Tools kitchen Gods use !

Simpson Wong of Jefferson, is never without his 16-inch metal chopsticks.
Bill Yosses, the pastry chef shoots his new infrared laser thermometer at everything in sight
Anna Klinger, the chef , makes spaghetti with her beloved guitar. Guitar ? Yes ! it is a frame with wires strecthed taut.The rolled out pasta sheets are laid over the strings and pushed through with a rolling pin, creating a serving size of uniquely chubby, square strands. The wires scrape the sides, forming barely perceptible uneven edges that puff up when boiled to soak up sauce like a sponge.

Green Pea Soup
Saute the onion in butter. Add the chopped garlic - Add stock and the peas. Stir in the chooped herbs with a little salt and cover. Bring to a boil and simmer unitl the peas are tender. Puree the soup into a smooth consistancy. Stir in 1/2 cup of cream and serve.

Garnish each serving with a sprinkling of chopped herbs and some fresh whole peas that have been blanched in salted water.


Cabbage Soup 1
Sautee onions, carrot 2. Add the stock and seasoning, cover, and bring to the boil
and simmer. Cook the cabbage till soft. Add to the soup with half the yogurt and heat gently. Serve topped with the remainder of the yogurt.

Cabbage Soup 2
Sautee onions, garlic in olive oil. Add stock, water, carrots. Bring to a boil and then add diced potatoes. Simmer until the potatoes are tender.Add shredded green cabbage and continue simmering until the cabbage is wilted.

Bread and Garlic soup
Sautee onions, garlic. Add stock. Add cream, diced bread. Puree.

Cashew Soup
Sautee onion and garlic in butter. Put crushed cashew nuts and onion mixture in a blender. Blend until smooth. Put cashew mixture into a deep pan. Add pineapple pieces, potatoes, vegetable stock,cream, salt and black pepper.

Cashew soup 2

Sautee onion, garlic . Grind cashew. Add the onion mixture from the skillet, the ginger and 1 cup of the water. Process until well pureed. Pour into soup pot, add masala lemon and orange juices, simmer gently over low heat for 30 minutes. Add the steamed vegetables and adjust if necessary with more water to achieve a slightly thick consistency. Season to taste with salt, then serve once the soup is heated through.

Peanut soup
Sautee onion in butter,Stir in maida. Add stockbroth and simmer until the soup begins to thicken, about 5 minutes. Stir in peanut butter, cream, salt& Pepper.Heat through but do not boil. Stir in 2 teaspoons of fresh lemon juice.

Sweet Potato Soup
Saute onions, Add the sweet diced potatoes and stock. Simmer till tender. Puree the potatoes. Stir in the milk/ cream.

Rice & Mushroom soup
Sautee onions, mushrooms. Add cooked rice, salt, stock, cream.

Beer Soup
Sautee veggies in butter.add stock, beer, milk. Heat to simmer. 3. Garnish with thin bread sticks.

Roasted Pumpkin Soup
Roast in the oven until it is tender, the scoop contents out of the shell. Peel and cut 4 medium size potatoes into chunks. Cook potatoes till tender. Add roasted pumpkin. Puree soup or a potato masher for a chunkier soup.

Noodle history
Although wheat was cultivated in China as early as 2000 B.C., noodles were not developed in the country until the early years of the Han dynasty (206 b.c. to a.d. 220). That was when the Chinese started milling wheat into flour instead of pounding it. Milling, which resulted in a much finer product, eventually led to the creation of dumplings, buns, cakes, and noodles.

Although emperors of the Han dynasty were known to have consumed them, noodles were considered poor man's food. In those days, rice was a luxury that only the nobility could afford. In the 12th century when the Mongols conquered the northern, wheat-producing part of China, the emperor and his court established a new capital at Hangzhou, in southern China, the country's rice-growing region. For the first time in Chinese history, rice was the staple starch. Noodles, which came to be made not with wheat flour but with mung bean starch or rice flour, became secondary, a street food.



