Post Punk Kitchen Forum

I wasn't sure where to post this, so I've started a new thread.

I spotted Liquid Smoke in Delilah's in Nottingham.

Wasn't that worth it?

My local asian store has just started selling glutinous rice flour and panko.
Trouble is now I have a bag of glutinous rice flour and no clue what to do with it.

I find local independent health food shops very good. In my area Kilworthy Kapers are excellent.
Places like these will often order anything you want as they need the business and know this is the secret of repeat business. If it is something you use often they will often do a discount on a case.

If only you'd found some in Stoke: i've just about finished that bottle you got me.

(This is Graham, by the way.)

Mochi! Icing sugar + rice flour + water in a tupperware/takeaway container. Shake it all up and stir it. Microwave with the lid on, then with it off. Roll into blobs. Roll blobs in coconut. Refrigerate. Salivate. Masticate.

I finally found a place to get cheap popcorn (I live in the country and it's not in any of the stores, except ASDA, where it's, like, £2.50 a kg) and vital wheat gluten -- online (realfoods.co.uk and delivery is free if your order is at least £10). Finally, I can try to make seitan. Also, they have yerba mate!!

WHAT!? You can make seitan with strong bread flour! It's easy!

Wait. That's all I have to do to get mochi?! o.O
How much water do you add?

Umm… I would hazard a guess at "just enough to cover it". I can't really remember off the top of my head, but if you add apricot marmalade it turns to noms. I think it's one of those "lets add things and see what happens" affairs, although I did follow a real recipe once upon a time.

Thanks. I have real noms plans now.

Is there an alternative to icing sugar? That stuff is so damn expensive and I don't have a magical sugar grinder.

I think you need the sugar to be very fine, otherwise you'll get crystals. You could try making a white sugar syrup by dissolving the sugar in the water, but you'd have to make sure that is all dissolves and does not caramelise. Or you could use white sugar and see what happens.

EDIT I found this recipe that I made up a million years ago for mochi "truffles": http://vegannomnoms.blogspot.com/2010/11/mochi-truffles-riceflour-truffles.html

I can?!! The only recipe I found on-line (this was ages ago, mind you) seemed so tricky and involved all this weird rinsing and soaking and looked like it would take ages.

You basically knead together a flour and water dough, then leave it to sit for half an hour, then knead it underwater (as in in a mixing bowl in the sink) and throw away the starchy water, then refill with water and knead again a few times until enough of the starch has run out. Gluten does not dissolve in water, so as long as you keep it sticking to itself, it should not run away. It takes maybe ten minutes of actual labour? Probably less. It's really easy, but a bit messy.

*checks* The VWG on realfoods is a bit expensive! At my local health food shop*, it's £3.50 a kilo.

Anyway, VWG is good for convenience's sake. I like to mix it with a little (20%?) rice flour or chick pea flour, but that's mainly because my IBS makes me regret it if I don't. I can't handle that much undiluted protein at once.

*which is honestly the best one ever ever ever.

Now that is news I can use! Thanks -- that sounds a lot easier than I thought it would be.


Ooh -- I love the idea of mixing it with other (compatible) flours!

I'm jealous of your health food shop! The closest thing we have to a health food shop around here is either Holland & Barrett or the Co-op!

I think it's one of the benefits of living in a very small, very middle-class town-that-pretends-it's-still-a-village; for independent shops to survive, they have to go above and beyond the call of duty. Whereas I've been met by blank looks when trying to order weirder items elsewhere, I get "it'll be here on Tuesday".

I've never seen liquid smoke in there! I must go in and ask.

Yep, it's on the wall near the sauces.

I also saw big blocks of tempeh in that Chinese supermarket in Hockley.

I've not found them despite checking Morrisons (unlikely), Sainsbury's (slightly more likely), and Waitrose (my last hope). Anyone know if y'all get/where I can get Honeycrisp apples? Its that time of year and I'm sure I'll pay out the nose for them, but I just want one or two for seasonal memory and awesome tastiness reasons.

Sorry, I know this is the "I found this" thread. I didn't know if there was another. Please direct me if there is.

Try little local greengrocers, they tend to have more seasonal and local stuff (from my experience).

I don't think Honeycrisp is a variety which is really sold in the UK. There are loads of heirloom varieties though that you'll find in the farmers' markets at this time of year - and if you're looking for something a little Honeycrisp-like, maybe try Empire apples (M&S often have them).

My local Waitrose has canned pumpkin at the moment (for halloween time, I guess). I know you could make pumpkin puree out of actual pumpkins, but this is so much easier.

the wikipedia article makes it sound like they're only grown and sold in the US and Canada.

i was going to say your best bet might be to get someone from home to send them to you, but they're fresh produce and would probably be seized by customs.

And it's just better in some ways.

Thanks for the responses about the Honeycrisps, guys! That is sad, and I'll sort of keep an eye out, but I figured they just weren't here. I didn't want to rule it out, because like y'all have shown me, I can get most things here! I'll try Empire. Thanks!

VWG is available here for £2.35 for 1kg - http://www.lowcarbmegastore.com/search?title=gluten