SC - Definitely OT: Ghee and Bamboo steamers

[LadyVXN at aol.com]

In a message dated 11/1/98 3:54:14 AM Eastern Standard Time,
miche at merlin.net.au writes:

<< Hi all,
 
 recently it was my birthday and my boyfriend's brother and his girlfriend
 put together a food basket for me - all the food was put in to a bamboo
 steamer basket, which included amongst other things, a tub of ghee.
 
 I don't know how to use a bamboo steamer, nor do I know any recipes that
 use Ghee - can anyone here help out??
 
 Michelle
 
 
  >>

A Bamboo steamer is wonderful for things like vegetables and dumplings - you
can cut up vegetables, put them in the steamer, place the steamer inside a wok
which has about an inch or 2 of water, and voila. What's also good about the
steamer is that you can use the single layers or all three (if you'r having a
lot of company). 

A number of cookbooks have recipes for Chinese dumplings - Gyoza skins are
available in Korean delis in NYC (or by mail order, I'm sure), and you can use
them to wrap dumplings. My personal favorite recipe is to take some ground
beef, chop up some ginger and scallions, mix with shoyu, form into balls, wrap
in a gyoza (dumpling) skin, and pop them into the steamer for about 20 minutes
or so. 

Ghee is clarified butter. It's a Middle Eastern condiment - you'll usually
find it used in Asian Indian cooking. Get some good Indian cookbooks - my 2
favorites are Curried Flavors (can't remember the author right now - I'm in
the midst of moving and my cookbooks are packed), and a vegetarian cookbook by
Madhur Jaffrey. The Jaffrey book covers the whole East - Japan, Korea,
Vietnam, the Philippines, India, Persia, etc., and the Arab Middle East. 

Another book I like is The Varied Kitchens of India, by Copeland Marks, which
was my introduction to Indian cooking. There are recipes for ghee in there.
You can make your own ghee, but having it in a jar is handy (just like having
pre-chopped garlic and ginger!).

Good luck, and happy cooking!

- --Amy
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