Cultural Appropriation. Ravioli. Deep fried.

Variable 3 or less, becoming northeast 4 or 5 later.

Smooth or slight, occasionally moderate.

Fog patches for a time.

Moderate becoming good, occasionally very poor.

 

 

 

This is a post I want to write but am not sure if I should publish it.

First of all this blog should be about cooking, devoid of politics.  A light hearted blog. And I am doing alright. In the world of food blogging my stats are peanuts. On the other hand it makes me very proud that my blog is accessed about 3000 times per month. Yes, there are food blogs with hundreds of thousand hits per day. But I feel I am doing something right. I am not just a lonely voice but there are people out there who are interested. But the subject is about cooking.

The second issue I might offend people. I don’t like this. It is not my aim to make you feel bad. I will be horrified if you feel bad. On the other hand I have enough for feeling bad to have to shut my mouth because you might be offended.

The third issue is that people will put me into a corner I don’t belong to.

And the last issue: I might have to face the wrath of my Italian friends and readers who think I overstepped the line and how dare I do use an Italian dish, bastardize it and call myself a gourmet.

Let me explain: I am the first in line to defend you if someone mocks or belittles your culture or believes. If you want to have a cross around your neck, wear a headscarf, feel happy if you express yourself by wearing a druid robe.. relax. I wont give you grief. If someone gives you grief about it, call me and I sort them out.

But I expect the same in reverse. You have to accept that I wear mini skirts and might buy the next minute a long skirt from a different culture. For me freedom of expression means that I can wear and eat what I want. And just because I wear it, it does not mean I mock it. My culture gives me the freedom to chose to wear what I think reflects my mood today. To adapt, to cherish cultural differences, to incorporate them into my life. If I wear a Red Indian Headdress at a festival, it is an insult to me to accuse me that I mock your culture because you think it is inappropriate that I should wear something which belongs to you. Just because you think I should not demean it by wearing it just for fun.

If you go to Austria and buy a Loden coat, it is not “Cultural Appropriation” if in the end your dog sleeps on it. If you go to South America and buy a traditional skirt, it is not “Cultural Appropriation” if you wear it at uni with Japanese flip flops and a see-through blouse. And it is not “Cultural Appropriation” if I wear a Scottish kilt over my fundraising Rabbit costume. You might feel miffed, especially if it has the patterns and colours of your clan, but all I am doing is resisting the strict rules of clan/race/religious/nationality thinking. It is your right to believe in the (borderline racist) notion that because I am not one of yours, I am not allowed to take anything from your culture. But it is also my right to not believe in the concept of clan/race/religious/nationality. So..what brought that little rant on? A small article. Of course it was not only a small article, it was a string of small articles which found their last drop in this one. 

If you now roll your eyes and think: “And what has that to do with food, gimme the recipe”, I am sorry to say that the idea of “Cultural Appropriation” has already found its way into the food world. Just google Cultural Appropriation and Food for more.

If you look at your chicken and think : “I fancy it sweet and sour” and you open a tin of pineapple and throw the sad looking red pepper in, you commit “Cultural Appropriation”. You “insult” the great tradition of Chinese cooking. A “Chicken Tikka Masala” is “Cultural Appropriation”. Every time you make an originally non Vegetarian dish Vegetarian, you commit “Cultural Appropriation”.

But you know what, cultural “purity” is fascist thinking. Culture benefits from sharing and adopting and using what makes sense and discarding what is hogwash. And this is especially true for food.

Yes, I am full of admiration for people who dedicate their life to make the perfect ramen. A true authentic ramen. We live in a society where we have too many “Jack of all trades, master of none”. I would source you out, eat there and pay you accordingly. But the world is so big and colourful that there is also space for a ramen burger. For Chicken Tikka Massala. A pizza topped with a curry. A Vegetarian shepherds pie. A so called Swiss Muesli which has nothing to do with a proper Birchermuesli. I like both. And I am not offended that you call the first one “Swiss”.

Deep fried Ravioli

The other day I was in an Italian Deli. It was not perfect; I missed the wonderful smell of a good Mortadella. Must be decades since I had a good Mortadella, I mean a really good one. Not some mediocre affair. I blame the Italian supermarkets for “Cultural Appropriation”. But it had wonderful homemade Tortellini and Ravioli, so I purchased 5 of these little glorious cushions and was thinking what kind of sauce to make with it. Unexpectedly I was called out for work, and the next day too, so they sat in my fridge. Three days later they were still there, shouting at me: “You know, hand-made fresh pasta doesn’t improve with age”. There was only one problem: I did not want ravioli. It was cold and miserable outside, I was overtired and all I wanted was something deep fried. In front of the TV. So I looked at them and thought:” You are nothing else but little parcels of cheese and vegetables in dough, dough can be deep fried”.

