Food, Glorious Food

[stylinexpat]

Another day for a Syrian/Lebanese breakfast. Took about 30 minutes this
Garlic mashing takes longest roughly 10-15 minutes until it becomes like a paste. Have to slice thinly first then add salt and lemon. After chop until it becomes a paste. Then place garlic paste in bowl, add half a lemon (freshly squeezed), olive oil and mix. Fava Beans I boil for about 15 minutes out of can. These are my favorite for the ones out of a can. Olive oil each has their preference but I like this olive oil and this cumin. Once Fava beans have boiled allow to cool for about 10 minutes after straining. Prepare half a lemon of freshly squeezed lemon with olive oil, garlic paste and some salt in a bowl (mix thoroughly). Now add Fava beans and add cumin, salt and a little black pepper. Mix throughly. In a separate bowl cut 3 red Roma tomatoes and add salt, half a lemon freshly squeezed along with olive oil and salt. Mix and allow to sit for 5-10 minutes mixing every few minutes. Then add after mixing Fava beans with lemon sauce prepared add tomatoes on top and then add chopped parsley on top. Add more olive oil, squeeze more lemon and add a little salt and black pepper if you like. I buy the Japanese ground black pepper.
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Part 2.. I took a Probiotic pill prior to having this lol..

 

[Scepticalscribe]

Another day for a Syrian/Lebanese breakfast. Took about 30 minutes this
Garlic mashing takes longest roughly 10-15 minutes until it becomes like a paste. Have to slice thinly first then add salt and lemon. After chop until it becomes a paste. Then place garlic paste in bowl, add half a lemon (freshly squeezed), olive oil and mix. Fava Beans I boil for about 15 minutes out of can. These are my favorite for the ones out of a can. Olive oil each has their preference but I like this olive oil and this cumin. Once Fava beans have boiled allow to cool for about 10 minutes after straining. Prepare half a lemon of freshly squeezed lemon with olive oil, garlic paste and some salt in a bowl (mix thoroughly). Now add Fava beans and add cumin, salt and a little black pepper. Mix throughly. In a separate bowl cut 3 red Roma tomatoes and add salt, half a lemon freshly squeezed along with olive oil and salt. Mix and allow to sit for 5-10 minutes mixing every few minutes. Then add after mixing Fava beans with lemon sauce prepared add tomatoes on top and then add chopped parsley on top. Add more olive oil, squeeze more lemon and add a little salt and black pepper if you like. I buy the Japanese ground black pepper.
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Part 2.. I took a Probiotic pill prior to having this lol..

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Looks delicious and thanks for sharing.

Over thirty years ago, my mother brought me back a characteristically well made, sturdy, and beautifully constructed metal garlic press as a gift from Italy. It still minces garlic most wonderfully, and strikes me as the sort of implement that would allow you to have the garlic nice and ready before it becomes a paste, as, in my experience, it is pretty much a paste when it has been minced so finely.

 

[stylinexpat]

For dinner steamed fish from fish market. Chinese style

Clean and prepare fish,steam for 17 minutes with ginger. Prepare ginger slices,cilantro and olive oil. Stir fry them and then add Seafood Soy Sauce. Let boil for a few minutes then add on top of fish. Hard part is removing fish without braking it to another dish after steaming it.

 

[Huntn]

For dinner steamed fish from fish market. Chinese style

Clean and prepare fish,steam for 17 minutes with ginger. Prepare ginger slices,cilantro and olive oil. Stir fry them and then add Seafood Soy Sauce. Let boil for a few minutes then add on top of fish. Hard part is removing fish without braking it to another dish after steaming it.

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Not that this will help with steaming, but I grill catfish on aluminum foil over the grate of the charcoal griller and use a wide spatula to pick it up. I also grill it so the skin side ends up down after flipping it because the skin side gets less stuck to the foil.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

For dinner steamed fish from fish market. Chinese style

Clean and prepare fish,steam for 17 minutes with ginger. Prepare ginger slices,cilantro and olive oil. Stir fry them and then add Seafood Soy Sauce. Let boil for a few minutes then add on top of fish. Hard part is removing fish without braking it to another dish after steaming it.

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As always, absolutely mouth-watering and looks delicious, and thanks for sharing.

Not that this will help with steaming, but I grill catfish on aluminum foil over the grate of the charcoal griller and use a wide spatula to pick it up. I also grill it so the skin side ends up down after flipping it because the skin side gets less stuck to the foil.

When using tin foil with fish, I lightly oil the tin foil (with olive oil).

 

[Huntn]

As always, absolutely mouth-watering and looks delicious, and thanks for sharing.



When using tin foil with fish, I lightly oil the tin foil (with olive oil).

That is an excellent idea! 🥰

 

[Scepticalscribe]

That is an excellent idea! 🥰

Anywhere where the aluminium foil, or tin foil, meets fish, is lightly oiled.

