that. Except....

I couldn't find fresh ginger. Oh, there was plenty, but in horrid shape. More dirt than root, really, with too much flesh exposed in many cases. I'd given up and decided to use powdered ginger, when I came upon a jar of pickled ginger. I used that instead. it was amazing. I sautéed it along with the carrots.

The soup, well, 1.5 liters of chicken broth. Boil the carrots and ginger in it, then place the mix in a blender and liquefy it. Next return to the pot, heat on minimum, add the coconut milk and curry, and let it come to a slow boil. Really good.

I also made a recipe from the peanut butter cookbook I got. It takes up a lot of spices, onion, garlic, chicken, tomato sauce, peanut butter, peanut oil, and chicken broth. And it's delicious. IT's also the first time I used cinnamon in anything other than coffee or a dessert.

Quote: Face

The "milk" was totally water. .

I've heard the terms, but I've only bought coconut water in stores. Health food stores have it often mixed with pineapple juice. Perhaps its a good think that I'm thirty miles from the nearest health food store.

Quote: Face

The "milk" was totally water. There was no sweetness or thickness or anything.

I did some research on that.

Coconuts contain water inside, nothing more. The "milk" is made by infusing this water with the meat. The water should be somewhat sweet and taste faintly of coconut.

It goes rather well with a splash of vodka ;)

Quote: Nareed

It goes rather well with a splash of vodka ;)

Most everything does.

Coconut lime rice

1 cup polished white rice
400 ml. coconut milk
1 tsp vegetable oil
1 lime
about 2 Tbsp unsweetened shredded coconut.

Sauté the rice in the oil for about two minutes. Reduce heat to low and add the coconut milk. Stir well and cover the pot. When it begins to boil, add the shredded coconut and stir well to combine. When the liquid is about to be consumed, add the juice of the 1 lime and stir. Wait for the liquid to be consumed and you're done.

I may have cracked the picadillo recipe.

I did it exactly like last time, only I mixed one beaten egg in the beef before cooking it. The texture is much improved, and so is the flavor. I've noticed lately that egg doesn't always impart an eggy flavor to many things. Perhaps it's too subtle, perhaps it tends to combine. But there is little that's egg-flavored in egg drop soup, spaghetti Carbonara or my recent attempt a t picadillo.

Something to think about.

I wonder if there is room for cooking in a philosophy syllabus....

I made a change to the citrus cabbage recipe.

This time for the dressing I used:

2 tsp. honey
about 2 1/2 tsp. peanut butter (you try measuring it)
2 tsp. balsamic vinegar
2 tsp. mustard
2 tsp. olive oil
2 tsp. sesame seed oil
A dash of cinnamon

While for cooking I used 1/2 cup orange juice rather than 1/4.

This was mostly because I cooked more cabbage than usual. last week I ran out of food for lunch on Thursday, and had to endure eating lunch with the rest of the department. It's not an experience I want to repeat.

I like what peanut butter does for cooking, but it's a PITA to work with. It sticks to everything, making it hard to measure accurately. It's hard to dissolve in other things, though it does dissolve, And I cannot look at a jar of peanut butter without getting an overwhelming desire to eat some straight out of the jar (mostly i resist).

If I ever get some free time and am feeling adventurous, I may even try to make my own.

I'm thinking about making biscuits this week. I want to bake something, and this seems both easy and useful. They're also something I can experiment with. I'm thinking of doing them half "sweet" and half "salty." For the latter I want to incorporate something like fine herbs, zatar, garlic, etc. I'm not sure what to do for "sweet." Perhaps something like vanilla or cinnamon, both would go well with jam and peanut butter.