New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:

Oriental foods?

post #1 of 8
1/13/10 at 12:31pm
Thread Starter 
I recieved a gift basket with all sorts of items I do not know how to cook with. First do you cook flattened rice the same way as rice? What is shanklesh. It is ia a jar and appears to be packed in oil and seasoned with herbs? Could it be a cheese of some sort ? It is in the shape of eggs. Also what does one do with a 2lb. bag of dried tuna? Do you reconstitute it? If so how? None of these pkgs have directions.Ghee is clarified butter. Right? Do I use it the same as the butter I use in the grocery stores. There is something in a bag called Vangi Bhath. It smells alot like the combination of spices I use in curries. Amchur powder? I can figure out the rest, because they have listed ingredients on the cans, or packages. I got pickled turnips. That's one I have never tried. We pickle just about evey vegetable we grow, but never turnips.
Reply

Featured Stories on ChefTalk.com

Fabulously complete; a solution to every classic Italian cooking conundrum
Challenge June 2013 - Pasta !
Gramercy Tavern
post #2 of 8
1/13/10 at 12:45pm
Shankish is just cheese balls. You can chop them up and mix it with tomato and onion and cucumber and it makes for a nice salad, used a mezze dish. Or just eat like that.

Amchur powder is just dried ground mango, has a tart taste but is good in curry dishes, fish , chicken...just watch the amounts.

The ghee can be used as you would butter , great for flavoring rice and various breads.

The rice you received should cook the same way as the others.

Petals
Réalisé avec un soupçon d'amour.

Baby Cake
(4 photos)
Fruitcake - decorated
(5 photos)
Victorian cupcakes
(10 photos)
Reply
post #3 of 8
1/13/10 at 12:50pm
Mostly no, but a little bit yes. You can reconstitute and eat it raw. You can cook it by sauteing, than reconstitute in water. You can reconstitute it in boiling water. You can make broken rice. You can make porridge. Etc.

It's Syrain cheese, made from cow or goat milk. If it's red, it's spiced with chili. Otherwise, probably thyme but may be other things. It's good. Mash some into some hard boiled egg, and season with zatar, or use it as a firmer feta and crumble it up and eat it on a pita with cucumber, tomato and greens. Good in mezzes, chased with arak and water on the rocks. I like it for breakfast mezze with cucumber, tomato, sardines, and arab flat bread.

Beats me.

Right. Same things to the nth degree. Some people say ghee is cooked a bit longer and tastes nuttier, or see some distinctions in the thechnique(s) required to make either -- but a lot more people do both the same way.

No. It's mostly for sautes. You won't like it for spreading. Tibetans put it in their tea, but not me.

You use vangi bath powder to make (wait for it) vangi bath -- which is a rice/eggplant snackfood thing.

Dried, powdered, green mango. Add it to just about anything that wants tart fruitiness.

Got spoon?

Pickled turnips can be very good.

Have fun with the mystery basket,
BDL
What were we talking about?
 
http://www.cookfoodgood.com
Reply
post #4 of 8
1/13/10 at 12:55pm
Sounds like a mixed bag of Asian and Mideastern flavors.

Re: the tuna. Is it sort of shredded? Might be a version of dried albacore, which is used to make dashi; the basic stock of Japanese cookery.

Pickled turnips are found wherever there's a Turkish influence. We love 'em. They come either white, or slightly pink---the later having a bit of beetroot mixed in for color.

Others have already told you about the rest.
They have taken the oath of the brother in blood, in leavened bread and salt. Rudyard Kipling
Reply
post #5 of 8
1/13/10 at 1:38pm
Thread Starter 

Thanks

Thanks everyone. The Vangi Bhath is a bunch of ground up spices. I opened the package and tasted. It has cumin, chili pepper, and coriander for sure. Maybe even a little cinnamon. The package of dried tuna is in flakes, maybe 2-2.5 in pieces. some smaller, some bigger. I tasted it. I wonder if you could just sprinkle it anywhere you wanted some extra protein, with in reason. It tastes fishy, but not like tuna. I can see why it may be good for fish stock .
Reply
post #6 of 8
1/13/10 at 2:56pm
Treat the dried tuna like dried cod, and make fishcakes
CHEFED
Reply
post #7 of 8
1/13/10 at 6:49pm
Thread Starter 
Bdl,

That cheese, well we had it with a cucumber tomato salad tonight and I'm afraid it was a bit sour for our taste. I have a 2 quart jar of these cheese balls. I hope I can find something we like it in. Would you happen to know the shelf life after opened?
Reply
post #8 of 8
1/16/10 at 2:13pm
The ghee can be heated to a much higher temperature than butter (higher smoke point) without burning as the milk solids have been removed. As BDL says, don't use it on bread, but great for frying, especially curried dishes. Or deep frying. One of its benefits is it can be kept in a sealed container at room temperature for weeks. It does give a nutty flavour too.
 Don't handicap your children by making their lives easy.
Robert A. Heinlein
 
Reply
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:
  Return Home
  Back to Forum: Food & Cooking