And, from my experience, this works well.

You could also drizzle the fish - just a little - with a few drops of olive oil.

 

[stylinexpat]

Not that this will help with steaming, but I grill catfish on aluminum foil over the grate of the charcoal griller and use a wide spatula to pick it up. I also grill it so the skin side ends up down after flipping it because the skin side gets less stuck to the foil.

Only reason I use Aluminum foil is just so that I have the easier option to switch plates if needed. Will not look as good if you leave it in there but also less work and cleaning to do after
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As always, absolutely mouth-watering and looks delicious, and thanks for sharing.



When using tin foil with fish, I lightly oil the tin foil (with olive oil).

Same here, that works great.

 

[mward333]

Every year, the James Beard Foundation lists some of the best cookbooks, but they also had a best-of-the-best list (released in 2007)

https://jbf-media.s3.amazonaws.com/archive/jbf-2013/pressreleases/cookbooks.pdf

and followed this with another Baker's Dozen books in 2010:

JBF News: The Baker's Dozen

In the first follow-up to its Twenty Essential …

www.jamesbeard.org

If you have seen these lists, they are pretty interesting to consider. Just FYI.

 

[Huntn]

I was reading about rice, about how white rice is the worst, full of carbs, blood sugar spike. Brown and wild rice is better. Then the article said basmatic rice was the best. I don’t know if I’ve ever eaten basmatic rice. Anyone? Anything different about it in taste?

 

[stylinexpat]

I was reading about rice, about how white rice is the worst, full of carbs, blood sugar spike. Brown and wild rice is better. Then the article said basmatic rice was the best. I don’t know if I’ve ever eaten basmatic rice. Anyone? Anything different about it in taste?

They differ but I like both. I like the Pakistani Basmati rice. I found that by using the short grain rice to make congee helps a lot with blood sugar spike and carbs but you have to cook it for hours

 

[Huntn]

They differ but I like both. I like the Pakistani Basmati rice. I found that by using the short grain rice to make congee helps a lot with blood sugar spike and carbs but you have to cook it for hours

Thanks! There is a Kroger brand basmatic rice, I’ll pick up and try. Usually I’m boiling rice for about 30 min. Does this require much longer?

 

[adrianlondon]

Basmati rice cooks in the same amount of time as other white rice. It benefits from being soaked in (cold) water for a few minutes before cooking. The main difference is in the fact the grains stay very separate. It's good for Indian curries and Persian dishes.

For Chinese and Japanese, I use short grain rice (Japanese rice, often labelled as sushi rice) as that's more sticky and perfect for picking up in clumps with chopsticks.

Occasionally I'll cook brown or wild rice, but I'm not much of a fan.

As for carbs ... it's to do with the amount and type of starch. I read an article ages ago that said cooking pasta and cooling it (even if you then reheat it) changes the starch from one type to another (yeah, I didn't read it that closely lol) and it becomes much more healthy. I would assume rice works the same way, which would make fried rice (which is made with cooled steamed rice then, well, fried) the healthiest rice

 

[Huntn]

Basmati rice cooks in the same amount of time as other white rice. It benefits from being soaked in (cold) water for a few minutes before cooking. The main difference is in the fact the grains stay very separate. It's good for Indian curries and Persian dishes.

For Chinese and Japanese, I use short grain rice (Japanese rice, often labelled as sushi rice) as that's more sticky and perfect for picking up in clumps with chopsticks.

Occasionally I'll cook brown or wild rice, but I'm not much of a fan.

As for carbs ... it's to do with the amount and type of starch. I read an article ages ago that said cooking pasta and cooling it (even if you then reheat it) changes the starch from one type to another (yeah, I didn't read it that closely lol) and it becomes much more healthy. I would assume rice works the same way, which would make fried rice (which is made with cooled steamed rice then, well, fried) the healthiest rice

I love both brown and wild rice.

 

[adrianlondon]

I love both brown and wild rice.

I don't mind them if they're a small-ish component of the dish. A serving of wild rice along with some other carb is lovely, but I mainly cook Asian food and I've not managed to move away from white rice as the base for those.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

I don't mind them if they're a small-ish component of the dish. A serving of wild rice along with some other carb is lovely, but I mainly cook Asian food and I've not managed to move away from white rice as the base for those.

I'm with you on this; my marked preference is for white rice - basmati, arborio, bomba, - as needed, or as the recipe calls for.

Must take a look at Japanese sushi rice, although that may be moot, as I don't find myself using chop-sticks (and am not remotely proficient in their use).

 

[adrianlondon]

Must take a look at Japanese sushi rice, although that may be moot, as I don't find myself using chop-sticks (and am not remotely proficient in their use).

It's still possible to use a fork or spoon of course The short grains impart a lovely texture.

