Subject: Re: What is?

From: [email-masked] (Stephanie Peters)
Date: Wed, 25 Jan 1995 23:10:18 GMT

In article <[email-masked]>, [email-masked] (Robert S Crompton \(MSc/SE\)) says:

>Anyway, the point is, it was printed in the US, and I don't know what 'hing' and
>'zucchini', which appear in many recipes, are. I thought zucchini was like a     
>cucumber, but this doesn't seem to fit the recipe.

Zucchini

Zucchini is the US name for baby marrows, known as courgettes in UK.
IMHO do not try to use full grown marrows instead - taste is a little 
different and texture is completely changed.

Hing

Also 'heeng' - asafetida or asafoetida.
" The Indian source for this smelly resin has traditionally been Afghanistan
and Western Kashmir.  In its lump form, asafetida looks like the brown rosin
my husband uses on the bow of his violin.  Its smell is another matter.
James Beard, America's foremost food writer, once compared the smell to 
that of fresh truffles.  This seasoning is a digestive and is used in very 
small quantities.  (It can even cure horses of indigestion!)  A pinch of it
is thrown into very hot oil and allowed to fry for a second before other 
foods are added.  As asafetida can only be found at Indian and Pakistani
grocers, I have made its use optional in my recipes.  If you wish to purchase
it, I suggest that you buy the smallest box available of _ground_ asafetida.
Make sure that the lid sits tightly on the box when you store it."
 (Madhur Jaffrey's Indian Cookery - 1982 British Broadcasting Corporation
   ISBN 0 563 16491 3. Note this is _not_ a vegetarian book, but it was the 
  best information on this subject available to me.)

Steph

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From: [email-masked] (Stephanie Peters)
Date: Wed, 25 Jan 1995 23:10:18 GMT

Zucchini

Hing

Steph