Substitutions / was Sambal Goreng Tempeh**Piers - help!*

[Guest guest]

Re the good warning against substituting Kikoman or other for ketcap manis,

Piers wrote:

> it was tentatively offered in the context of a discussion we were

> having on the other list about what to do when you don't know if a

> particular ingredient is available in all the places your post is being

> read.

 

Yes, I was going to make a comment here last evening but . . . Agreed that we

want our dishes to taste the way they were meant. But sometimes we have

available to us something that is *very* like something else. In a pinch, for

example, out of ketcap manis, I have used a mix of dark chinese soysauce

with tamari and that pinch of sugar. Not at all the same, but better than

leaving

off making the dish altogether when all that was needed was, say, one Tbsp

maybe two of the ketcap manis. Now if I'd needed half a cup or more of the

Indonesian sauce, I'd have had to look for another recipe. (If I'd needed half a

teaspoonfu, then I'd probably have used the tamari or Kikoman or left it out.)

 

Point is, if we know that something is *very like* something else, then we just

*

might* be able to figure out what the recipe would taste like and whether or

not we want to try to make it. And if it tastes rather nice to us, then maybe

next

time we see, say, Indonesian ketcap manis we'll buy it so that we can have a

more authentic flavour next time - all the better.

 

Example: cayenne powder will not substitute for fresh green thai chillies. Not

at all - especially if the recipe is a stir-fried dish, say, and calls for a lot

of them.

But if it is in a coconut-sauced curry, you just *might* get away with finely

chopped milder green chillies (you name them) for the flavour and cayenne or

crushed dried chillies for the heat - rather than scrap the recipe altogether.

Cuz it's not always possible to get fresh green thai chillies in all parts of

the

world all the year round. (Our last batch, btw, was labelled as Produit de

Thailande or whatever - as in actually from Thailand.)

 

Oh dear. This was not repeat not the morning to decide that I was cutting back

on coffee - one cup not two :=(

 

But ya catch my drift?

 

Thanks for all the good ideas and suggestions. I'll throw myself into the fray a

little later after I've stuck my head under the village pump so to speak!

 

Best,

 

Pat ;=)