To be irritated by how pernikity recipes are?

[Gone2far]

I'm just doing a recipe which asks for rapeseed oil and black mustard seeds. As I haven't got either, I've substituted sunflower oil and brown mustard seeds. So far, so exciting, but what I'd be interested to know is if posters could tell the difference. I enjoy trying new recipes, but if I followed them to the letter, I'd have loads of different oils. As it is, I just have olive and some form of vegetable oil.
Can you tell the difference between different vegetable oils?

I really dislike the taste of rapeseed oil, so always use light olive oil. I would have done the same as you for the mustard seeds. I usually keep black mustard seeds in the store cupboard anyway and have never seen brown mustard seeds before.

What are you making?

Courgette and chickpea dahl

Sounds delicious

Is it the one from the Guardian Vegan recipe? It looked really nice! I don’t suppose sunflower oil will make much of a difference. I buy generic vegetable oil which is usually rapeseed but virgin rapeseed oil is very good for some things - such as roast potatoes. I have a lot of oils and spices bought for particular recipes!

Oh I always chop and change things.
The substitutes you've made will be pretty unnoticeable in that recipe.

Yes elle!
Unfortunately I have had to substitute tarka Dahl for chickpeas, but can't see that that would make too much difference.

I have different oils for different things. I wont cook at a high temperature with Olive oil.

The thing is a recipe is that person recipe. I always take a look at recipes then adapt to our tastes.

Ds autism and food can be an issue. Dp has several food allergies. So I tweak most of them.

Sometimes it's a success......sometimes it it's really not

A lot of the time vegetable oil is rapeseed oil. I suspect in this case it's the 'heating point' of the oil that's the requirement (olive oil will not get hot as vegetable oil for quick tempering of the spices). I don't bother at all swapping oils in recipes. I use mostly olive as it's my favourite but have vegetable oil for deep fat frying things (now a rare occurrence!) and sesame as I like the taste in stir fry.

Ooh let me know if it’s good Gone - I’ve got a LOT of courgettes at the moment!

I think cooking is an art and can take tweaks and additions eye. Baking though is science and cannot be messed with.

No "eye"dea where that rogue eye came from!

Good for you. I don't even have any mustard seeds at all. I tend to think a lot of them are pernickety but I suppose that's how their author feels they taste better. Once I understand a recipe I always substitute/alter to taste anyway so you'll probably be fine!

Liverightnow is correct, much veg oil includes rapeseed oil. I loathe the flavour of it 'neat' (and the smell) but can cope with it blended.

I tweak/alter/sub recipes all the time; to be honest once you have the confidence then I think most people do. I made a batch of veggie burgers yesterday which were pretty far removed from the original recipe and they are gorgeous! The trick is to remember what you do

It's delicious elle. Even with the substitutions.

@cantfindname could I ask what recipe did you used/deviated from?

I have a good 5 oils and most spices, several types of mustard/hot sauce/ chilli powders/ vinegars.

I just chuck things in though - it's not a demand, just a suggestion. After all it's a recipe - the one they used. They can't just say 'oh, any old oil and seeds' as then it wouldn't be a recipe.

Also I tend to use the fats that a region would use themselves to make their cuisine as it pairs better with the other ingredients.

recipe
pas

I think some can be pernickty, and like to give the illusion that it makes all the difference. You can usually tell those ones when they start specifying you need corn-fed, hand reared organic meats etc. And lists of unusual ingredients that you need all of a drop of. They dont offer tip boxes for substitutes of the rarest ingredients and youd never use a specially bought item in full even if you cooked the whole book..

Sounds nice.
I too think in most of those kind or recipes, ie essentially a tomato based one or a curry, most substitutions would be fine.

My pet hate is recipes where the webpage is 90% photos of the dish from different perspectives and a lot of unnecessary prose about what the author has been up to that day, where they first found this recipe,why they eat kale five times a week and the merits of feeding kids chickpeas etc. Then you find the ingredients and methods after scrolling for 10mins 😩

when they start specifying you need corn-fed, hand reared organic meats etc.

I think that’s more of a “Please don’t buy poor welfare standard meat that comes from animals that had a terrible life and an even worse death”.

@PasDevantLesElephants. It was originally an Ainsley Harriot recipe.

Very finely dice a small carrot, a courgette and some spring onion and sweat these down slowly in a little oil until soft. When nearly done throw in a handful of frozen peas and sweetcorn. Cool it down and drain the oil/water off. Meanwhile blitz a can of chickpeas, they need to all be broken but not necessarily a puree, chunky is fine. Turn into a bowl and add a generous tablespoon of crunchy peanut butter and a big handful of breadcrumbs. Add cumin and coriander and hot pepper flakes if you like spicey. Mix well and make sure the peanut butter breaks up and doesn't hide in a lump. Stir in all the veg and add a beaten egg. Mix again. At this stage you need to decide how dry or sloppy you can handle the mixture and add more breadcrumbs if needed. I use a pastry cutter as a size guide, stand it on cling film and press in the mixture firmly. Wrap them individually and freeze. I made seven yesterday but it depends what size you want them. Dry fry or oven bake them from frozen and don't faff around turning them until the first side is well browned or they will break up. I love them in a brioche bun with plastic burger cheese and a good helping of coleslaw.

I never follow a recipe exactly as usually don't have all the ingredients. I just throw things together and it always works. I take after my nana yet my mum wouldn't dream of winging it. She always looks horrified at the thought 😂

Well maybe the name of the recipe is the same can't , but it's completely different from what I've just made.