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Kali
 
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Default Lye Water & Pandanus Essence

Hi folks!

I was trawling through the shelves of my favourite Chinese grocery story
when I came upon bottles of Lye Water. Now, I know that lye is potassium
carbonate. What I'd like to know is what is it used for? I found a recipe
for a Filipino brown rice cake called "Kusinta" on www.asiarecipe.com that
used a teaspoon of lye water. Is it something like the use of bicarbonate
soda or "baking powder" in western cooking?

Also, I came across a whole bin of dried pandanus (pandan) leaves, as well
as a whole crew of pandan essences (some with bright green food colouring)
and others that were clear. I know it's an ingredient of a lot of Asian
sweets (thinking some of the Thai glutinous rice & coconut milk desserts
here), but is it used in savoury foods a lot? I've been trying to find
recipes via google, but I'm coming up with mostly sweet things.

Does anyone have any recipes they'd care to post?

Cheers,

Kali


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Default Lye Water & Pandanus Essence

"Kali" > wrote:
> Hi folks!
>
> I was trawling through the shelves of my favourite Chinese grocery story
> when I came upon bottles of Lye Water. Now, I know that lye is potassium
> carbonate.[ . . . ]


Lye is sodium hydroxide.
Potassium carbonate CAS # [584-08-7]is also known as: Carbonic acid,
dipotassium salt; Pearl ash; Salt of tartar; Potash; salt of wormwood;
Dipotassium carbonate; Carbonate of Potash

Sorry, I don't know any recipes offhand

--
Nick, Retired in the San Fernando Valley www.boonchoo.com
"Giving violent criminals a government guarantee that their intended
victims are defenseless is bad public policy."
- John Ross, "Unintended Consequences"
  #3 (permalink)   Report Post  
DC.
 
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Default Lye Water & Pandanus Essence

Don't bother with the dried pandan leaves... always use fresh ones when
cooking as you'll lose the delicate flavours. Pandan leaves are most
commonly used in desserts but there are a few savoury uses for it. Marinate
large bite size pieces of chicken in your favourite fried chicken sauce eg.
fish sauce, soya sauce, garlic, ginger, etc. etc. Leave to stand for 1/2
hour etc. & use fresh pandan leaves to parcel wrap the chicken pieces
tightly. Deep fry the wrapped parcels until chicken is cooked & serve. The
chicken pieces will retain the delicate flavours of the pandan leaves. The
is a similar to the Chinese/HK Chinese version of paperbag chicken except it
smells & taste fragrant.

Lye water, borax, slate lime, etc. is often used in very small amounts(1/4
tsp portions max. etc.) in very old recipes for either as a setting agent or
to achieve a smooth finish in texture or sometimes included in a curing mix
for preserving foodstuff, so i was told. I've come across it in recipes like
bamboo leave wrapped dumplings, desserts, old dim-sum type doughs & also in
the curing mix for preserved eggs etc. These days, many people leave it out
altogether or sub. cornflour etc.

DC.



Kali > wrote in message
...
> Hi folks!
>
> I was trawling through the shelves of my favourite Chinese grocery story
> when I came upon bottles of Lye Water. Now, I know that lye is potassium
> carbonate. What I'd like to know is what is it used for? I found a

recipe
> for a Filipino brown rice cake called "Kusinta" on www.asiarecipe.com

that
> used a teaspoon of lye water. Is it something like the use of bicarbonate
> soda or "baking powder" in western cooking?
>
> Also, I came across a whole bin of dried pandanus (pandan) leaves, as well
> as a whole crew of pandan essences (some with bright green food colouring)
> and others that were clear. I know it's an ingredient of a lot of Asian
> sweets (thinking some of the Thai glutinous rice & coconut milk desserts
> here), but is it used in savoury foods a lot? I've been trying to find
> recipes via google, but I'm coming up with mostly sweet things.
>
> Does anyone have any recipes they'd care to post?
>
> Cheers,
>
> Kali
>
>



  #4 (permalink)   Report Post  
Peter Dy
 
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Default Lye Water & Pandanus Essence


"DC." > wrote in message
...
> Don't bother with the dried pandan leaves... always use fresh ones when
> cooking as you'll lose the delicate flavours. Pandan leaves are most
> commonly used in desserts but there are a few savoury uses for it.

Marinate
> large bite size pieces of chicken in your favourite fried chicken sauce

eg.
> fish sauce, soya sauce, garlic, ginger, etc. etc. Leave to stand for 1/2
> hour etc. & use fresh pandan leaves to parcel wrap the chicken pieces
> tightly. Deep fry the wrapped parcels until chicken is cooked & serve. The
> chicken pieces will retain the delicate flavours of the pandan leaves. The
> is a similar to the Chinese/HK Chinese version of paperbag chicken except

it
> smells & taste fragrant.



