What to do with turmeric?

[Tropical food forest]

a simple side dish i love

fry off in some oil

turmeric fresh fine chopped
garlic
red shallots
till garlic is browned

add a ripe tomato or 2 quartered
and greens

ie kankong, gondo, cassava leaf tips (once pre-boiled), amaranth or basella

mix and cook till greens are done
its a nice side dish, teh turmeric makes it

BTW that curry paste above is almost exactly the same i made up
what a great autumn dish! all fresh

the best fish i would make it with is leatherjacket pieces
such a firm sweet fish - delicious

up here i think i need to try out pomfrey
thats a great sweet tasty fish too

[Tropical food forest]

mind you dont eat too much turmeric if you have bile duct problems
it inhibits bile release

if you do youll need to track down its relative Curcuma xanthorrhiza - Java Turmeric / temu lawak
which lacks that effect and has all the same medicinal properties of Turmeric

Turmeric is great

[Tropical food forest]

to be clear i meant curryrecipe last page.. back back

best chilli that i used forthat is one i often see at bunnings as 'siam hot'

its really not hot at all
but it is an excellent chilli

for that curry paste
and for cooking with red kidney beans. the yellow looks really good against the red !

i remembre using a lot of turmeric as a pov Uni student
(hey! im still a pov uni student lol!)

i would buy 40c Tofu blocks from the asian grocer in Freo
marinate with soy, garlic, turmeric, and fry off till golden brown at the edges
and serve with some salads or stir fried backyard veggies, white amaranth was excellent
NZ spinach is so tasty too - im suprised it doesnt get spoken about more!

anyway go nuts with it

maybe we should request an iron chef turmeric battle

[aroideana]

what is gondo ?

Will try this recipe with some cassava leaves

[Tropical food forest]

speedy knows what it is
ive forgotten the species

its a balinese vegeatble, more popular than kankong

ill see if i can get a name

[Tropical food forest]

dont forget you have to parboil cassava leaf
you just use the tips
the still folded tip and new leaves
and you parboil because they contain Cyanide producing compounds
significant amounts!
this removes the poison
then you cook it in a dish

once detoxified its 8% protein D/W
and one of the most popular greens for restaurants that i came across
cooked similar to as said, or in yellow coconut curry

[Speedy]

Gondo ... Claoxylon longifolium or C.indicum not sure exactly which one it is.
Family Euphorbiaceae
...same as
Cassava (manihot esculenta) -Sth Amer.
Chaya (Cnidoscolus chayamansa) -Cent Amer. Like cassava, it also has cyanogenic glucosides in lvs.
Sweetleaf (Sauropus androgynus) -SE Asia
Amla - emblic (Emblica officinalis) -India & Sth Asia
Star goosberry (Phyllanthus acidus) -India through to Pacific Is.

all have edible leaves and important source of nutrition in trad. village diets where grown .

these ones are from tropical/sub-trop climes
and from a family with some very toxic relatives
castor bean (Ricinus communis), Jatropha spp., Spurges (Euphorbia spp.)

Instinctively, I wouldn't normally experiment (well not too boldly) with members of this family as far as eating leaves, but feel very safe with these ones due to long history of trad. use.

Turmeric
In Aust there are two forms , possibly two separate species.
the darker (orange rhizome) one that is not as vigorous or as tall as the other.
Thats the real deal afaic.

The other has a lighter, more yellow coloured flesh inside the rhizome and the rhizome skin is more silvery.
the leaves are larger and more heavily corrugated.
It grows a lot quicker and therefore spreads from garden to garden (via people) a lot quicker.
I use it interchangeably with Turmeric , that's if it is a diferent species.

I prefer the darker one, especially for making Jamu, and with that, I use the mother corms as they're stronger in colour again.

for Indonesian spice pastes I only use the lighter one if I cant get the darker one.

The one in Aroideana's pic is the lighter one for sure.

Jamu- trad. Indonesian tonic drink

Turmeric about a handful , grated dont bother peeling it
palm sugar - maybe 1/2-1cup
tamarind pulp - 1/4-1/ cup
placeall in saucepan , cover with 1 litre water.
bring to boil and simmer 1/2- 3/4 hr.
strain and bottle.
take a 1/4-12 cup dose a few times a day hot or cold.

should last a few days in the fridge...
or ferment with water kefir, kombucha or just beer or wine yeast for a fizzy,
slightly (or more) alcoholic drink over ice.

I've also made it with the Temulawak (C.xanthorrhiza) that Tropical food forest mentioned and it's great too.

In Java and Bali you can buy it carbonated in ginger beer bottles made with Temu Lawak .

I like turmeric, powdered and fresh they're both good, but different products.

[willamtarker]

Turmeric is thought to reduce inflammation by lowering histamine levels and it may also stimulate the adrenal glands to increase production of a hormone that reduces inflammation. Two times you start using turmeric on a regular basis, it is fun to find new ways to make use of it in recipes. My favourite way to make use of it is to add a pinch of it to egg salad. It adds a pleasant flavor and gives the egg salad a rich yellow hue.

[Michaelangelica]

It is not a herb i use a lot either, so i would appreciate some hints on incorporating it in food;
especially since all the recent research on its medicinal properties.
see
http://www.psa-rising.com/eatingwell/turmeric.htm
I was surprised to see Woolies selling it by the kilo recently.

[eco4560]

Tried this one -

grate the fresh root
mix with lime juice
press through a sieve into glass with some palm sugar
dissolve
serve over ice

I didn't have palm sugar just raw cane sugar. Nice though.... Earthy taste.

Curry making tomorrow I think!