At least the Internet has now been invented, which is invaluable for such foodie dilemmas. I wish I had an Internet connection at home back in the mid '90s when I bought a mock vegetarian sea slug from my local tofu products shop. Stir-frying it with garlic and ginger didn't really cut the mustard.
This is one of my pantries. I've just counted 12 (!) different types of vinegars in there - all of which I use.
My neglected treasures lie in folorn piles on the bench and servery, left there in the hope that sooner or later I'll get so fed up with them cluttering the place, that I'll finally get round to cooking them. Usually the theory works, even if - in the case of the tin of Matzo meal - it takes six months.
Today's food challenge is made with two such ingredients. Which is just as well, because I was working most of the day and didn't have the time or inclination to go trawling the local emporia for new exotic ingredients. As the Chinese say, problem equals opportunity.
The first treasures to try were some round things I found in a bulk bin at an Indian shop a while ago. I can't remember what they were, but I bought them because they reminded me of mini poppadams. The theory was that I could fry them into nice crispy bases for a range of finger food toppings.
They fried in no time, curling into exotic shapes. They were tasty enough in a crisp yet oddly chewy way. Even Rory ate some (well, two). Kieran's friend James, who is usually a pretty fussy eater, even liked them.
By group consensus, we rated them a 6.5.
Next on my list was a packet of Nata de Coco Jubes, product of Singapore. According to the packet these coconut jubes are a "high-fibre, low-calorie and cholestoral-free dessert". (I've never before encountered so many hyphens on a food pack - impressive!). The blurb went on (and this bit really intrigues me): "Spend hours of fun munching these chewy, juicy cubes or mix it with cocktails and other desserts to create your very own treats. Light and fibrous, it's especially suitable for the health conscious."
I just checked the back of the pack and it does indeed have fibre - 1%. Not much, but more than your average jube, I guess.
I'm not sure what the graphic designer was on when s/he developed this packaging.
The contents were...um... juby looking. They smelled weird - like jackfruit (something I detest, thanks to falling ill after eating jackfruit in Thailand years ago). And they tasted even weirder - sort of jackfruity and, indeed, slightly fibrous. Fibrous jubes just seem so wrong.
I'd bought another new ingredient, tapicoa flakes (provenance unknown), this time especially for the challenge.
Gula melaka, the classic Malaysian sago, palm sugar and coconut classic dessert, is one of my favourites. I thought the tapioca flakes would make a passable substitute for the sago, and that the Nata de Coco jubes would be an acceptable addition. Hence, a new-look gula melaka was born:
Okay, I'll admit it looks gross, but the sum of the whole was definitely greater than the sum of the parts. Don, who isn't keen on coconutty things, found it passable. Kieran and James both liked it, as did I. Rory wouldn't even sniff it.
We all agreed the jubes were weird and rated them 4.
The tapioca flakes were harmlessly bland, providing textural rather than taste interest. Kieran gave them an 8, I'd have said a 6.
We agreed the dessert's overall score was a 7.
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