Dear all

Is there an Indian way of doing endives/chicory? I can't see any entries for this vegetable on the website.

What would it be a good substitute for?

And can anyone suggest an Indian version of 'Jerusalem Artichokes' (topinambouts)?

I suppose that we could do the latter in a spiced-up version of a French recipe I got from Elizabeth David's French Regional Cookery boo.

Phil

Hello Phil

I never saw any chicory or jerusalem artihokes while growing up in India, hence no recipes here. This doesn't mean that they are not grown there. I hope someone can help you here.

Looking at it, I am wondering if it can be cooked like colocasia tubers! I have a few recipes for that here.

How does Elizabeth David's cook it?

Mamta

Hello Mamta

Hope you and your family had a good Christmas.

I've never heard of that vegetable you mention. Not sure whether I could get it here in France. But i'll check out your recipes for that.

Elizabeth David has a recipe for topinambour in which they're cooked in a Mediterranean tomato-based sauce. She says it goes very well with roast goose, which is what I'm cooking on New Year's Day (I'll be cooking for three carnivores, a vegetarian and a Jewish person: quite a challenge!)

We cook endives in a dish that has lardons (bacon cubes) and fried potatoes, and there's a recipe by Fredy Girardet which has uncooked endives and partridge breasts. Haven't tried that one yet, but I will: I have two partridges in the freezer.

Phil

Phil you are brave ! Cooking for the others is walk in the park but cooking food to fit in with Jewish Law is no easy task... in fact cooking it on its own is very hard work, but with others as well !... ! ?

I watched a programme all about Jewish law and food (think it was just another food programme to me) and the list of things you can't do is as big as the list of things you must do.

Kitchens are checked on a regular basis, even the types of oven trays you use are checked (something about have high sides to make sure nothing of say a cheese dish gets into the oven to contaminate it when cooking a meat dish), you can't use trays/utensils that has previously been used for non-kosher food, You can't cook this with that, meat must be Kosher, you can't serve this during that time, can't use this product at all, even the way salad is washed is different (involving salt water and long soaking to make sure any tiny insects are removed from the product)...

It was a facinating watch, showed some fabulous food but made me aware of how easy we have it with our traditional UK cooking... imagine our kitchen/food hygenine rules turned up and then add rules from the Bible...

I'd love to know how you go on...

(have a look at these)

http://www.jewfaq.org/kashrut.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kosher_foods

http://www.jewishrecipes.org/jewish-cooking-terms/index.html

Steve

Thanks for those links, Steve; oh dear, I hope it'll be alright. The Jewish woman is a semi-vegetarian who's prepared to eat chicken, I'm told: a flexitarian. I hope she's also a flexible Jewish woman, but I'd best make enquiries.

I nearly didn't get a goose: the little old lady who lives over the hill (and is surrounded by pigeons, guineaufowl, ducks, chickens and geese) said I was too late, but she came round in the end, and got me one from her brother.

I'm nervous about roasting the goose, but I've done it before, so i hope it works out.

Phil