Food Blog Dot Com

FoodBlogDotCom

Food Blog Dot Com is written
by Lin Ennis, a writer passionate
about good food, healthful
food and food as medicine.

( Food Lovers Only )

Seasoning

Toasting Almonds

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I’m making one of my new favorite snacks. I learned this from Cheryl in an exercise class. The main ingredient is raw, shelled almonds. A three-pound bag at Sam’s Club or Costco is about $9.00. The secret ingredient is Ume Plum Vinegar. Sound exotic (i.e., expensive)? It’s only about $3.25 a bottle! I found it at our local natural foods store, but it is also available online from Eden Organic. Pour about a pound of almonds into a 2-quart bowl. Sprinkle a tablespoon or two of Ume Plum Vinegar onto the nuts. I don’t measure this. The bottle’s design is perfect for shaking a small amount of vinegar. You can add more, but I don’t know that there’s such a thing as too much. (More vinegar will result in a darker, almost black finished nut; less and they remain golden.) Stir well, till all the nuts are coated. Spread in a single layer on a baking sheet (cookie sheet). Toast in a 350 degree oven (not preheated) for about 20 minutes, until the almonds smell toasted and are crunchy when cooled. (Too little toasting will leave them soft-ish). I’m at 4300 feet elevation, so my altitude may influence the amount of time it takes. I set a timer, but go by the doneness of the nuts…start with 15 minutes. Test by pulling 3-4 nuts out to cool, bite, and decide whether to continue toasting until you get the time that’s right for you. I prefer them slightly undertoasted to overtoasted. If you let them roast too long, they’ll be very dry, almost powdery, while chewing. (Have drinking water handy!) What’s great about this recipe is the almonds come out with no taste of vinegar but with plenty saltiness without your having to add oil to make salt stick! The Ume Plum Vinegar has 1050 mg of sodium per teaspoon! That’s about the same amount as 1/2 teaspoon of table salt. These toasted almonds are a huge hit with guests. People can’t stop munching on them. I keep a dish of them out all them time. Tips:

5 SPICE POWDER

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Part of my new love affair with Napa Cabbage is learning about 5 Spice Powder. I had not heard of it till I Googled “napa cabbage recipes,” but since I had on hand acceptable ingredients for making it, I did, using this 5 Spice Powder recipe. I didn’t measure exactly, substituted ordinary peppercorns which I did not roast, used regular anise seeds, powdered cinnamon, and pulverized my seeds in a marble mortar with a pestle. But I love it anyway! Imagine how tasty it could be if one used the correct ingredients! My pal Richard said it’s important to use a seed grinder or a coffee mill dedicated to spices (he uses the coffee mill, and never buys preground spices). That encourages me to try again. I have bought more whole spices since getting a mortar and pestle for Christmas last year. Even spices already in small pieces, like crushed red pepper flakes, perk up when pulverized just before adding to a dish (sometimes I add the salt the recipe calls for to whatever I’m crushing in the mortar, especially if the spice is a very small amount). You can buy 5 Spice Powder commercially prepared, but Richard says the flavors of making it from whole ingredients are worth buying the ingredients and making it fresh yourself. One note on the recipe I linked to above that I disagree with is “use sparingly.” I added enough to my stir fry to smell good, but had to sprinkle on a little more as I ate in order to enjoy flavor-fullness. However, the author makes a good point about hitting all the taste buds: “sweet, sour, bitter, pungent, and salty.” I don’t see anything in the 5 spice powder recipe that strikes me as sour, but if you put a little vinegar on your stir fry, I suppose that would do it. For decades I’ve tried to hit “sweet, sour, salt, bitter” in a well-balanced meal. Touching these four (or five) taste points makes a meal more satisfying. That’s one reason I love Indian food so. It’s all there! If five spice powder is new to you, try it. If you know more about it than I do (which probably everyone in the world does), I’d like to hear from you n that, too!