Tsampa, puffed ragi, agar agar: Swetha Sivakumar on tinkering with new ingredients
How adventurous are you in the kitchen? Do you find yourself buying an ingredient you've never used, simply because a recipe for it caught your eye? How strange is too strange? That's a subjective question. Agar-agar, for instance, can be used to make these, errr..., interesting fruit jello cakes. (Pixabay)
Do you have puffed ragi or agar agar strips tucked away in the pantry; does it secretly bother you that you might never use them? Let's be honest: not every ingredient is going to be a hit.
Take tsampa. This roasted-barley flour is a staple in Tibetan cuisine. I paid good money for some and tried using it a couple of times. Now it just sits there. I can't quite figure out how to incorporate it into my cooking. I have learnt to accept that's okay.
For every tsampa, there is a miso or tahini or maple syrup that I hadn't even heard of growing up, and is now something I cook with every week. For my mom's generation, soy sauce may have been as unfamiliar as tsampa is to me. That's how pantries evolve… the exotic becoming the everyday, in small, curious steps.
For the home cook, a very real challenge today is identifying which ingredients, from the vast list at our disposal, can actually enrich their meals. The next big step is finding ways to help the family embrace new tastes and textures.
One way to do this is to involve everyone in the grocery shopping. My younger daughter, for instance, is a fan of cooking shows and baking experiments and I noticed on recent excursions that she had become really curious about cheese. I typically stick to paneer, Swiss and cheddar. But the last time we went grocery-shopping together, we explored the cheese section of a fancy store.
I found it overwhelming at first, but the person behind the counter was kind, and generous with samples. She explained textures and flavour profiles to us. We took a few cheeses home and did not end up loving every wedge, but it was a starting point.
What made the experience truly precious was the memory of my daughter and me, standing in our kitchen with a cheese plate, pretending to be connoisseurs. We gave dramatic feedback and announced fake ratings to an imaginary audience. We nibbled and giggled and had a truly memorable afternoon.
What I'm trying to say is, this is a long game. It takes time to figure out how to expand one's list of favourite ingredients. The good news is it is one more thing to bring the family together over, and it doesn't have to break the bank.
For example, I now know that fermented chilli pastes such as gochujang and harissa can be relied upon to bring a complex, umami-rich flavour to simple starches such as rice and noodles. I've learned that yellow vatana makes for excellent dal vadas (a lesson I learnt when I realised, mid-cook, that I had run out of chana dal).
It is a particular thrill learning from one's mistakes and wins, rather than from a cookbook. I like to think of it as running experiments in my own lab, and building a personal library of tastes and textures.
So go ahead, buy that ingredient you've never cooked with. You're not wasting time. You're honing a skill. In my book, that's a passion worth pursuing.
(To reach Swetha Sivakumar with questions or feedback, email upgrademyfood@gmail.com)
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Hindustan Times
19 hours ago
- Hindustan Times
Tsampa, puffed ragi, agar agar: Swetha Sivakumar on tinkering with new ingredients
How adventurous are you in the kitchen? Do you find yourself buying an ingredient you've never used, simply because a recipe for it caught your eye? How strange is too strange? That's a subjective question. Agar-agar, for instance, can be used to make these, errr..., interesting fruit jello cakes. (Pixabay) Do you have puffed ragi or agar agar strips tucked away in the pantry; does it secretly bother you that you might never use them? Let's be honest: not every ingredient is going to be a hit. Take tsampa. This roasted-barley flour is a staple in Tibetan cuisine. I paid good money for some and tried using it a couple of times. Now it just sits there. I can't quite figure out how to incorporate it into my cooking. I have learnt to accept that's okay. For every tsampa, there is a miso or tahini or maple syrup that I hadn't even heard of growing up, and is now something I cook with every week. For my mom's generation, soy sauce may have been as unfamiliar as tsampa is to me. That's how pantries evolve… the exotic becoming the everyday, in small, curious steps. For the home cook, a very real challenge today is identifying which ingredients, from the vast list at our disposal, can actually enrich their meals. The next big step is finding ways to help the family embrace new tastes and textures. One way to do this is to involve everyone in the grocery shopping. My younger daughter, for instance, is a fan of cooking shows and baking experiments and I noticed on recent excursions that she had become really curious about cheese. I typically stick to paneer, Swiss and cheddar. But the last time we went grocery-shopping together, we explored the cheese section of a fancy store. I found it overwhelming at first, but the person behind the counter was kind, and generous with samples. She explained textures and flavour profiles to us. We took a few cheeses home and did not end up loving every wedge, but it was a starting point. What