However, before you get sticker shock, I don't buy sushi rice here as it's expensive compared to the standard Thai jasmine long-grain rice. I'm lucky in that I visit family in Taiwan once a year and I bring some back. I'm one of those crazy people who flies back from Asia with a few Kg of rice in his suitcase! Pretty much my entire luggage allowance is made up of food. It balances out the bread, cheese and chocolate (all excellent) life I have here in Switzerland.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

It's still possible to use a fork or spoon of course The short grains impart a lovely texture.

However, before you get sticker shock, I don't buy sushi rice here as it's expensive compared to the standard Thai jasmine long-grain rice. I'm lucky in that I visit family in Taiwan once a year and I bring some back. I'm one of those crazy people who flies back from Asia with a few Kg of rice in his suitcase! Pretty much my entire luggage allowance is made up of food. It balances out the bread, cheese and chocolate (all excellent) life I have here in Switzerland.

Thanks for the warning, but I will admit that I tend to treat myself where food related matters are concerned.

 

[stylinexpat]

It's still possible to use a fork or spoon of course The short grains impart a lovely texture.

However, before you get sticker shock, I don't buy sushi rice here as it's expensive compared to the standard Thai jasmine long-grain rice. I'm lucky in that I visit family in Taiwan once a year and I bring some back. I'm one of those crazy people who flies back from Asia with a few Kg of rice in his suitcase! Pretty much my entire luggage allowance is made up of food. It balances out the bread, cheese and chocolate (all excellent) life I have here in Switzerland.

As far as I remember it is illegal to bring rice to Taiwan. Taiwan has some great and amazing local short grain rice. A bit hard to find locally grown long grain rice/basmati rice in Taiwan although it is available as an imported one from Thailand.

 

[adrianlondon]

As far as I remember it is illegal to bring rice to Taiwan. Taiwan has some great and amazing local short grain rice. A bit hard to find locally grown long grain rice/basmati rice in Taiwan although it is available as an imported one from Thailand.

Interesting. Luckily I'm taking rice out rather than in. They took the Japanese variety of rice and planted it up in the moutainous region. It's lovely, and usually quite cheap (as you'd expect considering how much of the stuff is consumed).

 

[stylinexpat]

Craving some good simple eggs for breakfast. I like these eggs if buying from the supermarket although I normally buy from farmers market. Not all are the same. Leave eggs outside for 15 minutes to get to room temperature before frying. Beat 3 eggs after having sat in bowl for 15 minutes. Preheat pan on low heat until pan is completely hot but not too hot. The way you know is if bottom of eggs remains yellow. If it turns brown (Chinese or Thai style) then you messed up the eggs. I wanted to experiment with local Ghee. Normally the best Ghee was out of Syria but that is not possible these days so I decided to try a local one. It was not bad (quite good actually) but not as great as the original one from Syria. Good Ghee is not cheap either and neither are good eggs these days as well. This came out quite good for breakfast.

I have Professional ScanPan which I bought off of Amazon. Good pans but not cheap. After 2 years though pan quality is not as good as it was new. This depends on what you use pan for. I now think it is good to have a few different pans and separate them for different uses. Don’t want to use the same pan used for pancakes and eggs as the one used for Chicken,steaks and say fish. What I hate most is when I go to a Chinese restaurant and would order say their stir fried spinach order and the chef has just simply rinsed the wok from stir frying some other heavy Chinese pork item with either soy sauce or some other heavy sauce. In many Chinese restaurants where they only have 1-2 woks and the chefs are busy and lazy they simple just rinse it out with water and start on the next order. If you ordered a simple stir fried vegetable and you had busy and lazy chef do this your stir fried veggies will not be tasting like they should be.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

As far as I remember it is illegal to bring rice to Taiwan. Taiwan has some great and amazing local short grain rice. A bit hard to find locally grown long grain rice/basmati rice in Taiwan although it is available as an imported one from Thailand.

Interesting. Luckily I'm taking rice out rather than in. They took the Japanese variety of rice and planted it up in the moutainous region. It's lovely, and usually quite cheap (as you'd expect considering how much of the stuff is consumed).

Yes, I thought I had remembered that @adrianlondon had written that he brings rice out from Taiwan, (in a suitcase) rather than importing it into the country.

Anyway, this is an interesting discussion on rice, and gives rise to thoughts of rice dishes and recipes to be explored in due course.

Anyone any thoughts on Nasi Goreng, the amazing Indonesian rice dish?

