A Cooking Lesson
I made this lovely raita tonight. But my first attempt did not go well. What happened? Well, first I burnt some rice. Then I ruined some vegetables by overcooking them. And what did I learn from this?
Two wrongs don't make a raita.
St. Paul and I Agree...
Taxation is not theft: "Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. Therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves." -- Romans 13 The key idea implicit here, and the one that turned me on the subject of whether or not taxation is theft, is that "every soul" owes obedience to the "governing authorities." Now, if that is a debt I truly owe , then, when those authorities levy the taxes they need to do the job of governing, I owe them those taxes, and attempts to collect them certainly do not constitute acts of theft. And obviously it doesn't matter at all, from this point of view, whether or not I "signed" any sort of "social contract." (In fact, the history of political thought since the Reformation can be read as an attempt to find a secular rep...
Two questions:
ReplyDelete1. You looked up a raita recipe and deliberately screwed it up so you could use that one, didn't you?
2. What the hell is raita?
1) Actually, I simply fabricated a story to go with the joke.
ReplyDelete2) Mine above is yogurt (that I also made myself!), cucumbers, one jalapeno, mint, and salt.
Looks a little too soupy. How was the texture?
ReplyDeleteAnd, yes. I do get the joke.
ReplyDeleteYes, Joseph, you are right. The homemade yogurt was already thin, and then when I blended in the mint it frothed up a bit.
ReplyDeleteBut we had it on rice, so no big deal.
Whoa, you made the yogurt, too? Let me guess, you used reduced fat milk?
ReplyDeleteTwo percent, Joseph.
ReplyDeleteHmm? Homemade yogurt tends to be a bit thinner than store bought, but two percent is plenty fatty substrate to give a good texture. Sure, you can use skim, but I find that it gives a soupy texture. I prefer whole milk. The starter shouldn't be a problem, so maybe it was your incubation period.
ReplyDeleteI usually will let it incubate for at least 8 hours at 100-110º, it gets thicker the longer you let it incubate, but I've never gone past 18 hours (it gets too sour for my liking). After that I will refrigerate it. If it is still too soupy, refrigeration allows the whey to rise to the top so that you can pour some of it off.
Also, when I heat and incubate the yogurt I always do it in Mason jars partially submerged in water (this is especially important when sterilizing the milk so that you don't burn it). I have a slow-cooker that goes down to 100º, so this is what I use to incubate (I used to use a heating pad before I got the slow-cooker).
I personally prefer Greek yogurt, because it is thicker and creamier. The only difference in process is that you strain ALL of the whey out of the yogurt. It's awesome, though.