Archive for the ‘Cooking’ Category
Review Spice Funnel: A Handy Tool for Cooking with Spices
DoT’s Thot: My mother always told me, “Except for being sick, the bigger the better.” This she told me because I always wanted the cute, itty-bitty little things — almost anything miniature.
As I grow older, that still works, except I do not see things as well. However, some “good things do come in small packages”. Here is one kitchen utensil I really like: my special spice funnel.
A Spice Funnel Is Perfect For Filling Small Jars of Spice Seeds
A Handy Tool For the Cook Who Loves Cooking With Spices
I love this — it is one of the small kitchen gadgets that I find so very useful — the little spice funnel. My funnel is made of steel and you can see that it has a larger tip than the standard funnel. You can see it is also cut at an angle, which makes the opening larger at the bottom for small seeds or spice powder to drop down into the spice jars. Read the rest of this entry »
Grow Tomatoes Review: Knowns and Unknowns About Mamie Eisenhower’s Tomato Pudding
Tomato "Huh?"
DoT’s Thot: “As we know, there are known knowns. There are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns. That is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns, the ones we don’t know we don’t know.” – Donald Rumsfeld
I came across this celebrity tomato-related recipe (looked interesting) and felt kind of curious. I have been trying to imagine what this dish should look like and smell like coming out of the oven. If someone has a picture or has made it, I would consider it a kindness to find out vicariously what this tomato recipe yields. I do suspect that it is more than my quota of indulgence for the day. My guess is that it’s a brown, fruity, but not creamy, version of bread pudding. I can’t afford the calories (this is the known known). I don’t know what this looks like nor tastes like (these are known unknowns). I wonder what my unknown unknowns might be.
Mamie Eisenhower’s Tomato Pudding
1 (24 or 29 ounce) can tomato puree
1 1/2 cups firmly packed light brown sugar
Pinch of salt
1/3 cup boiling water
8 slices bread
1/2 pound butter
In buttered casserole cube the 8 slices of bread. Slice the butter over the bread. Add the tomato puree, brown sugar, salt and boiling water that have been mixed together. Bake at 350 degrees F, uncovered, for 1 hour.
Nevertheless, thanks to two Washington, D.C., celebrities, this tomato recipe was fun to think about. I put this recipe in the — “maybe I’ll try it some time” pile.
Aloha, DoT
Cultivate and Fertilize the Heirloom Tomatoes
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Grow Tomatoes Review: Vintage Wine and Black Brandywine Heirlooms
“All of life is a dispute over taste and tasting.” – Friedrich Nietzsche (German classical Scholar, Philosopher and Critic of culture, 1844-1900.)
Vintage Wine Heirloom Tomato and Black Brandywine Heirloom Tomato
DoT’s Thot: I have struggled with deciding what should go in the garden each tomato season. I admit to being greedily curious about heirloom tomatoes. While I am all in favor of preserving the diversity of the horticultural gene pool, I also am just plain interested in the colors, shapes, sizes, aroma, and tastes of the varieties of tomatoes as well as the growing habits, different flowers and vining habits of the tomato plants. Vintage Wine attracted me this year, because of its name, description, and pretty picture. Black Brandywine was bought, because I somehow did not find the usual pink nor yellow brandywine in the nurseries.
Select Heirloom Tomatoes Because They Are Interesting and Taste Good
As for selecting tomatoes in general, not being a trained horticulturist, I do some reading, internet surfing, and take my chances every year, trying to find the ones I have liked from years past and trying new ones. Vintage Wine tomato and Black Brandywine tomato are two new heirloom trials for me. Some of the ones I have missed this year that were grand in past years have been New Zealand Pink Paste (grew that for 2 years and then it disappeared on me — nice paste tomato that tastes grand out of hand), Anna Russian (prolific lovely pink oxheart tomatoes that remind me a little of Dinner Plate — planted that last year, found none this year), and Orange Santa Grape tomato (wonderful for growing in super large pot). I did note that there is some dispute about which tomatoes are truly heirloom or heritage, but it does not matter to me. I will take the broader definition to be tomatoes that people like so much that they keep the seeds, wish to see them propagated forward, and pass on from some number of generations to the next.
