Cinnamon and Cassia

Cinnamon and Cassia

Botanic name Cassia bark: Cinnamomum cassia

Botanic name Cinnamon: Cinnamomum zylanicum

Family name: Lauraceae

Cassia bark origin: Myanmar (Burma)
Cinnamon origin: Sri Lanka

There is a difference between the flavor of cassia and cinnamon. Cassia has a stronger taste, menaing more coarse, more pungent, less fragrant and are darker than cinnamon. If the recipe requires cinnamon it is possible to substitute with cassia with less quantity.  The taste of both spice is sweet and both comes from a tree which rises up to 10 feet above ground. Both are cut down before harvesting the bark. The bark from cassia does not curl as fine as the cinnamon from where you can have smaller and finer sticks of bark.

Cassia is used in pickling spices, mixed spices, in Germany used with chocolate and in Chinese five spice. The oil from cassia is used for inhalants, tonics and as a cure for flatulence, sickness and diarrhea.

Cinnamon is used in casseroles, rice dishes, mulled wine and punches and in syrups for poaching fruit. In Mexico they are used for stirring hot chocolate. Ground cinnamon is used in cakes, pastries and biscuits.
The oil from cinnamon leaves are extracted to be used as a substitute for clove oil. Oil from the bark is used for perfume. In Middle East cinnamon is used in meat stews (especially lamb), but also with poultry, pork stuffings or dried fruit and taste nice with buttered acorn squash or sweet potatoes.

The fragrant, sweet and warm taste of cinnamon is a perfect spice to use during the winter months and specially the Christmas days. The active oils in cinnamon are cinnamaldehyde, cinnamyl acetate, and cinnamyl alcohol. 

Cumin - Spice

Cumin

Botanic name: Cuminum cyminum
Family name: Umbelliferea

Origin: India, Egypt, Arabia and the Mediterranean countries

Cumin can be grown almost everywhere as long as it needs a warm equable climate to flourish. Cumin is a part of the parsley family. Cumin comes from a plant which grows to approx. 30 cm high. The flower s color is rose pink to white. It was in earlier days used instead of black pepper in ancient Rome and was used as paste for spreading on bread. The extracted oil is today used in the perfume industry and it is believed that it has a medical properties.

There are two different sorts of cumin which is white cumin seeds (most used sort) and black cumin seeds. The seeds are boat shaped and have nine ridges. Cumin are often confused with Caraway, but cumin are lighter in color. The black cumin are smaller and has a sweet aroma, black cumin are often confused with nigella seeds as nigella sometimes is called black caraway in Indian cooking.

Cumin has a strong, spicy, sweet aroma but slightly bitter and a pungent taste. You can especially in ground cumin feel the pungent and bitter taste. Often is it used with coriander seeds, as the second most used spice, in Indian curries. Cumin is best if you dry fry it until aroma are released and then ground. Cumin is often used in sauerkraut, pickles, sausages, Munster cheese, Mexican dishes as chili con carne, couscous, meat stews and tomato based sauces. See elsewhere on this block for a recipe for curry with cumin.

Recipe: Panch phoran

1 tablespoon of each cumin seeds, aniseed, wild onion seed, black mustard seed, fenugreek seed, and 25 g garlic powder. Mix together and store dark in an airtight container. Before use dry fry and ground the mix.

Sumac - spice

SUMAC

Botanic name: Rhus coriaria
Family name: Anacardiaceae

Origin: southwest Asia wild, cultivated Middle East

The sumac bush grows to a 3 meters / 10 feetand leaves turn rust-red i autumn. Native of southwest Asia. A relative to cashew and mango tree. It is a wild bush but is also cultivated in Southern Italy and Sicily. The higher the bush grows the better the quality of the berries. Sumac has a little aroma but has an astringent and pleasing sour-fruit flavor. It is used primarily in Lebanese, Syrian, Turkish and Iranian cuisines. Sometimes the berries are used hole with the brown central seed intact. Ground or cracked and soaked for 15-20 minutes in warm water they release the astringent juice. Strain and use in end of the cooking process. Ground sumac is used with succes as rub on fish, steaks  and kebabs all grilled. Fantastic with roasted chicken, avocados and beets. Try also with cheese, feta and allspice. Before cooking over potatoes, beetroot or mixed beans salad. Use the juice in marinades and dressings. 
Try also combinations with: sumac + lamb + black pepper, sumac + salt + sesame seeds + thyme

Keep sumac in an airtight container away from light. If possible buy only whole berries and ground when needed.  

