The Cook Book

The skin of the citrus should provide enough pectin.  Pips are not it. Try adding some lemon - it is higher in pectin. If you want to use the seeds for pectin, soak them over night in boiling water then strain out the seeds and use the water. But you can also soak overnight the fruit itself and it should have a slightly 'set' look before you cook!

Be careful that you do not boil too long as boiling it too long makes it lose its flavour as the aromatic amines escape. Don't add the sugar until the fruit is tender. And don't despair - sometimes it will set more over time.

Pectin levels fine, I think, yes. I also found the skin has heaps - or rather the pith. I soaked the fruit before it, but it didn't get a set look.

I will cook it again. I suspect that Jade is right about not cooking at a high enough temp. I simmered it, rather than boiled the crap out of it. My bad, being lazy and cautious about over cooking the sugar into toffee on the hot gas here.

I thank you all, and will tell you the upshot over the weekend when I get time to cook again.

Thursdays and Fridays suck for me.

The Kitchen god has smiled on me. BAKING SODA is available in Xi'an!!! And has been apparantly ever since and before I arrived. Here come the kilos.

Mr N
Years ago a friend in Britain gave me the best homemade marmalade I have ever tasted and the recipe, she used seville oranges, Barbados sugar and Scottish whisky.
The pectin levels are crucial.
The other OPs are correct.  I always had trouble with the pectin level. I have never forgiven myself for that, I think i gave up too early.

Onion Bhajis With Spicey Tomatoe Sauce.

Spicey Tomatoe Sauce
2=3 red chillies, chopped
1 red capsicum, diced
3=4 large tomatoes
2cloves of garlic, finely chopped
2 tblsps. soft brown sugar
11/2tblsps. cider vinegar

1cup plain flour
2tsps baking powder
1/2tsp.chilli powder
1/2 tsp, ground tumeric
1tsp. ground cumin
2eggs, beaten
1cup chopped fresh coriander
4onions very thinly sliced
oil, for deep frying

1.To make the sauce combine all the ingrdients with a 1/4 cup of water in a saucepan. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 20mins. or until the mixture thickens.
2.Eo make the bhajis, sift the flowers and spices and 1tblsp. salt and make a well in the centre. Gradually add the combined sgg and 1/4 cup of water, wisking to make a smooth batter. Stir in the coriander and onions.
3.Heat the oil and cook the bhajis in batches until golden. ( About 11/2mins.)

I've been reading a book on Chinese medicines. Anyone game to try this one?

Allergic Asthma

Egg and Turnip. Around the winter solstice take a turnip ( red skin with white flesh ) and cut into two equal peices. Cut a small hole in each half in such a way that when the halves are put together, an egg may be placed in the hole with the rounded end facing upward. Then put a whole egg inside and bind the turnip together with string. Plant the turnip in a flower pot. Give attention to water,  sunlight and temperature to ensure its growth.

Eighty-onedays after the winter solstice, take the egg out carefully. Cut the turnip into slices and cook for a while and then add the egg and cook for a little longer. Divide into two doses to be taken in one day.

This recipe can be given to all types of allergic asthma.

Doesn't sound too dissimilar to pidan - the 1000 year old eggs. 

Although with pidan you don't cook them - they turn into black/green jelly and you just eat raw.  Wonder if those eggs do the same?  The pidan are made by coating eggs in a mixture of equal parts of ash from charcoal, pine wood, and the fireplace, along with salt and strong black tea, then burying them in the ground (or a big pot filled with earth) for about 100 days.  Not to be confused with tea eggs or soy eggs which are boiled in tea or soy sauce and eaten for breakfast.

I love pidan, especially pidan doufu - pidan and doufu diced, with spring onions, garlic and a light vinegar/sesame oil dressing. You could probably change the dressing to suit yourself.  Different places have the doufu in a shaped 'loaf' with the pidan sliced across the top.

Pidan just topped with dressing by itself makes a nice salad as well.

It was the eighty-one days after the solstice that struck me as more Harry Potter than medicine.

The egg apparently is streaked at the completion stage. That is the yolk is mixed with the white.

I just kicked off the one year of much happy healthy (as my local Chinese grocer called my New Years resolutions) and bought 10 packs of silky tofu, little miss Lee promising that it was "very best tofu for everyhting. Taste really good". Came home and discovered that silky tofu aint that good for frying. Went online, checked, discovered that this tofu is usually steamed, bought bamboo steamer, and now need advice. I like tofu, I just don't know what kind to buy for sir frying. Any good ideas??

God...."I like tofu"...now there is a sentence I never thought I would write....

Silky dou fu goes well in soups and there's a silky dou fu dish that is steamed in sauce which I'll see if I can track down for you.

5 cups ch. stock
4 lime leaves
4 peices fresh galangal
1 stem of lemon grass
4 tablespoons of lime juice
3-4 tblsps fish sauce
2 tsp red curry paste
1 small red chilli, finely chopped
1 hanful of cilantro 1 handful of mint
3 spring onions, finely sliced

Boil everything together except the cilantro and spring onions for about 10mins
Add cubed dou fu and top with cilantro and spring onions.

Miso Dou fu Sticks with Cucumber and Wakame Salad

3 Lebanese cucumbers, thinly sliced into rounds
20g dried wakame
55g silken dou fu, well drained
60ml shiro misu
1 tblsp sugar
1 tblsp mirin
1 tblsp rice vinegar
1 egg yolk
100 g beansprouts, blancjed
2 tblsp toasted sesame seeds

Dressing
60mls rice vinegar
1/4 tsp soy sauce
11/2 tblsps sugar
1 tblsp mirin

Sprinkle the cucmber generously with salt and leave for 20mins, or until very soft, then rinse and drain. Rehydrate the wakame and drain the dou fu.

Place the shiro miso, mirin, , sugar, rice vinegar and 2 tblsp wtaer in a saucepan and stir over a low heat until the sugar dissolves. Remove from the heat, then add the egg yolk and whisk untill glossy. Cool slightly.

Cut the dou fu into sticks and place on a non-stick baking tray. Brush the miso  mixture over the dou fu and cook under a hot grill for 6mins on each side or until golden.

To make the dressing, place all the ingrdients and 1/2 tsp salt in a bowl and whisk together.

To assemble place the cucumber in the centre of a plate, top with sprouts and wakame, drizzle with the dressing, top with dou fu and serve sprinkled with sesame seeds.

5 cups ch. stock
4 lime leaves
4 peices fresh galangal
1 stem of lemon grass
4 tablespoons of lime juice
3-4 tblsps fish sauce
2 tsp red curry paste
1 small red chilli, finely chopped
1 hanful of cilantro 1 handful of mint
3 spring onions, finely sliced

Boil everything together except the cilantro and spring onions for about 10mins
Add cubed dou fu and top with cilantro and spring onions.

Where do you find lime juice, lemon grass etc in China, commonly?

Cilantro is more commonly known as Chinese parsley (looks like Italian parlsey but with bigger leaves) or coriander and found pretty easily in the fresh food markets.

Lime juice you can make yourself from limes also found in the markets. Metro sometimes ahs the bottled stuff.

Lemon grass is more difficult, but if you live near a Thai restaurant you will be able to find some - or get a root and grow your own.  Useful substitute is lemon zest. Back to the markets for lemons to peel!

Metro stocks fresh herbs, including mint and lemon grass. Limes are easy to find in the fresh food markets.

But I think Eric is in Denmark...