Condiments and Sauces


                                                                                               

Supavadee's Cranberry Relish, Thai Style (Cranberry Sohm Tahm)

Contributed by John (that Alaska guy)

1 bag fresh cranberries, washed and picked over
2 garlic cloves, peeled
2 or 3 dried Thai chilies
1/2 teaspoon kepi (optional for a dark undertaste)
2 tablespoons fish sauce
2 tablespoons sugar
Lime juice (optional)

**********

In a kloak (Thai mortar) pound the garlic to paste.
Add the peppers, one at a time while continuing to pound.
Add kepi and about a fourth of the berries.
Pound and stir as you add each additional installment of the berries.
When the berries look as if they're almost the same consistency as cooked whole berry sauce, add the nam pla (fish sauce) and the sugar.
At this point, stirring instead of pounding is a good thing so it doesn't go on the ceiling.
If it seems a little too sweet, add a little fresh lime juice, just a very small bit at a time.
The idea is that each separate taste should be present, nothing covered.
One should be able to taste each ingredient in equal measure with the exception of the kepi.
That's for an undertaste, so it should be a very subtle addition.
The lime juice is not for the taste, just to compensate for too much sugar if that happens.
Go easy on the sugar and you won't need the lime juice.
That's it.

                                                                                               

Cranberry-Almond Sauce (1 quart)


Contributed by Jean B.
Here is a recipe that my mom found decades ago, and which I always like to make for Thanksgiving and Christmas.
I believe it was in an almond ad (possibly Three Diamonds brand).

1/3 cup whole blanched almonds
2 cups sugar
1 cup water
1 lb (4 cups) raw cranberries, washed and picked over
1/2 cup orange marmalade (we use Smucker's Apricot Preserves instead)
1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice

Spread almonds in a shallow pan and warm for 5 minutes at 350F.
Split almonds in half with a knife (which is done more easily if they are warm--of course, you can cheat and just use slivered almonds to begin with).
Combine the sugar and water in a saucepan and bring to a boil, stirring.
Cook for 5 minutes over medium heat.
Add the cranberries and cook for 3 to 5 minutes or until the berries burst.
Take from the heat, and stir in the marmalade (or preserves) and the lemon juice.
Chill.
Add the almonds just before serving. Yum!

                                                                                               
Cranberry Relish
Contributed by Dalin

1 3-oz box raspberry gelatin
4 cups (1 lb) fresh cranberries
1 orange, unpeeled
2 apples, unpeeled, cored
1 cup nuts
1 cup sugar
Make gelatin according to package directions and let stand in refrigerator for about 1 hour--until it becomes a thick syrup.
Grind the cranberries, oranges, apples and nuts, add the sugar and let stand one hour.
Combine cranberry mixture with gelatin mixture and chill.
Delicious!

Sauces

                                                                                
HOME MADE HP SAUCE
Contributed by Graham


4 lbs, (2 Kilos) Cooking apples, cored and chopped,
4 lbs, (2 Kilos) Prunes pitted and chopped.
2 Large onions peeled and chopped.
3 Pints, (1½ Litres) malt vinegar,
2 tsp. Ginger,
2 tsp. Nutmeg,
2 tsp. Allspice,
2 tsp. Cayenne,
½ Cup salt,
2 lbs, Sugar.

Cover fruit and onions with water. Cook until tender.
Put through apple saucer or sieve into a large pot.
Discard fruit. Add to juice remaining ingredients and simmer for several hours
until mixture is thick, (like HP sauce).
Pour into sterilized bottles and seal.
Can be kept in the fridge indefinitely.
Everyone says it is better than store bought, I agree.

NB. If using Litres and Kilos add a pinch more of the spices.

Annie in BC uses crab apples, and four cups of sugar and only two tablespoons of salt.
I haven’t tried this personally, but she says it is wonderful.

Vickie has a question....
I am so proud of you Graham! It looks lovely and now I might have the nerve to
try. But I was going to cut the recipe in half. Did you use my Brit friend's
recipe Using fresh plums instead of prunes ?
Vickie,

Graham replies
Yes I used that recipe except I doubled the cayenne, but that was a personal
choice. Now we may have a difference of, two nations divided by one language
here. Prunes in Britain are dried plums. I bought them with the stones
still in them and took them out myself. I think they tend to keep juicier
that way. I had never heard the expression Prune plums before. Anyway even
if I could find plums here at this time of year, the price for 4 pounds
would be enormous. Anyway the prunes gave a lovely taste, and I would never
use ordinary plums.

and continues...... Using the original ingredient sizes, I was left with 3 pints of sauce.
One tip, I had some trouble reducing to the thickness I wanted, after it all
had reduced by half, I left it overnight, hoping it would thicken as it
cooled. But it didn't, well not to the thickness I wanted, so I reheated it
and thickened using 4 tbs of flour in a mug full of sauce, then I reboiled
(using a sieve to add the flour mix) to remove any taste of the flour, and
then allowed to cool, and it was perfect. And no taste of the flour. I have
tasted it today on a cheese sandwich and it has already improved with age.
Graham