Milling history

When wheat began to be cultivated people began to develop ways to grind more grain at one time. At first, a couple of good stones were used. Then a simple mortar and pestle were used. This was very physical labor as it took several hours to grind enough grain for just one meal. The coarsely ground grain also wore down people's teeth. The flour would contain powdered bits of stone as well as the grain. Sieves, used to separate flour from coarse pieces of grain, were made from woven grass around 6,000 B.C. Even with pottery for cooking, which helped make the grain easier to eat, stone ground wheat still took a toll on teeth.

Early mills used two horizontal, disk-shaped stones that rubbed, and later turned, against each other. Grain was poured between the two stones and a sliding or turning action was used to grind the grain. There were grooves in the bottom stone that channeled the flour out the sides of the stones. Millstones, two large stones that were turned against each other, developed next. Some mills used slave labor or other human labor to turn the stones. Horses, oxen, and then water and wind were used to turn the top millstone against the bottom stone, with the grain being fed in between the stones. The Romans are believed to be the first to use waterpower for milling flour around 100 B.C.

Windmills were developed much later--in France in 1180 A.D., in England in 1185 A.D., and in Syria in 1190 A.D. Wooden blades later replaced sails of stretched cloth. The wind powered the main drive wheel, which turned the top stone against the stationary bottom stone.

Development of water-driven and wind-driven mills changed agriculture. Building a mill was quite expensive so the mills were usually owned by a landlord, the church, or royalty. Each farmer who brought grain to the mill paid a fee or toll, usually one-sixteenth of the grain milled.

In Europe, many of the smaller querns were destroyed in an effort to force people to use the king's or church's official mill. This also forced families to buy flour, rather than being able to produce a small quantity for their own use.

Hand milling was a necessity for the earliest American colonists. However, by 1642, commercial milling was made viable by increases in grain production. Wind was the primary source of power for the early American mills but water mills became more common as settlers moved west.

Americans automated milling fast.By 1878, the millstones were being replaced with two corrugated cylindrical steel rollers. These rollers were a cost-saver and they also produced cleaner, more uniform flour. Another important development in flour milling was the middlings purifier. The middlings purifier allowed the miller to mill more flour from the same grain. This was important to the miller since the miller's largest profit was in the sale of flour, rather than feed or the parts of the wheat that aren't flour.

Banana History

Romans promote cultivation of the exotic fruit brought from Africa from 63 to 14 B.C. Portugese sailors brought bananas to Europe from West Africa in the early fifteenth century. The original banana has been cultivated and used since ancient times, even pre-dating the cultivation of rice. While the banana thrived in Africa, its origins are said to be of East Asia and Oceania. The banana was carried by sailors to the Canary Islands and the West Indies, finally making it to North America.

The yellow sweet banana is a mutant strain of the cooking banana and were considered such an exotic treat, they were eaten on a plate using a knife and fork. Sweet bananas were all the rage at the 1876 Philadelphia Centennial Exposition, selling for a hefty ten cents each. The banana is a distant cousin to ginger, turmeric, and cardamom, and is botanically classified as a berry. There are over four hundred varieties of bananas. Bananas are the world's best-selling fruit, outranking the apple and orange.

The main causes of hangovers are dehydration and depletion of potassium, both direct results of alcohol consumption. Bananas are an excellent source of potassium
if you're out partying and want to avoid a hangover, drink sixteen ounces of water and eat a banana before heading for bed.

They ripen quickly after being harvested and will also hasten ripening of other fruits in their vicinity. It's the tiny seeds within the fruit that release a ripening hormone, a mixture of ethylene gas and carbon dioxide.

Bananas can be refrigerated for several days to stunt ripening. Although the skins of refrigerated bananas will turn brown, the fruit itself will be fine.

The famous gourmet dish made with bananas is Bananas Foster, - a dish of sliced bananas cooked with butter, brown sugar, rum and banana cordial served over vanilla ice cream. Banana bread, which became popular in the 1960's, is a close rival as a non-gourmet entry. Banana split was made popular in the 1950's by Woolworth's dime store.