I've had both Nasi Goreng and Bami Goreng (the noodle version of that, or a similar dish) and both are absolutely amazing and quite delicious.
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Craving some good simple eggs for breakfast. I like these eggs if buying from the supermarket although I normally buy from farmers market. Not all are the same. Leave eggs outside for 15 minutes to get to room temperature before frying. Beat 3 eggs after having sat in bowl for 15 minutes. Preheat pan on low heat until pan is completely hot but not too hot. The way you know is if bottom of eggs remains yellow. If it turns brown (Chinese or Thai style) then you messed up the eggs. I wanted to experiment with local Ghee. Normally the best Ghee was out of Syria but that is not possible these days so I decided to try a local one. It was not bad (quite good actually) but not as great as the original one from Syria. Good Ghee is not cheap either and neither are good eggs these days as well. This came out quite good for breakfast.

I have Professional ScanPan which I bought off of Amazon. Good pans but not cheap. After 2 years though pan quality is not as good as it was new. This depends on what you use pan for. I now think it is good to have a few different pans and separate them for different uses. Don’t want to use the same pan used for pancakes and eggs as the one used for Chicken,steaks and say fish. What I hate most is when I go to a Chinese restaurant and would order say their stir fried spinach order and the chef has just simply rinsed the wok from stir frying some other heavy Chinese pork item with either soy sauce or some other heavy sauce. In many Chinese restaurants where they only have 1-2 woks and the chefs are busy and lazy they simple just rinse it out with water and start on the next order. If you ordered a simple stir fried vegetable and you had busy and lazy chef do this your stir fried veggies will not be tasting like they should be.

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I'd use standard butter for that dish, and probably add around a tablespoon of milk (or cream, if I had it to hand) to the beaten eggs, (plus salt and pepper).

Re pans, I have spent a lot of money over the years, but have some excellent ones; (Lagostina from Italy, Fizzler from Germany, Le Mauviel from France, a few Le Creuset, and a small number of handmade ones that I bought in Italy). The thing is, they age well, and do hold up well.

Agree that having separate pans for separate ingredients can be an excellent idea.

 

[adrianlondon]

Whilst waffling on about rice, I was looking at buying a second hand Japanese rice cooker here, before changing my mind and sticking with my €12 one. Anyway, the one I didn't buy had an Okoge setting. Google rescued me and reminded me of my childhood where my Dad, from the middle east, would always flight with me (not literally!) for the "Hikakeh". It's the burnt bits of rice that you scrape off the bottom of the pot. The nice, tasty, crispy bits.

It was amusing to me that Tiger branded rice cookers have this setting. Scorched Rice, in their English manuals.
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This'll probably get auto-merged despite the different topic, but on the subject of pans/woks ... it wouldn't bother me if a chef cooked a strong-flavoured meat dish, then after a blast with very hot water, cooked some veggies. These aren't those Chinese porous teapots (where after years you can just add water and still taste the tea), they're woks which should have no remnants of flavour left once properly rinsed out. Right? Am I wrong?

 

[Scepticalscribe]

Whilst waffling on about rice, I was looking at buying a second hand Japanese rice cooker here, before changing my mind and sticking with my €12 one. Anyway, the one I didn't buy had an Okoge setting. Google rescued me and reminded me of my childhood where my Dad, from the middle east, would always flight with me (not literally!) for the "Hikakeh". It's the burnt bits of rice that you scrape off the bottom of the pot. The nice, tasty, crispy bits.

It was amusing to me that Tiger branded rice cookers have this setting. Scorched Rice, in their English manuals.

Re rice cookers, I think that some will suggest Zojirushi rice cookers; we had a wonderful Filipina carer for my mother (who had dementia) and - as rice is a staple in such cultures, I let her buy our rice cookers.

This'll probably get auto-merged despite the different topic, but on the subject of pans/woks ... it wouldn't bother me if a chef cooked a strong-flavoured meat dish, then after a blast with very hot water, cooked some veggies. These aren't those Chinese porous teapots (where after years you can just add water and still taste the tea), they're woks which should have no remnants of flavour left once properly rinsed out. Right? Am I wrong?

That is what I would have thought as well; I assumed that once one had seasoned woks properly, a quick rinse was all that one needed.

 

[adrianlondon]

Agree - from what I can tell, Zojirushi are the best, followed very closely by Tiger. As far as my Taiwanese partner is concerned, it has to be Taitung or nothing. They work differently - more steaming less boiling, but don't have buttons and timers and congee settings etc. And I do love buttons on things! His sister, however, has a top of the range Zoji button-laden thing that I covet.

My very cheap no-brand one does a perfect job of the white rice I cook in it. I think if I were to regularly cook brown and/or wild rice I'd invest in a better one. However, I think one needs to get a model that comes with computerised cooking (Zoji call it Fuzzy Logic, Tiger call it Micom) as otherwise they're basically just button-laden things that cook with a timer. Plus, I'd need a 220v one. And then I'd get taken in by the induction ones (more even heat) and maybe even the ones that cook the rice under pressure (this is a forum full of gadget lovers after all!) so I've not bothered