Grow Tomatoes Review: Golden Pineapple Beefsteak – “Guacamole Salsa”
DoT’s Thot: I generally like my guacamole very simple — only avocado, lemon juice, salt, and cilantro. However, when tomato season is on, I cannot help but throw some delightful tomato chunks in the mix.
Golden Pineapple Beefsteak Tomato with Other Ingredients
Journal Entry: 4 July 2009, Independence Day Golden Pineapple Beefsteak Tomato “Guacamole Salsa”
The Golden Pineapple Beefsteak tomato is a lovely golden yellow tomato with red striping on the skin and beautiful pink streaks in the flesh. Firm, meaty, and mild with the firm, smooth texture that is so complementary to avocado, I keep planting this tomato despite its tendency to crack a little more than some of the other heirloom tomatoes I plant. That says a lot for the tomato. One of the reasons I do not mind the cracking is because of dishes like the one I am going to describe where I can lop off all the cracked parts and take the good parts and eat them in the yummy dish.
For a great side dish, these ingredients are few and simple, relying more on the freshness and innate goodness of the ingredients themselves. First, use really good chunks of tomato. Often, with homegrowers, we will have some not so pretty results, where there are some cracks or some not so well shaped tomatoes or (as I am gradually learning about pruning, etc.) tomatoes of various sizes from the same tomato plant. These still have lots of good tomato flesh and the same great flavor. Don’t waste those — besides cooking and canning, fresh dishes where you chop the tomato chunks, like this one, are great.
Golden Pineapple Beefsteak Tomato Characteristics
The Golden Pineapple beefsteak tomato pieces in my picture resulted from my cutting up a large beefsteak tomato that had a large blossom end and a few deep cracks. This has been a very nice continuing member of the garden this year. As mentioned above, Golden Pineapple Beefsteak produces meaty tomatoes which are a nice yellow with red streaks. It is very pretty in a dish like this and it’s mild, sweet taste melds so well with avocado and lime. The flesh is firm, but has a creamy, not mushy texture. There are few seeds and you can see how visually appealing the tomato slices and chunks are, especially so in this dish.
Tomatoes and Avocado Chopped and Lime Juice Applied
Other Ingredients
You will need a ripe, creamy textured, but firm avocado. The cilantro should be fresh and bright green. Use either lime juice or lemon juice, but always fresh-squeezed. Sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper finish the dish. Seasoned salt is always an option, if you prefer. If doing that, I like the variety with cracked black pepper in it.
The Process of Making the Golden Pineapple Beefsteak Tomato “Guacamole Salsa”
Clean all the ingredients. Remove the skin and seed from the avocado. Chop the avocado into nice half inch chunks. Remove any bad parts of the tomatoes (see above). Remove the stem and blossom ends. Chop the tomato, again into chunks about a half inch or less, if you like.
Place the avocado and tomato into a bowl. Squeeze the juice of the lime or lemon (about 1 to 2 tablespoons) over all and gently mix together.
Golden Pineapple Beefsteak Tomato "Guacamole Salsa" Served in Pretty Bowls
Sprinkle salt and pepper to taste and mix gently again. Put the mixture into pretty bowls. Chop the cilantro (again, use what you feel like eating — some people (like me) like a lot, some people like less and mix it in )– reserve a tablespoon of cilantro for each bowl as a topping. Finally put the results in pretty bowls, top with the reserved cilantro and serve it.
Suggested Uses for this Golden Pineapple Beefsteak Tomato Dish
If you like, use this as a side dish or pile it on chopped lettuce instead of dressing. You will find it goes well on top of short chunks of celery or flat ovoids of carrots or cucumber or with your favorite tortilla chips or whole grain crackers. Then again,sometimes, I just take the bowl and get a spoon.
Enjoy and Aloha, DoT
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Cultivate and Fertilize the Heirloom Tomatoes
Curry Leaf Plant Review: True Indian Curry Leaf Herb Has Mildly Pungent Aroma and Health Benefits
DoT’s Thot: “The gardener who cooks or the cook who gardens often has a preference for the freshly grown — including herbs and whatever spice elements we can get our hands on. The reward of growing an interesting, scented plant is enhanced by the aroma of a flavorful dish in the kitchen. ” — DoT
DoT's Curry Leaf Plant (Murraya Koenigii) Growing In a Pot
The Curry Plant, an Indian Herb
Thot you might enjoy a review of one of the more interesting edible plants I have. Here is one of the Murraya koenigii or Indian curry leaf plants in my garden that fits the garden plus kitchen category.