Thanks, DC. I immediately thought of this dish after the original post, but
couldn't find it in my cookbooks -- could have sworn I had a recipe for it
somewhere. Could you give us the name for it? I'm still convinced I have a
recipe for it somewhere.

Peter


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kalanamak
 
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Default Lye Water & Pandanus Essence



Kali wrote:

> as well
> as a whole crew of pandan essences


I use this in lassi, but that is a sweet thing, too. Not all lassi are sweet,
but ones using screwpine essence are.
blacksalt




  #6 (permalink)   Report Post  
DC.
 
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Default Lye Water & Pandanus Essence

Hi Peter Dy,

My Thai isn't up to scratch but i think the name of the dish you're looking
for is Gai Hor Bai Toey, we just call it deep fried pandan chicken & our
recipe changes to our taste, sometimes we add oyster sauce for a more
cantonese taste, sometimes we go for Thai with fish sauce, soya sauce, sugar
& garlic + coriander paste or a more malay flavour with tumeric & coriander.
I think chicken thigh & leg pieces are normally used for this dish, a good
way of using up brown chicken meat i think.

DC.


Peter Dy > wrote in message
m...
>
> "DC." > wrote in message
> ...
> > Don't bother with the dried pandan leaves... always use fresh ones when
> > cooking as you'll lose the delicate flavours. Pandan leaves are most
> > commonly used in desserts but there are a few savoury uses for it.

> Marinate
> > large bite size pieces of chicken in your favourite fried chicken sauce

> eg.
> > fish sauce, soya sauce, garlic, ginger, etc. etc. Leave to stand for 1/2
> > hour etc. & use fresh pandan leaves to parcel wrap the chicken pieces
> > tightly. Deep fry the wrapped parcels until chicken is cooked & serve.

The
> > chicken pieces will retain the delicate flavours of the pandan leaves.

The
> > is a similar to the Chinese/HK Chinese version of paperbag chicken

except
> it
> > smells & taste fragrant.

>
>
> Thanks, DC. I immediately thought of this dish after the original post,

but
> couldn't find it in my cookbooks -- could have sworn I had a recipe for it
> somewhere. Could you give us the name for it? I'm still convinced I have

a
> recipe for it somewhere.
>
> Peter
>
>



  #7 (permalink)   Report Post  
Kali
 
Posts: n/a
Default Lye Water & Pandanus Essence

Thanks for your help and corrections, folks! I have since made a very nice
nasi lemak and the rice with coconut and the pandanus tasted *exactly* as I
had it long ago in a little restaurant (now closed) nearby. Someone tipped
me that pandanus is also known as screwpine and suddenly recipes are
everywhere! Next stop is the chicken recipe kindly provided by DC - thanks
again guys!

"DC." > wrote in message
...
> Hi Peter Dy,
>
> My Thai isn't up to scratch but i think the name of the dish you're

looking
> for is Gai Hor Bai Toey, we just call it deep fried pandan chicken & our
> recipe changes to our taste, sometimes we add oyster sauce for a more
> cantonese taste, sometimes we go for Thai with fish sauce, soya sauce,

sugar
> & garlic + coriander paste or a more malay flavour with tumeric &

coriander.
> I think chicken thigh & leg pieces are normally used for this dish, a good
> way of using up brown chicken meat i think.
>
> DC.
>
>
> Peter Dy > wrote in message
> m...
> >
> > "DC." > wrote in message
> > ...
> > > Don't bother with the dried pandan leaves... always use fresh ones

when
> > > cooking as you'll lose the delicate flavours. Pandan leaves are most
> > > commonly used in desserts but there are a few savoury uses for it.

> > Marinate
> > > large bite size pieces of chicken in your favourite fried chicken

sauce
> > eg.
> > > fish sauce, soya sauce, garlic, ginger, etc. etc. Leave to stand for

1/2
> > > hour etc. & use fresh pandan leaves to parcel wrap the chicken pieces
> > > tightly. Deep fry the wrapped parcels until chicken is cooked & serve.

> The
> > > chicken pieces will retain the delicate flavours of the pandan leaves.

> The
> > > is a similar to the Chinese/HK Chinese version of paperbag chicken

> except
> > it
> > > smells & taste fragrant.

> >
> >
> > Thanks, DC. I immediately thought of this dish after the original post,

> but
> > couldn't find it in my cookbooks -- could have sworn I had a recipe for

it
> > somewhere. Could you give us the name for it? I'm still convinced I

have
> a
> > recipe for it somewhere.
> >
> > Peter
> >
> >

>
>



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