Glossary     ( L to P )

Ladies Fingers
  see Okra

Lamb's Lettuce
  leaf vegetable, grown and sold mainly during the winter months.  Primarily used raw in salads, or in soups and stews.

Laos powder
  a delicate spice used in South East Asian cooking, difficult to obtain, but not an essential ingredient.

Lard
   fat obtained from melting down and clarifying pork fat; available packaged.

Leek
  See Onions

Lemon Beans
  see Kidney Beans

Lemon Grass
  tall, aromatic grass, widely available.
Possible substitute : thinly pared lemon rind.

Lemon-Scented Verbena
  see Herbs

Lemon Thyme
  see Thyme in Herbs

Lentil
  dry pulse, with round, flat, lens-shaped seeds, either white or light brown to red.

Lima Bean
  a tropical pulse of varied shape.  Dried, large, flat, white seeds mostly available.  The pods are broad and flat.

Lovage
  see Herbs

Maize
  see Sweetcorn

Mange Tout  ( snow peas, chinese peas )
  a variety of pea that's flat.
  Use:
lightly boiled, raw, stir fried

Mango Powder
  dried raw green mangoes, ground to make a sour powder.

Marjoram, Sweet or Knotted
  see Herbs

Marmite  ( vegemite, promite )
   yeast extract spread

Miners Lettuce
  see Claytonia in Herbs

Mint
  see Herbs

Mirin
   a sweet rice wine used in japanese cooking.
Substitute 1tsp (5ml) sugar and 1tsp (5ml) dry sherry for each tablespoon (15ml) of mirin.

Mooli
  see Radish

Mortadella
   a delicately spiced and smoked cooked sausage made of pork and beef

Mountain Spinach
  see Orache

Mung Bean
  small bean, may be green brown yellow or black.  The green beans are mostly used for bean sprouts.

Mustard Greens
  light green leaves, rather rough to the touch, growing in the form of rosettes.  Young leaves can be eaten like garden cress.

Myrtle
  see Herbs

New Zealand Spinach
  annual leafy plant with horizontal-spreading, many-branched stems.  Only the fleshy, ribbed, triangular, dark green leaves can be eaten.
  Use:
Wash stem tops and leaves thoroughly and boil for a short time. Can be used as spinach.

Nigella Seeds
  small black triangular seeds, with a slightly peppery taste.

Okra
  green longitudinally-grooved many seeded capsules.  Fully grown fruits are hard and fibrous.  The unripe fruits contain a milky fluid and are crisp taste.

Olives
   Click here

Onions
    Click here

Onion seeds
 always used whole in Indian cooking, these tiny black seeds are often used in the preparation of oil based pickles, and often sprinkled over the top of naan breads.
Onion seeds don't have anything to do with the vegetable, but they look very similar to the vegetables seeds, hence the name.

Orache
  a rapid-growing, annual leaf vegetable with yellow, green, red or multi-coloured leaves, covered with a powdery substance on the underside.  Young leaf is cut at ground level, whilst older leaf is plucked.  
  Use:
Thoroughly wash the leaf to remove the powder.  Use as spinach.

Oregano
  see Herbs

Oyster Sauce
   a rich brown sauce made from oysters cooked in salt and soy sauce, then thickened with starches.

Paprika
 Hungary and Spain produce a mild sweet strain of pepper.  Dried and powdered, this is known as paprika
Deghi Mirchi
 grown in Kashmir, it's the main plant used for making Indian paprika.  It's a mild chili pepper which
tints the dishes with a brilliant red pepper colour, without making them too hot.

Parsley
  see Herbs

Parsnip
  fleshy, thickened, creamy white tap root with a rather aromatic flavour.  Used in soups, stews and also baked.

Patience Dock
  fairly narrow, oblong, green leaves, rather tough, with a bitter taste.  Not to be eaten raw.  Usually boiled with other leaf vegetables.

Pea
  Duh !

Pease Pudding
   seasoned and mashed yellow split peas.  May be eaten cold, but traditionally served hot with boiled meat.

Peppercorns
 these are available in three colours -
White - ripe berries
Black - unripened berries dried until darkish green black in colour
Green - unripe berries
 the black berries with their warm, aromatic flavour are most frequently used in indian cooking.
Peppercorns are used whole in dishes such as biriyani ( they are not meant to be eaten, and should be left to one side ), or they may be ground, in which case, they should be freshly milled as required, as they quickly loose their flavour.

Pigeon Pea
  dry pulse, the seeds can be white, yellow reddish-brown or black.  The young pods can be eaten as a vegetable, and the young seeds can be used raw in many different dishes.

Pinto Beans
  see Kidney Beans

Plover Beans
  see Kidney Beans

Pointed Cabbage
  see White Cabbage

Pole Snapbean
  see Dwarf Snapbean

Polenta
   usually made from ground corn (maize), similar to cornmeal but coarser and darker in colour.

Poppy seeds
 these are available in two colours -
White - used for their thickening properties in Indian cooking
Black - often used sprinkled on bread
 Do not substitute black seeds for white, as the flavour is very different.

Potato
  Tubars that are rich in starch, innumerable varieties.

Potato Yam
  spherical or fan shaped, lobed tubers with a reddish-brown skin and white flesh.  After boiling, the flesh changes colour to a dirty greenish-yellow, and is tender with a rather bitter flavour.  Ripe tubers have the best flavour.

Promite
  see Marmite

Pumpkin
  large to very large fruits with numerous different shapes and colours.  The flesh is neutral or slightly scented to taste, and white, yellow or orange.

Purslane
  rapid growing leaf vegetable with fleshy, reddish stems and green or yellowish leaves.  The stems must be firm and have a diameter of about ¹/₁₂ inch (2 mm).  Used raw in salads or with mashed potatoes.  Also used very lighty boiled or steamed.