# Black Salt



## Termy (Aug 6, 2021)

Not sure of its origin actually. It is easy to tell because of the egg type taste. 

Thusfar I have found two things it goes on, steak before cooking, and... tomatoes. 

What else might benefit from this, umm, stuff ? 

T


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## karadekoolaid (Aug 6, 2021)

"black" salt ( or kala namak) is a sulphurous salt from India. In India it´s a classic ingredient in Chaat Masala - a spice mix used for fresh fruit - but is also used in many other dishes. 
I´d try it first of all on a fruit salad (to accompany a BBQ) of peaches, mango, red onion, fresh chiles, coriander, cucumber and tomatoes. See how it goes.


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## blissful (Aug 6, 2021)

We tried it for the first time last week, in seasoning tofu scramble to taste similar to scrambled eggs. I didn't like it as much as my husband did, and he liked it with salsa over it. He said he would eat it again which really surprised me.


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## larry_stewart (Aug 6, 2021)

blissful said:


> We tried it for the first time last week, in seasoning tofu scramble to taste similar to scrambled eggs. I didn't like it as much as my husband did, and he liked it with salsa over it. He said he would eat it again which really surprised me.



Did the same exact thing.  When we make tofu scramble, the consistency is there but obviously not an eggy flavor without the addition of he black salt.  

Personally I prefer it without, as im not aa fan of eggs other than baking with them, but I was amazed by the eggy flavor it gives off.

My wife liked it better than I did.

Just out of curiosity, how do you do your Tofu scramble ?


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## Kaneohegirlinaz (Aug 6, 2021)

Having lived the majority of my life in Hawaii, 
I was fortunate to have three different Salts to choose from.

One of them being Black Salt


(photo courtesy of SaltHawaii.com)

https://salthawaii.com/index.php/20...s added for color and its detoxifying effects.  

Lava makes the Sea Salt black, very pleasant btw.

Not to mention Alaea Salt


(photo courtesy of Wikipedia)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alaea...lua pig, poke, and pipikaula (Hawaiian jerky).

The straight up Sea Salt from Hawaii or what we call in Hawaii, Rock Salt, 
is what I use most frequently in cooking and finishing all sorts of dishes.

Right now, since we haven't been able to go back home, 
I only have the Rock Salt, well, maybe just a touch of the 'Alaea Salt for Poke


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## karadekoolaid (Aug 6, 2021)

"black" salt ( or kala namak) is a sulphurous salt from India. In India it´s a classic ingredient in Chaat Masala - a spice mix used for fresh fruit - but is also used in many other dishes. 
I´d try it first of all on a fruit salad (to accompany a BBQ) of peaches, mango, red onion, fresh chiles, coriander, cucumber and tomatoes. See how it goes.


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## Cooking Goddess (Aug 6, 2021)

I have the Hawaiian black salt that K-Girl referenced. To us it tastes like...salt. No suggestion of egg.


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## GotGarlic (Aug 6, 2021)

Cooking Goddess said:


> I have the Hawaiian black salt that K-Girl referenced. To us it tastes like...salt. No suggestion of egg.


According to the link K'girl provided, the color in Hawaiian black salt comes from charcoal from lava which is added to the salt. Sulfurous black salt comes from India.


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## pepperhead212 (Aug 6, 2021)

*Termy* - I still haven't tried your suggestion of black salt on HB eggs, but I'm going to!  Just haven't really been eating any - only using in recipes a few times.

I occasionally see black salt called for in some of the Indian recipes I make, but more often than anything else, I use it when making chaat masala.  I've made a number of versions of chaat masala, but all had black salt.  I have it in a small container, so there is little air space in it, and one of those little oxygen adsorption pads - the rest is in a small vacuum sealed bag.  I figure this has some things in it that might loose its flavor, more quickly than most spices and salts.


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## dcSaute (Aug 7, 2021)

spritzed on top of a compound honey-butter-in-a-dish served with hot bread . . . 

cute, if there's a flavor there, the really good bread hid it well.


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## Termy (Aug 7, 2021)

pepperhead212 said:


> *Termy* - I still haven't tried your suggestion of black salt on HB eggs, but I'm going to!  Just haven't really been eating any - only using in recipes a few times.



That is not mine, you got me mixed up with someone else. 

T


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## pepperhead212 (Aug 7, 2021)

Termy said:


> That is not mine, you got me mixed up with someone else.
> 
> T



Sorry - my bad.  Now I'll be wondering who....

Today I made a new batch of chaat masala (the only one with black salt, and regular salt), as well as some rasam masala, since they were almost gone, and I had my spice grinder out on the porch to grind some green chiles, and habaneros, which I never grind indoors!  It's better to grind much of this stuff outside, as long as there is a breeze, and you position yourself properly.


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## blissful (Aug 8, 2021)

larry_stewart said:


> Did the same exact thing.  When we make tofu scramble, the consistency is there but obviously not an eggy flavor without the addition of he black salt.
> 
> Personally I prefer it without, as im not aa fan of eggs other than baking with them, but I was amazed by the eggy flavor it gives off.
> 
> ...