made the experience truly precious was the memory of my daughter and me, standing in our kitchen with a cheese plate, pretending to be connoisseurs. We gave dramatic feedback and announced fake ratings to an imaginary audience. We nibbled and giggled and had a truly memorable afternoon. What I'm trying to say is, this is a long game. It takes time to figure out how to expand one's list of favourite ingredients. The good news is it is one more thing to bring the family together over, and it doesn't have to break the bank. For example, I now know that fermented chilli pastes such as gochujang and harissa can be relied upon to bring a complex, umami-rich flavour to simple starches such as rice and noodles. I've learned that yellow vatana makes for excellent dal vadas (a lesson I learnt when I realised, mid-cook, that I had run out of chana dal). It is a particular thrill learning from one's mistakes and wins, rather than from a cookbook. I like to think of it as running experiments in my own lab, and building a personal library of tastes and textures. So go ahead, buy that ingredient you've never cooked with. You're not wasting time. You're honing a skill. In my book, that's a passion worth pursuing. (To reach Swetha Sivakumar with questions or feedback, email upgrademyfood@
Mint
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KALOBEYEI, Kenya — Beads of sweat drip from the faces of young girls and boys as they dance to the rhythm of traditional drums and open calabashes, while their peers watch them in awe. Fusion between culture and modernity as children dance in Kenya's refugee camp These are refugee children, some who were born in one of Africa's largest camps — Kakuma, located in northern Kenya, where more than 300,000 refugees' livelihoods have been affected by funding cuts that have halved monthly food rations. The children use the Acholi traditional dance as a distraction from hunger and have perfected a survival skill to skip lunches as they stretch their monthly food rations that are currently at 30% of the U.N nutritional recommendation per person. The Acholi people, mostly from Uganda and South Sudan, are among refugees who live in Kakuma camp, which was established in 1992 as a safe haven for people fleeing conflict from dozens of east African countries. For a moment, the melodious sound of one of the refugee mothers stops the playground buzz of activity as dozens of children sit down to enjoy the traditional dance performance. The colorful swings doting the community center at Kakuma's Kalobeyei Refugee Settlement were donated by a Swiss organization, Terre des hommes, which still manages the playground aptly named 'Furaha' — Swahili for Happiness. But the happiness of these children isn't guaranteed now as funding cuts have affected operations here. Less resources and fewer staff are available to engage the children and ensure their safety. One of the dancers, Gladis Amwony, has lived in Kakuma for 8 years now. In recent years, she has started taking part in the Acholi traditional dances to keep her Ugandan roots alive. The now 20-year-old doesn't imagine ever going back to Uganda and has no recollection of life in her home village. 'I'm happiest when I dance, I feel connected to my ancestors,' the soft-spoken Amwony says after her dance session. While Amwony and her friends are looking for a cultural connection, just about 5 kilometers from their village in neighboring Kalobeyei Village 3, some boys are in touch with modernity. The five boys have been practicing a one-of-a-kind dance where they mimic robots, complete with face masks that hide their human faces. They make their sharp synchronized moves that they have been perfecting for months. The boys will be part of performances that will be showcased during this year's World Refugee Day, as an example of the talent and resilience that exists among the refugee community. This younger generation of dancers make precision moves in a small hall with play and learning items stored in a cabinet that is branded with an American flag, an indication that it was donated by the U.S government. Such donations are now scarce, with the United States having cut down on funding in March. These cuts have affected operations here, with the future stardom hopes for these children dimming by the day. The center, which previously featured daily programs such as taekwondo and ballet, may not be operational in a few months if the funding landscape remains as is. 'We are now reducing some of the activities because we are few. The staff are few and even per day we only have one staff remaining in the center and it is really hard for him/her to conduct 500 children,' said John Papa, a community officer for Terre des hommes in Kalobeyei Village 3. These programs do more than entertain the children — they keep them away from issues such as child labor, abuse and crime which as a major concern for humanitarian organizations in Kakuma. And as the children dance and play beneath the sweltering sun, the only hope is that these child friendly spaces remain operational for years. For more on Africa and development: /hub/africa-pulse The Associated Press receives financial support for global health and development coverage in Africa from the Gates Foundation. The is solely responsible for all content. Find 's standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at .org. This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.
