Unusual Ingredients

Minder

What unusual ingredients do you have and what do you use them for? Here's a few odds and ends to start...

Manuka smoked sea salt - A smoked sea salt from New Zealand, great on a steak straight off the bbq.

Sumac - A crushed dried berry with a deep burgundy red colour. This has a tart, sharp flavour, a bit like lemon juice. I sprinkle it over jointed roast chicken before cooking, it can also be used over salads.

Zatar spice blend - a mixture of dried thyme, oregano and marjoram with toasted seasme seeds and salt. We eat this with bread and olive oil - dip the bread in the oil, then the spice.

Japanese seven spice (Togarashi) - A mixture of chilli powder, sansho pepper, roasted orange peel, black and white sesame seeds, seaweed and ginger. This is brilliant on bbq'ed lamb. Don't need much, it's quite hot.

Sichuan pepper - This has a numbing heat, I grind it in an electric spice grinder as the pestle & mortar always leaves it gritty. Mix equal parts of sichuan pepper with course sea salt. Deep fry some fresh tiger prawns with the shell on, then dry fry them in a wok before adding the pepper & salt. Eat with fingers and plenty of cold beer.

The Sweeper

Hmmm, don't know how unusual these would be...

Chili bean paste - a sort of fermented soy bean and chili paste that has explosive heat and a rich, savoury flavour. Great to add a mule's kick to stir fries.

Black cardamom - looks like a shrivelled nutmeg. Imparts a marvellous flavour, sort of smokey, sort of barbecue, sort of woody, sort of like nothing else!

Fermented black beans - rinse, pound, use in sauces to provide the savoury without the heat of chili bean sauce.

Palm sugar - provides a caramel sweetness in sauces and balances the acidity in a tomato sauce.

I also love my pickles. Pickles thrown through pasta with oil are an uncelebrated delight...

coralcathy

sumac is also lovely on lambs liver

rediguana

I made gravy yesterday evening using juniper berries and pink peppercorns (as well as garlic, onions, stock, balsamic vinegar, Barbera d'Asti, brown sugar). Excellent.