And so I did. Deep fried them in olive oil and served them with a dip made out of pesto mixed with a small amount of mayonnaise. I sprinkled, while they were still hot, some parmesan over them.

And they were wonderful. Good fresh pasta can be deep fried and if you have a good filling, this shines through.

And if some Japanese restaurants can serve a wasabi mayonnaise or put avocado in their sushi and call it “California Roll”, I can create a pesto mayonnaise.

Don’t divide..integrate.

Keep cooking and borrow from any culture you like.

To hell with “Cultural Appropriation”

The picture is from Wikipedia, called “toasted ravioli”. Not quite what I ate and how I made them, but near enough. And you know what; it is apparently a speciality of St. Louis, USA. Created by Italians.

Perfect chicken for deep frying or grilling. And a bonus recipe. Ayam Goreng.

Southeast 5 or 6, backing east or northeast 4.

Moderate, becoming slight.

Rain at first.

Good, occasionally poor at first.

 

 

Might be an odd post to some since it is well known that I don’t like chicken anymore.  But a request from an ill child, the “OMG I promised long time ago my chicken secrets” realisation and at the same time a “what about the deep fried Asian chicken I had at your house” remark let me to grasp the nettle.

So today is a trick for safe and juicy chicken. The recipe at the end has little to do with the first part; I just thought I should at least throw a recipe in.

And the next post (maybe tomorrow) is about an actual recipe in regards to chicken when you are under the weather.

The photo is obviously not mine, but sourced from “labelled for reuse”.

The secret to safe and juice chicken is brining it first and then steaming.

I knew about brining and I knew that in commercial chicken outlets the bird is not raw. Well, it does make sense. Think about your BBQs. Chicken gets either dry or is raw. And you don’t want to poison your customers. No street stall with any responsibility will use raw chicken. No public BBQ (e.g. for your school) should use raw chicken. And if you are clever and like deep fried chicken, you make sure that you can eat even a big piece in safety.
But combining both is a trick which is described in the Momofuku cookbook.

The steps might sound a bit of a faff, but if you think about it: All it needs is one afternoon (maybe when you purchased the chicken thighs on special offer and lots of them) and you can fill your freezer. For the rest of the summer all you need to do is take out the birds in the morning, let them defrost and marinate for one hour. Then on the grill and you get really juicy barbecued chicken. Or take them out and throw them in the deep fryer. No breading required if you are lazy. Perfect deep fried chicken.

Here is what you do:

Step 1

Make a brine with cold water, salt AND sugar. You are aiming for quite salty water, a tad bit more than seawater. The sugar is there to give your chicken a nice golden crust when fried. Whisk until the water is clear and everything is dissolved. Add your chicken thighs and let them brine for no less than 3 hours, but preferable no more than six.

Step 2

Take the chicken out and steam them. So you either put them in your (if you have one) rice cooker with steaming facility, your steamer gadget or the little metal petal for your pots (like this). 

Fill the steamer with water and let the bird steam for 20 minutes.

Take out, put onto a plate or into a dish, cover with clingfilm and let it rest overnight in the fridge.

You are now either ready to proceed (if you plan a BBQ tonight), and which case just use your usual marinade, or put them into a freezer bag and into the freezer. You will notice that you can now fit far more chicken into your freezer than if they were raw.

That`s all to it.

And, don’t throw the water from within the steamer away. It is a perfect base for a chicken soup. So do freeze it as well.

The (unrelated) recipe

Ayam Goreng

Not really unrelated since this another, but similar, method to make very good deep fried chicken.

Ayam Goreng means exactly this, deep fried chicken, and is what you get on street markets all over Asia. Especially Indonesia and Malaysia.

The method is insofar similar that the chicken is made “unraw” in a spicy and salty liquid, cooled and then just thrown into the deep fryer. But it is not steamed, it is poached (perfect if you have a slow cooker!) and thus gives a different texture and taste. It tastes less like chicken than the steaming and brining method, since the other flavours do their magic.
But it is really good, especially if you like fried chicken with an Asian twist.

You can do the poaching base anyway you like. The traditional method is making a paste with the spices, heating that paste in a pan, add coconut milk and, once the two mingle, add your chicken.

Or you throw all ingredients for the liquid into a food processor and make a slurry.

