[Sca-cooks] Food items?

[Lorenz Wieland]

AEllin Olafs dotter wrote:
> I am now the proud possessor of sliced dried galangale. I remember a
> discussion of the impossibility of grinding dry hunks of the stuff,
> and presume that's why it is sliced very thin. Now I need to figure
> out what
> I am going to do with this.

There are many, many good Thai, Indonesian, and Malaysian dishes that use
galangal(e).  You can also use it as a substitute for ginger in many
Southern Chinese or Indian recipes.

> I also  have a cylinder of sugar. It's from Indonesia. The label says
> Gula Jawa, which might be the product and might be the brand, and
> there's a sticker on it that adds Sudah Disaring BERSIH.   What does
> this tell me? (Anahita??)  It says the ingredients are Arenga sugar
> and Cane sugar (which doesn't tell me much more than the Indonesian...
> what's Arenga? OK, Cane, I know.) Comments? Information?

Arenga is a specific type of palm tree, and what you have is a blend of palm
sugar and cane sugar.  "Gula Jawa" is the name for this type of sugar blend
(although I've noticed it's sometimes also used to describe pure palm
sugar -- it just means "Javanese Sugar.").  "Sudah Disaring BERSIH" is
probably the brand or distributor; this phrase doesn't ring any bells.

This is the most common type of sugar used in Indonesian cooking, and adds a
very distinct flavor to satay, rendang, and other Indonesian-style stews,
sauces, and curries.

-Lorenz