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R
A C H E L ' S D A I L Y D I A R Y
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Monday
31 December 2001
New Year's Eve
8 15 pm pst [ cowberries & candlenuts -- a New Year's
stir-fry ]
I got a great new cookbook for Christmas. I decided I
really wanted to work my way through the stir-fry chapter and so I brought
my wok up here.
But I'm guessing The
Complete Vegetarian Cookbook wasn't written in the States. The book
refers to bell peppers as capsicums and mentions all sorts of odd sauces
and seasonings. I made a list of all the ones I wanted to try to find at
the Asian specialty store we went to this afternoon.
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Hoisin Sauce is made from soybeans, garlic, chile peppers and
various spices. Hoisin literally translates to "sea-freshness".
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Kecap Manis is one of the most important ingredients used in
Indonesian recipes. It is sweet soy sauce and can be made from sugar, soy
sauce, garlic, star anise, salam (Indian Bay) leaves, galanga (Laos;
galangal; lengkwas; kha) and water.
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Sambal Oelek is also Indonesian and is made of chilies and is used
to add heat to a dish without altering the other flavors. It can be made
from fresh red chilies, salt and soft brown sugar.
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Mirin is low-alcohol, sweetened rice wine (saké) made from mochigome and
komekoji (yeast). It is a traditional Japanese ingredient and is
generally used only for cooking.
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Tamari is a deeply colored Japanese soy sauce which has a rich
texture and intense flavor.
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Shoshoyu is Japanese soy sauce, which is sweeter and lighter than
Chinese soy sauce. Shoyu means soy sauce in Japanese.
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Tamarind has been used as a herb in most Asian country especially
in Thailand. Tamarind trees produce pods which contain an acidic pulp
that may be eaten fresh or used to make jams, sauces, syrups, and drinks.
The seeds of the tamarind may be roasted and eaten.
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I had thought that the "spring onions" listed in the
cook book were the same as green onions, but then I discovered both at the
market. At the top of the cutting board are four fat spring onions and at
the bottom at six thin green onions.
And that is how we spent our New Year's. Matthew
busied himself with the camera while I sliced away. We watched a few
movies and I rang in the new year with my favorite libation, saké.
December 1997
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