Uses for fresh turmeric

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taxlady

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I have some fresh turmeric. I have used dried turmeric in Indian food, but I have never seen a recipe that suggested fresh turmeric. Any suggestions, especially for less complicated dishes? I would love to see some suggestions of the sort that say to add it to something that I might cook anyways.

I put a bunch of it in vodka in a jar, since I read that was a good way to store it. Putting fresh ginger in sherry works well, so why not. I do have a couple of pieces that haven't been put into the vodka jar.
 
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I have used fresh turmeric in Malaysian and Indonesian dishes, and also a few southern Thai and Cambodian dishes. It used to show up only sporadically in the Asian markets, but now I see it all the time, alongside the galangal and ginger.
I buy some when it looks really good, then I peel it, and freeze the chunks in a foodsaver bag, re-sealing it after removing what I needed. It lasts as long as it takes me to use it, usually well over a year.

Surprisingly, I've never seen many Indian recipes with fresh turmeric - almost always dried.
 
I have some fresh turmeric. I have used dried turmeric in Indian food, but I have never seen a recipe that suggested fresh turmeric. Any suggestions, especially for less complicated dishes? I would love to see some suggestions of the sort that say to add it to something that I might cook anyways.

I put a bunch of it in vodka in a jar, since I read that was a good way to store it. Putting fresh ginger in sherry works well, so why not. I do have a couple of pieces that haven't been put into the vodka jar.

I have not used it so much but my Indian friend told me to consume it with milk when my shoulder was injured. Might be he told this because of their antiseptic properties.
 
I have not used it so much but my Indian friend told me to consume it with milk when my shoulder was injured. Might be he told this because of their antiseptic properties.


Turmeric is anti inflammatory. https://nutritionfacts.org/video/speeding-recovery-from-surgery-with-turmeric/
It might be antiseptic, I don't know.


In this video turmeric is hand ground, in the making of a curry. (at 5:45 it shows hand ground turmeric used in cooking) This was a very interesting video. It was especially entertaining to me. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDw2TkCmXgQ
 
That was a LOT of curry! I would not have wanted to be that person grinding up those spice pastes, when it came to handling that chili paste!
 
Holy Crap!!! I loved that video. I would have loved to be a dinner guest at that meal ( as long as there was a bathroom within running distance).

What exactly kinda vegetable is the " Drumstick". ? Has anyone tasted it before ? and what can it be compared too?

Watching the guy eat it at the end, it seemed like the outer part was kinda fibrous. Looked like he kinda sucked the inside out, and was going to discard the outer fibrous part.

Also, did they use a specific variety of mango where you eat the outer rind ?

I was just at the Indian grocer yesterday. I wish I saw this video before I went. I want to downsize that version and give a go at it .

I get Tumeric a few times. You can use the leaves also as an herb. I also have heard of people cooking food in the numeric leaves , as it will infuse flavor into what's cooking inside. I think I actually still have some turmeric leaves, dried and hanging in the basement.
 
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Ah, drumstick from the Moringa tree. Got it. Still dont know what it taste like, but I have heard of it before. I actually started a moringa tree from seed, but managed to kill it over the winter. Apparently you can eat every part of the tree ( roots, leaves, fruit.. )
 
I liked the enthusiasm they had for cleaning the vegetables and cooking. The sense of community. Cooking WITH others, cooperating for the greater good. I liked the variety of food. And no plates and utensils to clean later! I would have loved to participate and eat with them.
 
Ah, drumstick from the Moringa tree. Got it. Still dont know what it taste like, but I have heard of it before. I actually started a moringa tree from seed, but managed to kill it over the winter. Apparently you can eat every part of the tree ( roots, leaves, fruit.. )
I was thinking of growing one of those trees, but I wasn't that crazy about the drumsticks when I tried them fresh or frozen. They were actually better frozen, probably because they were older whenever I saw them fresh, and they were sort of fibrous, sort of like some overgrown okra - I guess that's what they talk about when they say they are often chewed up to extract everything, and then spit out! They tasted a little like green beans, or maybe more like long beans or noodle beans, which have a slightly different flavor, and some people aren't fond of them. Nothing exceptional, so it wasn't something I'd go through all that trouble for. And I have no idea what the leaves taste like, though they are supposed to be the best part of it.

I don't think that they have a special variety of mango they use for green, but they might! And I always assumed it was just regular green mango they grind up for amchur, but that may be a special type, too.
 
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