I can't remember why I was there, maybe I was just a tag-along that day, but I was wandering through a local health food store a while back, and at the end of one of the aisles, a pouch of Pomegranate Powder caught my eye. At the time, I was participating in a Sabra Hummus Mediterranean Food Challenge on BakeSpace and was contemplating doing something with a home-made yogurt, so I grabbed it with that in mind. I did submit a number of recipes, but none of them included the Pomegranate Powder - no word yet on a winner.
In looking online for ideas, I saw that the powder is used primarily in smoothies and a few Indian dishes. I've never been a smoothie person for some reason. I love everything that goes into them. I just never bothered smushing all of the ingredients together in a smoothie. As for the Indian dishes, I may get around to trying them, but there were too many other ingredients I didn't have on hand. Then I came across someone who mentioned that they toss edemame with garlic, butter, salt, and pomegranate powder. We love edemame, so that caught my attention and stuck with me. Unfortunately, I can't remember where I read that now, or I'd include a link to the page.
I ended up getting confused by what I was reading because some sites spoke of the powder being tart like a pomegranate, while others spoke of it having a slightly bitter taste, and more than one company spoke of their product as being the skin of the pomegranate, while others were the seeds, etc., so I had no idea what was in the pouch at that point! When I tasted it, it was very fruity/tart, just like the fruit!
We didn't have any particular dinner plans for tonight, so I figured it was a good chance to experiment.
INGREDIENTS :
2 t minced garlic with red pepper
12 oz edemame
1 1/2 T pomegranate powder
1 t paprika
salt and pepper
I brought the butter and garlic up to temp and sauteed the edemame until it was heated through, then I "attempted" to stir in the Pomegranate Powder. When it hit the pan, it turned into a blob of glue, so I pulled it out and tried again - fair waning, sprinkle gently. Once I got that to cooperate, I stirred in the paprika and a sprinkle of salt and pepper. I did end up actually sprinkling more Pomegranate Powder over it when I plated mine, because I wasn't really tasting it that much. Balanced against the peppers in the garlic, it turned out to be a nice contrast!
I would definitely make this again - with more of the Pomegranate Powder - and maybe some onion or diced yellow or orange bell pepper for color.
So later, I was still thinking about what else you could do with it, and since it wasn't bitter, I was thinking dessert. I always hear pastry chefs talking about how they pour flavored syrups over cakes for moisture and to infuse flavor, so that was my first thought - would the powder dissolve well in a simple syrup? What kind of cake would I use? My sister makes an awesome lemon sponge ... then I started thinking about baking a cake in a thin layer in a sheet pan, cutting out small rounds and layering them like a napoleon with some sort of creamy mixture and maybe some fruit with whipped cream on top ... hmmm, what about whipping the pom powder into the cream??? Then I remembered that I also bought some Agave Nectrar but haven't done anything with that yet. What about that instead of simple syrup??? This is why I never sleep. My brain just goes on and on from one thought to another. It can get pretty weird in there sometimes! I think I'm baking bread tomorrow, so maybe I'll play with a dessert for Thursday.
Comments
Post a Comment