Text 14876, 94 rader
Skriven 2007-05-01 15:54:23 av Carol Shenkenberger (6:757/1)
     Kommentar till en text av Glen Jamieson
Ärende: Re: E: FALAFEL - 70430
==============================
*** Quoting Glen Jamieson from a message to Carol Shenkenberger ***

 GJ> patis, and/or or with coconut cream.  How do I cook frozen spinach -
 GJ> or do I just thaw it and eat it?  The instructions on the packet just
 GJ> say to add butter, thaw and heat to boiling point.  What do you do?

 CS> Put it in a pan and add water then cook on low til it defrosts then
 CS> bubbles. It's only significant difference from canned spinach is it
 CS> wont be as salty and you can adjust how much water is added.

 CS> You can also put the frozen block in a steamer and that works fairly
 CS> well. 

GJ> I left it in the freezer while I was away in Darwin for 3 weeks,
GJ> leaving my youngest son in charge of the house.  I was surprised to
GJ> find on my return it was still there.  Practically everything else had
GJ> been cleaned out, though.  I don't think canned spinach is sold here,
GJ> as the fresh stuff is available year round.

Fresh is for me too but the cans are nice to have around when I'm so lazy I
just wanna dump in a can <g>.  Canned spinach is a comfort food from home
though I'll grant that fresh is much better.  I cant think of many recipes
that canned would be 'good' for except lasagna types (for which steamed frozen
is almost perfect).

Kinda like Dave S and his secret stash of gravy packets ;-), I have and use
canned spinach probably almost once a week.  Don hates it so bad, he wont even
try fresh as to him spinach was always canned when growing up.  Ships use
canned types too and fancy them up with cheese and crumbly toppings.

One recipe (but I dont have it) the ship uses is really wonderful 'cream of
spinach soup' and the secret I was told is you actually have to use canned
spinach and the water from the can, to have it taste right.  If i were to
adapt that dish at all, it would be to add sliced black olives and pimientos
for color.

One of the Navy tricks is to use everything they have, in tasteful ways, so the
canning water from vegetables find themselves used for where other recipes
would use plain water.  The drawback of canned vegetables is much of the
minerals and 'good for you stuff' ended up in the water so we use that to
flavor things. You'll see I do that in many of my recipes too and I learned
that from Navy cooks.

GJ> Eggplants are in season at present, so I cooked up a lovely mess of
GJ> vegetables as a sort of pinakbet, with onion, garlic, eggplant, okra,
GJ> bitter melon and alugbati ("Ceylon spinach"), flavoured with bagoong.
GJ> Rather like the following:

GJ> MMMMM----- Recipe via Meal-Master (tm) v8.05
GJ>  
GJ>       Title: PINACBET (BITTER MELON & EGGPLANT/FRUIT) My Version

I see.  I have most of that in my home right now.  I lack the tomatoes.  I have
mentioned thats one thing the Japanese dont do all that well.  The tomatoes
here lack flavor as compared to what I am used to in the USA.  Even the store
USA ones with careful selection of type, are much better.

I am pretty sure your 'eggplant' is the smaller (what I'd call Japanese) one.
This could cause confusion as the USA one is a varient of that and radically
larger.  The USA ones are also more 'bitter' and seem to match how I see
europeans prepare it.  The USA ones can be as wide across as my hand.  The
Japanese ones, I can often circle my hand entirely around and meet fingers.

GJ>  Categories: Vegetables, Filipino, Asian
GJ>       Yield: 4 Servings
GJ>  
GJ>       1 lg Bitter melon (ampalaya)
GJ>       2 md Asian eggplant (talong)
GJ>     200 g  Okra, young and tender
GJ>       2 md Tomatoes, sliced
GJ>       3 cl Garlic, smashed & chopped
GJ>       1 T  Bagoong - salted shrimp fry
GJ>     1/2 c  Water
GJ>      30 g  Dried shrimps

I'm out of dried shrimps but have plenty of bagoong.  I presume above would be
roughly equal volume of tomato, okra, eggplant, and bitter melon?

GJ>   just cooked enough, without turning to glue.  Add more water if
GJ>   necessary; the dish should be rather soupy.
GJ>   
GJ>   Allow to sit for a few more minutes, before serving as a vegetable
GJ>   with grilled sausages, fish or similar and rice.
GJ>   
GJ>   This is not a fiesta food, but just a simple comfort food as served
GJ>   home in many Filipino households.  The smell of fried garlic is an
GJ>   indicator that lunch is on the way.
GJ>   

Looks good to me!  I presume the eggplants isnt peeled but the bitter melon is?
                                       xxcarol

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