Recipes with sumac.

Seeds soaked in water:

100 g of seeds for 300 ml water to be soaked for 30 minutes. Strain through a muslin sieve and squeeze all the juice from the berries. Use the liquid in dressings and marinades.

Onion salad:

1 large onion (250 g) thinly sliced in a bowl with iced water for about 15 minutes. Drain and pat dry. Toss onion salt (knife tip) and 1 tsp ground sumac and leave for 15 minutes before serving or refrigerate until needed.

Spices

In a very near future I will write about different spices.
I will write about 1 - 2 different spices each month.
Starting October.

How to make your own butter

It is very simpel to make your own butter.
Pour 1 L cream in a bowl and add 1 dl buttermilk to the bowl. Stir and cover the bowl with plastic film. Leave the bowl on the kitchen table for 24 hours. Stir the mix with your hand do not use electrical mixer. After a while which seems as long time you have seperated the butter and the fluid from each other. Mix the butter by hand, use plastic gloves, to get rid of the fluid inside the butter.
Now you can add salt or flavour to your liking and refrigirate.
Enjoy.

How to make a fantastic sauce?

Have you ever tried to make a sauce without gravy cat?
Do you know how to do it? If not read on.

At first you melt 20 gr of butter, then add 50 gr. of wheat flour in a pan. Toss and set aside away from the heat and add 2-3 tbsp boiling water and toss again. Let the mix rest for 30-45 minutes. Put the pan over the heat and add the veloute (from the topic you taste from, ex. vegetables or chicken stock) this veloute needs to be cold. Add a little at a time and keep on until you have the right consistency of your sauce. If nessesary add seasoning.
Now you shold be ready to eat. Enjoy!

Dessert with figs, raspberry and souffle (which you cannot see)

This dessert is made simple.
Cut the figs twice from the top.
Add caramel or fruit sauce.
Use 3 raspberries for looks.
Make a souffle in the oven with orange zest and peel.
Run for the table when finished remember the plate with the rest of the dish.

I enjoyed by the way.

Pork spareribs in Thai inspiration spice with mashed potatoes

This plate has an inspiration from the Thai kitchen.

I boiled the pork spareribs for around 2 hours to get a tenderness in the meat.
Parted the ribs from the meat and mixed the meat with fishsauce, padthai sauce, some Thai paste and cilantro.
Boiled sweet potatoes and ordinary potatoes and mashed them together and decking it with flowers and cilantro.
Served warm.

Scallops with beetroot sprouts and sea weed

I made this plate for a party a few days ago

Scallop with Wakamami  sea weed and beetroot sprouts.

I sliced the scallop in very thin slices and marinated with lemon.

Places them on a plate with the sprouts and the sea weed on the plate.

Simple and nice.

BBQ Sauce

This is a perfect BBQ Sauce.

I love this in the summer and use it everytime with the BBQ.

Ingredients:

1 pcs  Chopped onion

2 tablespoon Oil

1 Kilo  Ripped / teared tomatoes without seeds

3 cloves  Garlic

4 tablespoon  Brown sucker

4 tablespoon  Vinegar

2 tablespoon  Worcestershire sauce

1 tablespoon  Tomato pure

1 tablespoon  Curry, Rajah Madras Curry Mild, or choose your own recipe.

1 the spoon  Celery seeds

Let the sauce simmer until thick, about 30 min. Stir occasionally. Taste.

If you think the sauce is to thick can you add water before you are blending.

You can with advantage blender the sauce when it is finished. 

If the sauce is to thin you can heat it a little more. 

The mix gives 5 dl of sauce and is very nice to use with ox meat.

