Hi

I would like to make Brinjal Pickle and recipes I have seen recommend mustard oil. The bottle I have says on the label 'for external use'. Can I use this or is there a different mustard oil that I should use and if so where can I find it?

Mustard Oil sold in the EU/US/Canada should be labelled 'for external use only' due to some bizarre regulation, based on erroneous research on its effect on rats (rats absorb oil differently to humans.)

Brands like Desi Gold, KTC, Pran, Dabur should have the warning on them but given Indians have been using mustard oil for thousands of years, there is no evidence of harm to humans and indeed it is considered one of the healthier oils I continue to merrily use it.

You can use it externally for massage and hair conditioning. In cooking it has a very high smoking point and needs to be taken up to a high temperature to allow the flavours to mellow.

Winton

Thanks for your quick response

A little deviation from the subject, but a great tip. While I was at a cooking demo, the chef spoke of Eggplants/(BRINJALS). Here's what he said, "no matter what you make with Eggplans/Brinjals, here's what you should do. Cut them in slices, cubes whatever the recipe calls for. Generously brush a non stick baking tray with oil. Place the brinjals in the oiled tray, then generously brush the brinjals. Bake them at 350F. How long should you bake them? All depends on how soft or firm you want the brinjals. Why this step? Brinjals are like sponges and no matter how much oil you add to the pan, it's never enough and you've got to keep on adding more and more oil. A third of a cup is plenty for starters with the oven procedure. If you are making pickle, cook the brinjals in the oven. Then, proceed with the recipe as you normally would. I do this for my brinjal pickle, it's great, works beautifully, it just simplifies making brinjal pickle, or brinjal whatever...

By the way, I don't use mustard oil -- it is too powerful -- the smell in my kitchen lingers for days -- I just use a light cooking oil -- there's always mustard in the recipe.

I finally succeeded in growing aubergines this summer, so I think I'll have a go at this.

The first ones were a bit green so I've shifted them into the full glare of the Mediterranean sun.

Phil

Ahh Phil, jealous of all that Mediterranean sunshine. Seems London has had interminable showers for weeks.

My only success in ripening vegetables has been with green tomatoes under the bed!

Winton

My tomatoes are ripening well in the beds, but have had only flowers on aubergines so far. May be I will bring them into the conservatory!

I don't know about you, Mamta, but I've noticed that most things are really slow growing this year, and some things just did anything at all in our garden. Lots of people have been telling me that they've experienced the same thing. I wonder if it has something to do with the bad winter that we had?

Poor crop may be because of a rather dry start to the summer.

The funny thing, Winton, is that, although we've had a classic Med summer, I picked the aubergines yesterday, after they'd had several weeks in blazing sun, only to find that the flesh was STILL a bit green. And the skin turned from the classic dark purple that they had in the shade to a light brown colour (bleached by the sun, I guess). Not sure how the pickle will turn out: might be bitter.

On a brighter note: the peppers have turned red all over, and are fine, stuffed with a mix consisting of fetta, tomatoes, herbs and a bit of chilli. A good one for veggie friends.

Phil

on a veggie note, I remember talking to someone who had been invited to a friend's wedding. This person said she would love to come, but was a vegetarian (seems her body couldn't cope with animal fats). Her friend said that she had contacted the caterers, who said it wouldn't be a problem, and would she make herself known to the waiting staff.

When the wedding day came, and they sat down to lunch, she told the staff that she was vegetarian. The waitress said that she had been told, and asked the veggie whether she would like a salad. A little dissapointed, she agreed that would be OK. Then the waitressed asked 'would you like ham or turkey!!!!'

Seems 'vegetarian' means different things to different peope!

LOL!! That story sounds very true to form. I remember at my cousin's wedding there was a few vegetarians (myself included), and to say that the vegetarian meal was disappointing is an understatement. While everyone else was tucking into a roast dinner the vegetarians were served a place of boiled rice with fried mushrooms mixed in, and they passed it off as a vegetarian stroganoff.

I used to work as a chef in restaurants and I can say that many chefs hate vegetarians with a vengeance. It's not difficult to put a vegetarian meal together for someone, but for some reason, most of them used to curse when an order came in for a vegetarian meal. People always thought it was odd that I was a veggie but worked as a chef. I forget how many times people used to ask me: "Doesn't it bother you cooking steaks?" and "Why don't you eat meat?"

