Status and Support

[honeybee]

By Wed, I'll be in London. Dining on Indian food, of course. The Mango Chutney in London is better than it is in Mumbai - so I'm told!

[crystalswolf]

We used to make rice and peas with sofrito and a drop of recaito, but when we added chopped up pernil and fresh cilantro we never turned back! Using olive oil and grilled pernil helps a lot!

Honeybee, that's my other food love! I've heard that England's Indian food is very awesome but there's a restaurant locally that Hubs says is better than England's yum yums. You know an ethnic restaurant is good when you see people of that ethnicity eat there regularly! Although, thanks to an awesome internet video site, I'm thankful I've learned to make Vindaloo to save a few bucks.

I've heard the availability of Indian food is like Chinese food in NY and I am so jealous of that! If only...

[WarpGirl]

Not many Indian resturants where I grew up. But then I'm from Long Island on the east end by the hamptons. I am looking forward to it though. And if I plan right I'll be able to save my doc to a disk and work there hopefully.

[Alelou]

My great culinary achievement of this last month is learning how to make naan.

One, I love naan. Two, you don't have to plan ahead to make it if you have the dough in the fridge.

[honeybee]

Oh, yum. That is inspiring. . .

I will have to try that myself.

Now I'm inspired to work alien cuisine into my next story somehow.

[WarpGirl]

Oh good idea. I'm wondering how I can do that. Although if Trip ears Vulcan food its alien and if T'Pol eats human food it is also alien.

[crystalswolf]

Oh good idea. I'm wondering how I can do that. Although if Trip ears Vulcan food its alien and if T'Pol eats human food it is also alien.

I once read a book where the author described an "exotic beverage" in great detail as someone would that wasn't familiar with it. It took an entire chapter before I realized the beverage was coffee!

Like photography, when you look at something from a totally different angle it can look extremely alien. Imagine how an alien would view something like sausage, salt-brined pickled foods, or even yogurt and cottage cheese. "You infect your food?"

[WarpGirl]

Somehow I imagine T'Pol eating Poi would be amusing. I ate it in Hawaii the stuff is revolting. But I have a feeling a Vulcan might like it.

[Aquarius]

By Wed, I'll be in London. Dining on Indian food, of course. The Mango Chutney in London is better than it is in Mumbai - so I'm told!

A curry on every corner!

[honeybee]

I wish I was bringing my laptop to write - but I will just have to jot down notes by hand.

[WarpGirl]

I'm considering swiping my father's lap-top. I will definitely take a note book. Of course I will have to be careful about letting my grandmother read any kissing scenes... You'd think someone who reads Danelle Steele wouldn't be squeamish, maybe its because its me... She knows I've never done that though... People are confusing...

[crystalswolf]

Forgot to ask last night...

psst... Alelou... would you be willing to share that naan recipe?

[Alelou]

Yup, but later. It's from Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day, although I prefer to use the buttermilk bread dough (also in there) for my naan -- the texture is better. And I use less yeast than they do and just let the dough rise longer. (You make enough for a bunch of naan -- or other types of bread, for that matter -- and then store it in the fridge.)

You do need ghee (clarified butter) to make it properly, which is not hard to do. There are recipes all over the Internet and in the book. You can store that, too.

I know there are probably some recipes from these books at the Mother Earth News site.

[crystalswolf]

Oooooh... buttermilk! I have the book and tried their naan with the basic dough recipe but it comes out more like pizza dough (which is not bad but seems a little off) I've found quite a few recipes online and had one recipe come out perfectly (lost the print-out and can't find the site again) while the others came out like hard disks (I like floppy, foldable).

I've been disappointed so many times that I've sworn I will not try another recipe unless someone else has tried it first! Must try the buttermilk recipe next time! That may be the subtle flavor change I'm looking for. Thanks!

[Alelou]

The English granary bread recipe works well, too, though it will never seem as sweet to me as it did in England when I was on a no-sugar diet (malt was like getting a dose of crack, since I didn't know it was actually just another form of sugar). You won't be able to find malted barley flakes easily, but you can buy a box of Maltex and it's the same thing.

If recipes are coming out like a brick, are you resisting the urge to shape and knead? Maybe you need to adjust the amount of water? I find a dry dough usually gives me better results. I also usually add a little wheat gluten if there are ingredients other than white flour -- that helps avoid the brick effect.

I like the plain old regular white bread dough made into baguettes. That takes full advantage of the crustiness factor and to me they taste just as good as Panera, especially if I've managed to keep saving a little dough and it's gotten a little sour. I always make two loaves because they get eaten quickly in this house.

I also can't imagine doing most of those recipes without parchment paper. I don't even bother taking it off near the end the way they say. You can use it over and over again, and it saves so much cleaning. Cornmeal is always such a mess.