Potato and leek soup garnished with bacon and pumpkin seeds

I have made this recipe over the last 3 days and improved it every time.
The final recipe looks loke this:


3 leeks (depending of size) 
400-500 gr potatoes, use 20 - 30% more potatoes than leeks
100 gr butter
1 - 2 dl single cream
1 liter of chicken stock
3 - 4 slices of bacon
Pumpkin seeds


Cut the leeks in 2-3 mm rings safe some of the green parts for topping.
Peel the potatoes and cut into smaller bits.
Put 50 gr of butter in the pot and heat, when butter is melted add the leeks and potatoes. Butter steam the vegetables for around 10 - 12 minutes over medium to low heat. Blend the vegetables with a hand blender and put on stove again, if you use a table blender pour the vegetables back in the pot and put the pot on the stove. Ad water and boil for 5 - 8 minutes. Ad the single cream and the rest of the butter. Taste the soup to your liking. When serving smoking hot add first the leeks, you have steamed over the vegetables, then add the fried bacon in the middel of the plate. Garnish with pumpkin seeds around the plate - serv with bread.
Enjoy.

Chinese food the simple way

Many Chinese dishes can be made very easy. During my stays in China I have been served simple dishes. You could have lightly damped springonions, with a little crispy touch, and just poured over with soy - or hoisin sauce. It could also be broccoli damped with a sauce poured over. These recipes are very easy and very quick to make. Enjoy! :-)

Split Moong and split lentil dhal

I made this recipe for the first time a year ago. It is a recipe from The Curry Book by Laxmi Khurana, Asha Naran and Shelina Jetha.

This is a mixed dhal, usually served with chapattis, bread, puris. parathas, rice or pitta bread. It can also be used like a soup, as a starter. It is very popular with vegetarians.
Cooking and preparation time: 45 minutes Serves: 4
85g skinless, split mung beans
85g skinless, split lentils
900ml water
1 large onion, finely chopped
1 tsp salt
60ml cooking oil
½ tsp cumin seeds
½ tsp black mustard seeds
2 tsp tomato puree
1 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp garam masala
6 bay leaves
1 tsp chilli powder
small amount green coriander, chopped (optional)
1. Mix the split mung beans and lentils. Wash the pulses as described in the introduction.
2. Place the washed pulses, chopped onion and the water in a large pan and add the salt.
3. Bring the water to the boil, reduce the heat and simmer gently for about 30 minutes, stirring every 5—7 minutes.
4. Heat the oil to a high temperature, in a separate pan. Add the cumin and black mustard seeds and leave to cook for a few seconds. Add the tomato puree, turmeric powder, garam masala, bay leaves and chilli powder. Stir continuously and cook for a few seconds.
5. Pour the boiled pulses into the mixture, and simmer for a further 5 minutes.
6. Transfer the mixture to a serving dish and garnish with fresh coriander.
7. The bay leaves are discarded and left on the plate, while eating.

Enjoy as my family did.

Japanese Food Carving

I have recently bought a book about food carving the Japanese way.
It is fantastic and a lot you can use when you have guests for dinner.

The best bokk I have read about food carving by Hiroshi Nagashima.
Nice illustrated and explained.

Risotto with salmon, tuna and white wine

I made a fantastic risotto the other day. Even the family liked the fish in the risotto - wow. The family and I do not eat fish as often as we should. Only my wife and I like fish - the children ( 19 and 15 years old) do not. Now they like this dish as well as sushi.
I made a classic recipe with broth, butter and a small amount of/touch of cream, salmon, tuna and a little white wine.
Here is the recipe:
350 g of Arborio rice (risotto rice)
1 1/2 L Vegetable broth
40 gr Butter
3 1/2 dl White wine
50 gr Salmon
50 gr Tuna
Boil the vegetable broth. Melt 1/2 of the butter in a pan or pot. Put the rice in and stir until it is covered by the butter. Pour in the wine and boil until it has vapourized. Add all the broth and stir till all the liquid is absorbed or the mix have the consistency you like. You have to stir about 17-20 minutes. Add the salmon and the tuna to the risotto, stir 1 - 2 minutes, adjust taste with salt, pepper and lemon/lime, serve.
Enjoy.