Grrrrrrrr

What do you think;

Are vegetrains more tolerant of non-vegetarians?

or

Non-vegetrian more tolerant of vegetarians?

I think society is becoming more accepting of vegetarians. There was a phase when vegetarianism was seen as some sort off illness and meat eaters had a curiosity as to the 'cause' of the illness.

It is like a sketch in the Rpyle family when a guest mentioned she was vegetarian. It was greeted with sighs of pity and "oh what a shame." All they could think to offer her to eat was wafer thin ham and dairylea triangles!

Winton

I'm a little dissapointed when a veggie visits, I prepare a veggie meal, but when I visit a veggie, I don't get a meat dish! But these days, I try to have at least one day a week that is not meat based, sometimes two, and with Indian markets and shops a short walk away from me, its easy, nutritious and healthy.

"I prepare a veggie meal, but when I visit a veggie, I don't get a meat dish"

It is probably because many vegetarians do not even touch meat, let alone prepare and serve it :-).

I know some people who think the same way about vegetables........

We had a vegetarian here recently who refused to sit at the same table as her friend if the friend was eating meat. Intolerant or what?

I have a veggie son-in-law, and am happy to accommodate him, but after a week of catering to him, I get fed up. We have tons of veggie recipes, and I always do my best to accommdate veggies at the academic conferences I organise.

I think that French restaurants could make more of an effort to accommodate vegetarians: it's not that difficult, really.

Hello Phil

Non-vegetarians often find it difficult to cater for vegetarians for more than a couple of meals, becaus they run out of ideas. If vegetarians gave them some ideas/help, the problem can be resolved, I think.

Agree Mamta

I go three to four days without eating meat and not even noticing. However when I can't cook meat I get some sort of cook's block/cramp and run put of ideas.

Veggies could help by emphasising more what they can eat; "I really fancy a cauliflower based dish" rather than the negative of what they don't eat, so putting the cook in a more positive frame of mind!

Winton

the 'British' tradition is for meat and two veg, still common today. Often, its 'meat, potatoes and green veg'. Although this can be very enjoyabe from time to time, its restricted thinking, I believe. So from this mind set to vegetarian meals results in cauliflower cheese and stuffed peppers!

What Indian cuisine does is promote new thinking (for the West), where the vegetable is not thought of as an after thought, (after meat and potatoes), although rice with everything is not necessary, either.

I really enjoy dhals and a dish which is like the filling in dosa masala, like lightly fried veg (including boiled potatoes or edoes) and curd. Adding just the right amount of curds (and spicing) is an art!

Hi Mamta

I have countless veggie recipes, including an Eastern Vegetarian recipe book which runs to 500 pages.

My problem is not that I run out of ideas: I run of steam! I refuse to forgo meat for an entire week, so I have to do double cooking, twice a day, for most of the week: it's a drag!

I've checked with restaurants here in the S of F that they can cater to vegetarians at my conference next week, but it all seems like one-way traffic to me: I go out of my way to be tolerant and accommodate tem, while some of them sit in moral diapproval of me.

Phil

"while some of them sit in moral disapproval of me."

Unfortunately what you say is often true. Many vegetarians make others feel that eating meat is akin to being immoral and that they are the morally superior people caring for animal welfare. This is not necessarily true, not all vegetarians are good to animals.

Other side of the coin of course is that many non-vegetarians feel that vegetarian are some kind of a nutty/nerdy sect, eating unhealthy foods and being a nuisance, as far as catering for them is concerned.

To my mind, it is juts a question of not trying to understand other?s point of view, beliefs, in my view. We all need to reciprocate the tolerance shown by one group to the other.

Anyway, have a good conference :-)

Mamta

I couldn't agree more, Mamta. I have friends who feel that it's immoral to kill animals for food. I happen not to agree. I'll respect and tolerate their views and practices if they'll respect and tolerate mine. When I'm asked, sneeringly 'So, you eat dead animals, do you?', my response is: 'Would you prfer me to eat them live?'

I'm attending someone else's conference in Toulouse this week. The poor veggies will be ripped off again, I guess. They pay the same for the conference dinner as the rest of us, but what they get is not worth the money. The restaurant serves lovely profiteroles stuffed with mushrooms in a cream sauce: very nice as a starter. For the main course, the vegetarians get the same thing all over again! That's really not good enough.

Phil