Cooking with Alchohol
The main reason any alcoholic beverage is used in a recipe is to impart flavor. The finest extracts with the most intense flavors are alcohol-based, particularly vanilla. Fermentation intensifies and concentrates fruit essence in alchohol

Alcohol causes many foods to release flavors that cannot be experienced without the alcohol interaction. Beer contains yeast which leavens( fluffs up ) breads and batters. Some alcoholic beverages can help break down tough fibers via marinades. Other dishes use alcoholic content to provide entertainment, such as flambés and flaming dishes.


Alcohol evaporates without heat, and most of it burns off during cooking. How much remains in the dish depends on the cooking method and amount of cooking time.


In flambes always tilt the pan away from you when igniting. The liquor should be added at the very last possible moment and lit as quickly as possible to avoid the liquor soaking into the food. Let the alcohol burn off enough so the flavor does not overpower the dish.

Tomato sauce or juice combined with Worcestershire sauce or soy sauce can work as a substitute for many robust liquors

Amaretto Italian almond-flavored liqueur
Claret Light red wine or Bordeaux.
Cognac Aged, double-distilled wine or fermented fruit juice. Cognac is considered the finest brandy.
Creme de menthe Thick and syrupy, sweetened mint liqueur. Comes both clear and green.
Curacao Liqueur made from bitter oranges.
Grappa Italian grape brandy.
Grenadine Pomegranate syrup, sometimes alcoholic.
Kahlua Syrupy Mexican liqueur made with coffee and cocoa beans.
Kirsch Colorless liqueur made of cherries
Vermouth Wine-based drink infused with herbs, sweet or dry.

The fool

An english obsession, Fool is nothing more than sweetened raw or cooked fruit, puréed—and then enriched with cream.(it was possibly made originally from fruit that was boiled and forced through a sieve). In medieval times, raw fruit was widely considered unhealthy. Various fruits (berries, plums, and apricots) were often mixed with eggs as well as cream, embellished with wine, spices, and lemon peel.

Recipe:
Fruit fool with sponge cake

Sponge cake soaked in creamed fruit juice

Use the sponge cake slices to line the bottom and halfway up the sides of a deep serving dish or bowl.

2. whip the cream until it just starts to thicken, then slowly add the sweetened fruit juice, whipping the cream as you do so. Whip until the cream is light and thickened and all the juice absorbed.

3. Pour the mixture over the sponge and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, longer if possible, so that the juice can soak into the sponge and the cream thicken.

4. Serve decorated with slices of fresh fruit.

Hi Ramesh,
Here's what you have chosen :

Goan Mixed Vegetable Curry
.. is nothing but veggies cooked in coconut milk.

Recipe

Base : chopped mixed vegetables (Baby corn, carrots, potatoes, cabbage, french beans, onions, green peas)

Flavoring:
ginger, garlic, Chillies, salt

Broth
Coconut milk+ water

Recipe:
Scald ginger/garlic/onions in butter, dump veggies, add coconut milk + water.

Cook a while and remove once you like the taste.

That's it !

The goan part comes from the coconut milk. By substituting coconut milk with the stuff below, you change the pedigree of the recipe. ( Remember- coastal regions round the world are heavy users of coconut in various forms). All cuisine have evolved from what was easily available in the region.

Let's see the variations
Replacing coconut milk with

Cream makes it North Indian - ( Gangetic plain- Aryans- Cows- Cream)
Tamarind water makes it chettinad - ( Tamarind trees by roadside)
Coconut oil makes it Keralite ( Coconut trees again )
grated coconut + seerakam + coconut oil + yoghurt makes it Aviyal ( Another KEralite dish)
Ground coconut + seerakam + Chillies makes it tamilian kootu
onion+ tomato paste makes it marwari
plain water makes it international
Soy sauce makes it chinese
Wine makes it French ( Easy to get wine than most other stuff..)
Beer makes it meditteranean ( Same reason as above)
Rum/Brandy makes it exotic
Olive oil makes it Italian ( They even drink olive oil straight )
Cocacola makes it wacky

If you notice basic veggies are universal. It is the spices and cooking medium which changes the parentage of a recipe. Once you have learnt this, you've mastered a whole chain of recipes.
So which do you prefer ? Feel free to play around with the veggies ..