Singapore recipes - Sambal Blacan Cookbook

Ingredient Guide
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Candle Nuts
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A common ingredient in making fresh spice paste, it adds a subtle taste to many dishes. When use for thickening, maybe replaced with other nuts such as macademia or cashew. Usually sold shelled.

Carambola (see star fruit)
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Cardamom
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A spice that gives many Indian dishes its distinctive flavour. The intense fragrant comes from the seeds. Black cardamom is used whole mainly in north India, taste is strong, somewhat sharp and menthol like and are used for savoury dishes. Green (sometimes bleached into white?) cardamoms are smaller in size, sweet and aromatic used in various dishes, both sweet and savoury. (White cardamom is less strong in flavour?).

Cashew Nut
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An expensive nut used occasionally in dishes such as the famous fried chicken with cashew nuts. Sometimes used as a replacement for candle nuts. Could easily be cooked by frying in oil before use. It has a high fat content.

Celery Cabbage
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A popular East Asian vegetables also grown in the West. It is tender and contains a lot of water used often in stir fry, soup and in kim chi by the Koreans.

Century Egg (Thousand year old egg)
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A preserved duck egg covered in rice husks and mud, the york and white turn to a greenish black and has a peculiar taste. Eaten as it is with preserved young ginger slices, or in various dishes. Those with a soft york is much sought after.

Casia and Cinnamon Bark
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Used powdered or whole in both savory and sweet dishes. Cassia is somewhat sweeter while cinnamon more spicy. Cinnamon is much thinner and smoother while cassia has a corky layer. both are interchangble. Once more valuable than gold and the most important item in the VOF's(Dutch East India Company) spice trade.

Chestnut dried
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Used both in savory as well as sweet dishes. Soak in warm water for several hours and removed all skin with a small knife.

Above : Chillies preserved in vinegar.

Chillies - Fresh
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Color and size does not indicate hotness. Bird's eyes chillies(prik kee noo in Thai) are tiny and about the hottest in Southeast Asia and should generally be avoided. Capsaicin is reponsible for the hotness of the fruit. Remove seeds to reduce hotness. Chillies available in the West are generally mild, however, always adapt the amout of chillies used in a recipe to your own taste and handle it with gloves at all time.

Note: Avoid contact with bare hands and make sure you wash your hands properly. Those wearing contact lenses should avoid handling chillies.

Chillies Dried/Chillie Powder
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Seeds are often removed. To remove seeds, rub to loosen seeds, crack open and get rid of them. Soak in hot water for several minutes before use. Chillie powder is made from dried chillies. To grow chillies, simply plant the seeds.

Chives / budding Chives
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Looks somewhat like spring onions but the leaves are flat and not hollow. It's used raw or stir fried mainly by the Chinese as a vegetable as well as garnish, it has a peculiar taste and interesting texture. A must for a dish called Mee Siam in Singapore. An "Albino" yellowish version is available these days.

Budding chives has a round stem and a whitish bud. It is a very tender and delicious vegetable and taste somewhat sweet and quite different from chives.

Chrysanthemum
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Dried chrysathemum is made into tea often with a little sugar. Every Chinese restaurant serves this tea, sometimes mix with Puer. It has a great fragrant and a cooling effect. For those with sleeping problem due to caffine in teas, this is a great replacement.

Chuan Xiong (Rhizoma Ligustici Chuanxiong)
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Has a nice and somewhat minty flavour, it is a Chinese herb available sliced used to promote blood circulation and flow of vital energy. Often used in tonic and other soup preparations. only a few slices are used at a time.

Cloves
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A major spice from the spice islands of Indonesia, most of the cloves produced is actually used in spiced cigarette called kretek. The aroma is very intense and usually just 2 or 3 pieces are used.

Cockle
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A shell fish that grows in mud in swampy areas usually eaten raw or half raw either with various noodle dishes or on it's own. It contains a fluid that's kind of bloody and taste pretty much like raw mussels. Soak live shellfish in salt water for several hours to rid them of mud and sand.

Coconuts
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Used widely in curries and desserts, Not all varieties of coconut plants are suitable for use as food. To extract coconut milk, shred matured coconut flesh and squeeze for thick milk, add water and squeeze for thin milk. Since coconut shred and milk turn sour quickly in the tropics, they are sometimes steamed or salt added to prevent them from turning sour. Coconut flesh contains as high as 35 percent fat and therefore not particularly healthy.
Young coconut is often eaten as a dessert/drink, it contains a soft flesh that could be easily scooped out with a metal spoon. The water from a matured coconut is usually discarded.

Coconut Fried
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Shredded coconut fried till fragrant used as a garnish as well as an ingredient in various dishes such as beef rendang.

Coriander Leaves (Chinese parsley, cilantro)
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Almost never cooked, it has a refreshing and distinct flavour(hint of parsley). Usually leaves and stems are used as garnish coupled with spring onions or in salads. Less common in Malay/Indonisian kitchens. Grown easily from seeds. Keep roots in water and cover leaves in a plastic bag will keep it good in the fridge for at least a week.

Coriander Root
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Coriander roots are mainly used in Thai kitchen in the preparation of fresh spice paste.

Coriander Seeds
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It is widely used and often in substantial quantity, it is yet another spice that gives many Southeast Asian dishes their distinctive flavour.

Cumin Seeds
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Main ingredient in curry powder and often used coupled with fennel seeds. It is minty and aromatic. Use whole or powdered, toast before grinding.

photo: black cumin and cumin.

Curry Leaves
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From Indian curry tree, fresh leaves has a strong distinct fragrant that's not present in the dried leaves. Use only fresh leaves.