Description of the taste, smell and chemical composition of asafoetida. Useful and harmful substances, positive and negative effects of the spice on the body. Ways to use it and interesting facts. The spice should be used with caution by pregnant women and mothers who are breastfeeding. If you get carried away with it, allergies may bother you. At high temperatures and chills, it is also necessary to observe the measure.
Asafoetida recipes
Ferula is, in fact, an analogue of onion or garlic, which it can replace in both first and second courses. It is successfully used for the preparation of various salads, sandwiches, side dishes. It perfectly complements rice, buckwheat, potatoes, pasta. Cheese, meat, fish are perfectly combined with it. With its addition, various marinades and sauces are made. The spice emphasizes the taste of borscht and soups especially well. But do not put more than a third of a teaspoon of it on the dish, otherwise it will taste bitter. To make the food tasty, it is recommended to dissolve the powder in a small amount of water beforehand. Among all the recipes, we have selected the most simple and interesting:
- Cabbage cutlets … Grate a well-washed medium-sized cabbage head on a coarse grater. Then add flour (about 10 tablespoons) and semolina (5 tablespoons) to it. Pour in fat kefir (1 glass) here and beat in one egg. Season with salt and pepper and season with chopped dill (30 g). Next, fry asafoetida without oil (3/4 teaspoon) and mix it with butter (3 tablespoons) melted in a pan. Combine them with the dough, beat it with a blender and spoon into a hot skillet. Fry the patties until a crust forms, then cover them with a lid, add water and simmer for 10 minutes over low heat.
- Rice with vegetables … Boil it (200 g) in salted water, then mix with chopped tomatoes (2 pcs), fresh green peas (80 g), fried carrots (2 pcs), cayenne pepper (half) and green beans (100 g) in boiled form. Then pour lemon juice (2 tablespoons) and red wine (1 tablespoon) into the mass, add spices to taste - cinnamon, cloves, ginger, asafoetida and turmeric. Finally, salt the rice, add boiled water (150 ml) and simmer under the lid for 15 minutes, stirring from time to time to avoid burning.
- Sabji … Dice the eggplant and courgette (1 each) and fry them. Then boil broccoli (200 g) until half cooked, mix all the ingredients, grate the Adyghe cheese (250 g), salt and pepper the mixture, add a pinch of asafoetida, turmeric and cloves into it. Then season it with heavy cream (1 cup), lemon juice (2 tablespoons) and put simmer on low heat for 20 minutes. After removing from the stove, garnish the dish with chopped dill.
- Lazy stuffed cabbage … Combine powders of cloves, cinnamon, asafoetida, black pepper (1 pinch each) and chickpea flour (1 tablespoon), fry all this in a pan without oil. Then add salt (1 tsp) and tomato puree (100 ml). Cook this mixture over low heat for 30 minutes. After that, add enough wheat flour into it so that the mass turns out to be like a pancake dough. Then boil white cabbage (half a head), disassemble it into leaves, chop them and mix with the prepared mass. Season with salt, pepper and leave in a cool place for 30 minutes. After this time, add flour again and knead the thick dough, like for pies. Next, roll up long, 6-7 cm each, sticks with a thickness of three index fingers from it and put them in a saucepan, into which vegetable oil should already be poured. Then fry with 2 carrots, salt, black pepper and onion. Add tomato puree (250 ml) to it, pour over the vegetables and simmer for 20 minutes. Pour the sauce into a saucepan for the cabbage rolls and simmer for 40 minutes. The dish is served sprinkled with sour cream.
- Porridge … Grate 2 raw carrots on a fine grater. Fry chopped celery (1 pc.), Garlic (2 wedges) and mushrooms (200 g). Then boil buckwheat and lentils, 120 g each. Season with salt and pepper to taste, add asafoetida on the tip of a knife, pour in apple cider vinegar (1 tablespoon). Combine this mass with sautéed vegetables, pour in almond milk (100 ml) and simmer over low heat until tender. Place the porridge in a bowl and garnish with parsley leaves.
The spice makes an excellent composition with turmeric, mustard, cumin, ginger, pepper, garlic, cloves and other spices. Since it quickly impregnates neighboring products with itself, it must be stored in a closed container.
Interesting facts about Asafoetida
Ferula smelly lives mainly in the mountains, the practice of its cultivation is not common. For its successful cultivation, warmth is needed, so it "bears fruit" well only in countries with hot climates.
The tree gives milky sap all year round, but it is most delicious in April-June. It is at this time that the assemblers are trying to prepare the original product. To do this, a shallow hole with a diameter of up to 10 ml must be drilled in the bark of the trunk. A juice tube should be inserted into it, which should be directed into a glass jar, this is where the desired liquid will drain. At the end of the collection, the wound is closed with garden pitch. The procedure is absolutely identical to the one that involves the extraction of birch sap. You can get no more than 1 kg of resin from one ferula per day. It will be possible to repeat this only after three days. If you need asafoetida in the form of tiles, then you shouldn't even try to look for it in Europe. This product is prepared in India, Afghanistan and Iran, from where for some reason it is practically not supplied to other countries. In Europe, especially in the CIS, the spice can be found only in powder form. And then, it is sold only in specialized Ayurvedic shops or Buddhist temples, in ordinary supermarkets it is a very rare "guest". By the way, so that the spice is not so hot, it is often mixed with rice flour before being sold. Watch a video about the spice asafoetida:
Recipes with asafoetida surprise with their originality and simplicity, they will be relevant both on weekdays and on various holidays. This spice will add exoticism, unforgettable taste and benefits to dishes, so that in the end every gourmet will be satisfied!