Post Punk Kitchen Forum

FROWN. I have Amazon Prime, ordered this Tuesday, and still don't have it even though it's been in my town since Wednesday. I'm annoyed.

Does anyone else hate the index?

Yeah, I'm disappointed with the index as well! It only seems to list recipe names that contain a certain ingredient instead of listing all recipes that call for that ingredient. I tried to look up which recipes call for the tempeh chorizo crumbles - I noticed there are a few when browsing the book - but the index doesn't list them. :( I guess I'll have to make my own index when I have some time on my hands, because I really need an index that lists almost everything.

If you get around to that, would you share?

Sure! I'm pretty busy at the moment, though, so I can't say when I'll have the time to do this. It seems to be a rather time-consuming project as well... If someone else wants to take it on, that's fine by me! ;)

I have two soups on the menu for the next week - I feel kind of intimidated by the rest. I'm interested in a lot of the recipes but afraid the others in the household may not be up for experimenting.

I made the Greek lasagne (with aubergine, which is confusingly only listed as an option, even though its in the title), the greens an the sticky walnut spice cake for an omni visitor. It was basically the Greek menu suggestion but without the cucumber sauce as she's allergic to cukes.

The lasagne was very good but I'm not sure I'd make it again. It didn't take as long as it looked, by the way. It makes tonnes so hopefully the leftovers will have developed the flavours more. The cake was the star of the show. So versatile. You could have it warm with ice cream, with coffee for breakfast or with a cup of tea in the afternoon. I might even put a dollop of custard on leftovers later.

I've actually been playing it pretty safe so far, with great results. I made the sesame noodles, tamarind date chutney (the fennel punch was intimidating at first but mellowed after sitting in the fridge over night), tzatziki and gyro roasted seitan (made with Viva Vegan steamed white seitan I had in the freezer). A lot of the recipes I want to try call for ingredients I can't get. Such as fresh curry leaves.

I've seen frozen curry leaves in Indian markets, and actual plants in large greenhouses.

And in Asian supermarkets you may at least find dried if not fresh curry leaves. I find they make a decent enough substitute even though many cookbook authors say that they are not flavorful enough.

Good to know that the dried leaves do work. Terry says not to bother but I thought it might be worth a try. There is one webshop that sells dried curry leaves that I've seen. If someone knows of a Swedish source for gochugaru, gochujang, asafoetida... I'd be ever so grateful.

There aren't any Asian supermarkets where I live. Just small shops neither of which sells any produce, really. A Chinese one, that also sells some Japanese stuff, and a Thai shop. I've never seen an Indian market, but the local African shop does carry some Indian products. I also have access to a Lebanese shop, but that's about it. I do appreciate these little shops immensely.

Basically I can find say mahlab and nigella easily enough, but I can't find Asian eggplants and I have tremendous difficulty getting hold of pumpkins. Likewise physalis (ground cherries) are available in any supermarket, but tomatillos do not exist. Trying to find leafy greens is also a bit of a nightmare, though things have started to look up a bit lately. I have occasionally spotted bok choy, chard, and kale.

The Greek Creamy Lemon Rice Soup is amazing. I'm not even a soup person, really. I added a handful of fresh spinach that I needed to use up.

I made this last night and loooooooooved it. I thought it was odd that the eggplant was optional as well, but I used it anyway.

If you're ever in Gothenburg, Curry House has asafoetida. At least they did ten years ago when I got mine (it has kept very well). I agree about the leafy greens situation - I plan to try lots of recipes now that it's kale season!

I was sooo excited to make the Egyptian Lentil Soup today. I grabbed my bulk spice bag of what I thought was fennel seed, but d'oh - it was caraway seed! So now I have a strange mix of German and Mediterranean scents in my kitchen. Hopefully the same strange mix in the soup won't render it inedible, because I was so psyched about this soup and was very patient with the onion caramelization step :(

I'm currently making the massaman curry, and the savory baked tofu is one of the ingredients. I whipped it up and used the size dish she calls for, but the marinade was spread really thin and burned to the dish 15 minutes in. It's supposed to go for 40 total. Any testers know if there's an ingredient missing or something? My oven temperature is pretty accurate.

(I saved the tofu! The marinade is burned black though.)

Dinner twins! Just waiting for the rice to finish.

That happened to me the first time with the baked tofu...now I make it in the toaster oven (smaller "pan"; I crowd it) and sprinkle tamari over the top when I flip the tofu. The marinade NOT on the tofu is burned--your actual tofu didn't burn, right?

Correct. My marinade burned on the chipotle tofu too, but not until the very end. This marinade burned super early. The tofu got firm enough to eat, so I just said fork it, but I'll definitely use a smaller dish next time.

I'm so excited -- I found this at a used (yes, used) book store for cheaper than Amazon. Not sure what it was doing there, but I'm not complaining! Perhaps a misguided gift for a xenophobic carnivore?

I am intrigued by the variety, but a little intimidated by how unfamiliar most of the recipes seem. I guess I'll start with a few simple things and go from there. I am a relatively adventurous cook and eater, but apparently my exposure to world foods is not quite so broad as I thought! Suggestions are appreciated.

Mine arrived at the weekend, it's very pretty! I am planning on making the Greek menu too, this weekend for my dad's birthday.

So far I've made the massaman curry and the greek creamy lemon rice soup. For the curry, I just used roasted tofu with a bit of soy sauce because I didn't have time to do the baked tofu from the book. The curry was good, but next time I won't add the tomatoes, as I didn't think they made the dish any better and I'm not really a fan of heated fresh tomatoes. The soup was good, too, but it only needed about 20 minutes before the rice and pasta were done cooking (as opposed to the 30-35 mentioned in the recipe). Next time I might add additional whole beans because I like beans in soup :)

The massaman curry is one of my favourites, and I make it without the tomatoes too. It's still great! I actually forgot that the original recipe has tomatoes in it since I've made it so many times without.

I made the Egyptian Lentil Soup tonight. Afraid we weren't crazy about it. I'm not a fan of biting into whole cumin and fennel seeds I guess and would have preferred if the red onions were chopped smaller - I should have followed my intuition on that.

Oh yeah, it was excellent and made my house smell wonderful for about 3 days :)

I loved the massaman curry, but I'll totally leave the tomatoes out next time as well.