The Indian curry leaf plant has little leaves used as a fresh curry leaf herb that yields a mildly pungent and pleasant savory aroma. Some say it has a citrus aroma.
The curry plant is next to my hydrangea plant, so those are not blossoms. The blossoms on the curry leaf plant are tiny and white. The seeds form within a round, deep purple fruit the size of large black peppercorns or of very small blackberries.
Health Benefits of the Indian Curry Leaf Plant
The plant has been used in South Asian traditional medicine as well as being used in cooking. The conditions that the plant is applied to include diabetes, skin conditions, and the digestive tract.
The Curry Plant Leaves Adds Spice as a Savory Flavor
These leaves are used to flavor a number of Indian vegetable dishes. One of my family’s favorite dish is a flavorful and spicy tomato “stew” or “soup”, depending on how thick I make the dish, called tomato sabzi or subji (depending on who I am talking to — either spelling is OK with me). This dish is superb in summer when our tomatoes come in fresh from the garden, warm from the sun, redolent with flavor, in colors of fire — red, orange, gold, and yellow.
The curry leaves are used along with other spices and create a flavorful dish that also lends itself to canning or bottling for a quick pick-me-up or as a side dish during the rest of the year. In addition, those bottled, curry-flavored tomatoes afford my hubby a way out when I am not home. Instead of opening cans
DoT's Curry Leaves Close Up
of other stuff, he opens our bottled tomato stew and heats it, eating the dish with what happens to be on hand: plain yogurt, tortillas or Indian roti flatbread or pita pocket bread or a good whole-grain bread; or, sometimes, with brown rice.
He is a Gujrati or an Indian from Gujrat and in his native tonge, this herb is called “Mitho limado”. In Hindi, it is “Karipatta or Mitha nim, or Mitha neem patta”.
The Curry Leaf Plant Suitable as Decoration
The leaves are somewhat dainty and the plant could be viewed as somewhat decorative. I find it a charming addition to the patio as a potted plant and looking at it now, realize it deserves a prettier home. I think I will transplant it.
Dried Curry Leaves as Spice
If you cannot find the plant at a nursery near you or if the weather does not suit this plant, you can find dried curry leaves at an Indian grocer’s or through a spice store. I have included a source for the fresh curry leaves below, if online seems to be your only choice at this time.
Do give this a try and realize that these curry leaves are not synonymous to bay laurel leaves and once you taste the difference, you will likely want to use these authentic curry leaves for Indian recipes.
Aloha, DoT
Fresh Curry Leaves - Fresh South Indian and Sri Lankan Herb - Citrus Aroma
Online Source for Indian Curry Leaves
Fresh curry leaves from the Buy Spice Now.com store. It is found in the “Grocery” category with a search on “Indian curry leaves”.
List Price is $3.99
Features:
- 100% Natural, Fresh herb
- Exclusive sellers for Ajika on Amazon.com
- Adds fresh citrus aroma to food
- Essential herb in South Indian cooking
Description and Review:
Curry leaves are used as a seasoning in Indian Cooking. When starting a curry or soup dish, the curry leaves should be left in hot oil until they sizzle. Curry leaves are generally sizzled in hot oil with mustard seeds, ginger and asafetida and are added to salads, dals, fresh coconut chutney or vegetable dishes. Curry leaves are very important to South Indian cooking. Curry leaves add a fresh citrus fragrance to food that is simply irresistable. Fresh curry leaves have a short life in the fridge and dried tend to be bland. Fresh curry leaves will remain fresh for a week if kept in a dry plastic bag in the fridge. Curry leaves are not the same as curry powder which is a blend of dry spices. Curry leaves are a fresh herb.
Fresh Indian Curry Leaves Available In Grocery Category; Search "Indian Curry Leaves"
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Related Articles or References
- For more pictures and information see Gernot Katzer’s Spice Pages.
- TIps on growing curry plant…
