Conference turris::cooks

3706.0. "ASEAN/Indian Ingredients" by MSBCS::BLESSLEY (Scott D. Blessley) Tue Dec 08 1992 16:44

We've spent the last month in (amongst other places) Thailand, Malaysia and
Indonesia. I picked up two cookbooks and have a question about some ingredient
substitutions. Many recipes (for sweets in particular) call for pandan leaf,
also known as "screwpine" ("pandan leaf" does sound rather more pleasant,
however). We picked three bottles of pandan leaf extract. So here's the
question: when a recipe calls for so many leaves, how much juice do you
substitute? This is further complicated by having both a true liquid (very much
like, say, almond extract you'd buy here in the States) plus a thicker, quite
green almost paste-like concentrate. I'd use less... but how much.

I have the same question about tamarind. We can buy tamarind in various forms
in nearby Lowell's Asian groceries, but what I have is a paste. Most recipes
call for (for example) 1/2 cup tamarind juice. Anyone know how much paste to
use? There's no useful indication on the package.

Thanks,

Scott