I used a previously mistakenly frozen SILKEN tofu, it should be silken but not frozen, plopped it in the frying pan non-stick, started with slow heat and the water keeps coming out of it. I put all the spices and black salt in (I used less black salt than it called for, they wanted 1 tsp but that's a lot and our taste buds are used to less), then as it approached stopping to lose water, I chopped up the tofu and continued to cook, then it looked just like scrambled eggs. Mr bliss liked it. It was just okay for me.


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## larry_stewart (Aug 8, 2021)

blissful said:


> I used a previously mistakenly frozen SILKEN tofu, it should be silken but not frozen, plopped it in the frying pan non-stick, started with slow heat and the water keeps coming out of it. I put all the spices and black salt in (I used less black salt than it called for, they wanted 1 tsp but that's a lot and our taste buds are used to less), then as it approached stopping to lose water, I chopped up the tofu and continued to cook, then it looked just like scrambled eggs. Mr bliss liked it. It was just okay for me.



Thanks.  I only added the black salt once ( and I agree, I think a tsp my have been a little over the top).  The black salt flavor is intense. and probably would have been overbearing.

I actually got the black salt cause I saw some one online try to make a vegan version of a hard boiled egg ( using agar for consistency purposes) along with the black salt for taste.  Putting it in an egg shaped silicon mold ...  It had more curious and eager to try.  When I read the ingredients for the yolk, I knew it was not going o be any good, but the scientist in me wanted to give it a go ( wound up in the trash).  But  now I had aa bottle of black salt to use.  Paid a lot for the black salt, as I had never seen or heard of it before, only to see it on th shelve of the Indian market I go to a few weeks later for 1/5 the price.  hats when I decided it into the tofu scramble, to dada little edginess.  One problem, I really dont likes eggs. And thats why I did it once.  Go ta whole bottle of black salt if anyone wants it 

As for my tofu scramble, had it for the first time , literally decades ago, from a *Moosewood Restauran*t cookbook my cousin gave dee when I had first become a vegetarian.  It was basic, tofu, salt and turmeric ( for color).

Made it a few times and then forgot about it, until we were in a restaurant in Pittsburgh (*B52*)a few years back and my wife had ordered it.  I wasn't %100 sure what they did, but it was significantly better than I had made it years back.   No egginess flavor, but the consistency was right on, kinda like a ' wet' egg scramble, that had some creaminess to it.  Did have a hint of cheese flavor ( possibly nutritional yeast) and was what I would consider, above average.  As always, I went home and tried to recreate something similar.  Had to stay vegan, so the wife would eat it.  Mashed and fried up the tofu added a little salt , turmeric for color.  For the creaminess, ( probably going to lose a few people here, but cooking vegan, you got to be creative and get around many obstacles) I had soaked some cashews over night in water.  Blended them up with some almond milk and a slice or two of aa vegan cheese ( which is actually pretty good).  Then at the end I added some of this to the tofu scramble to give it that wet, creaminess with the hint of cheese flavor.  Surprising tasted very similar and pretty good.

The dish has now evolved into something a little more elaborate.  I start with frying up a chopped onion and sliced mushrooms, just til onions it slightly starts to brown, add the mashed tofu , salt and pepper, turmeric ( color and a little taste) and some chopped dill.  Cook til hot.  Toss in some chopped tomatoes and cook til heated but not broken down  ( couple of minutes).  Then add that creamy mixture ( blended cashews, almond milk, cheese *** Could be cashew milk too*** and toss some baby spinach leaves in.  Cook til spinach leaves start to wilt.  Check to see if more salt is needed ( with the tofu and all the additions, the salt can get diluted quite a bit, so definitely need to check as cooking to see where you're at).   Ill serve it along with a toasted piece of rye bread.

***Non- stick pan.  Tofu will stick to a pan just like eggs will, so non stick makes life easier,  Of course I found that out the hard way.***


Pic included here is from the restaurant in Pittsburgh ( Tofu scramble, Potato/ carrot hash brown, Kale/ shiitake .

Including the links to the restaurants mentioned above for those curious, not to try and convert  

*B52 *Pittsburgh Restaurant (Above average vegan restaurant , at least for me anyway)
https://www.b52pgh.com

*Moosewood Restaurant *. Vegan restaurant in the middle of New York State.  Kind of a pioneer of vegan restaurants, has been around for ever ( ahead of its time).  I have multiple cookbooks from them.  Only been there once, out of curiosity, since I had the cookbooks.   Falls into the category of " Looks better than it tastes" for me.  Wasn't bad, a lot of options, could eat everything on he menu, but when a non vega thinks of vegan food, this is stereotypically, probably what you'd imagine. To there defense, Ive only been once and they may have updated the menu.
https://moosewoodcooks.com


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## dragnlaw (Aug 8, 2021)

Amazon has most of *Moosewood *collection of books - they look interesting!  Thanks *Larry,* might pick one for my DIL's 'sometime' present.


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