The triple triumph:
Chilli & Coconut: Coconut milk enfolds Thai ingredients in a sweet forgiving embrace. It knocks the sharp edges off lime, shushes foul-mouthed fish sauce and soothes the heat of chilli, whose active component, capsaicin, is soluble in fat but not in water.Niki Segnit
Jeanne Marie Martin
Hearty Vegetarian Soups and Stews (revised edition, 1991)
No doubt written before the advent of the popularity of Ayuervedic medicine in the West, this seems to trash how I like to make dal (unimaginable without turmeric) ...
Spices: Are usually barks, roots, and strong seeds. Examples are: cinnamon, nutmeg, mustard, black and white pepper, turmeric, cardamon and coriander. Spices are avoided in most of these recipes as they are irritants to the body (especially the stomach) and deter healing. Small amounts are acceptable if used only occasionally.Ironically followed by a detailed description of the benefits of cayenne pepper.
Do love a scrape of nutmeg in my potato soup which would be sacrilege to Ms. Martin.
Tasting notes:
Cardamom is to coffee as pepper to tea.One I drink black and the other laced with milk.