But since I used to make them in the slow cooker, I just threw all the ingredients in the crockpot and let them cosy up to each other for 2 hours on low. The advantage of this method is that you can sieve the liquid later and have a wonderful base for a coconut chicken soup.

2 chicken thighs

1 tablespoon salt

1/2 teaspoon chilli powder (omit if you don’t want it very spicy)

1 tin of coconut milk

2 shallots, peeled and chopped

2 cloves of garlic, peeled and smashed

1 knob of ginger or galangal (no need to peel)

2-4 bird's eye chillies, leave whole

2 kaffir lime leaves

2 sticks of lemongrass

1 tsp tamarind paste

1 tsp rock sugar (or kandis)

Throw all the ingredients (bar the chicken) into a pan and heat through. Let them cook for about 5 minutes, but don’t boil them or the coconut might split (if you use a crockpot, use your ”high” setting for this). Once it is hot and starts to smell divine, add the chicken and turn down your heat to the lowest setting (think of the chicken having a long warm bath without bubbles). One the chicken is cooked through (depending on your method anything between 30 minutes to 2 hours), take the thighs out and let firm up in the fridge.
Once you are ready to roll heat the oil. Traditionally you ought to use coconut oil, but this is quite expensive. In my experience a good natural rapeseed or groundnut oil (which is peanut oil so don’t use it if you have an allergy) does the trick too.

Once the oil is hot enough, throw the chicken in and fry until golden brown. Enjoy!

P.S. If you don’t like the richness of coconut milk in that recipe but still want a bit of the taste, use coconut water instead. It also makes it less calorie dense.

Grilled Aubergine and Egg. Persian Mirza Ghassemi

Southwesterly 6, backing southeasterly 6 to gale 8, then becoming cyclonic later.

Moderate or rough, occasionally slight at first.

Occasional rain.

Good, occasionally poor.

 

The other day I was contemplating if this blog needs a recipe index. Sure, if you look up into the left corner you find a search. So you can type in an ingredient and see if it has been covered. But an index would be cool. My only fear was that it would be too heavy on certain ingredients, while others wont be covered. Just to proof my point I typed in “Aubergine” and, since this is probably my favourite vegetable, expected many recipes. TWO. And both with aubergine as an ingredient among many others. The idea was discarded for the day and I went out to buy aubergines.

And by sheer coincidence I was yesterday at a place where the reception area had a sign: “Fresh local organic eggs; just leave the money in the box”. The eggs were stamped as having been laid on the 5.03. Eggs which are two days old. I am pretty sure I never had fresher eggs. So it is an aubergine egg dish then.

Mirza Ghassemi (or Mirza Ghasemi) is actually a starter, but like its cousin Baba Ghanoush it can easily result in a lunch for the single household. Or a light supper.

But I am thinking more like breakfast. A brunch dish for a lazy day, very much like its sister, the Sakshuka.

It is dead easy to make, albeit a bit more time consuming than the Sakshuka since the aubergines need to go either on the grill or into the oven, the latter can take up to one hour.

On the other hand nothing stops you from banging the aubergines into the oven in the evening, watch your favourite show and turn it off after one hour. And the next morning you are free to roll. Or, put them on in the morning, go for a bike ride or walk the dog, and treat yourself later to an excellent late breakfast.

As to my choice of spice: Mirza Ghassemi is very forgiving in your personal choice and everyone has their own take on it. Tumeric is very common (I omitted it here since I did not want a “beige” dish but something red and vibrant), dried Aleppo peppers for the ones who like it hot, cumin and coriander, maybe a sprinkle of cinnamon, zaatar or thyme. 

But there is, since some months, a “new kid on the block”. Baharat is, like Zaatar, a spice mixture but the flavours are warm, savoury and sweet and more exotic. Like One Thousand and One Nights (commonly referred to as “Arabian nights”) on a plate. The Jordanian equivalent to Garam Massala.

Despite it being a newcomer, it is now available in all major supermarkets. However, if you are after good quality, may I suggest the online retailer Terra Rossa. Apart from having high quality olive oil, their spices are really good.

But feel free to experiment with your own spices or make your own Baharat.

The recipe below is quite generous and substantial for one; however I doubt it serves two as a breakfast. But you will manage. I did.

Mirza Ghassemi

1 medium aubergine or 2 slim Middle Eastern aubergines

1 tin chopped tomatoes (you don’t have to use your best, Cirio Chopped Tomatoes will do)

1 tablespoons olive oil

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 teaspoon Baharat (or spices of your choice, see above)

1 sprinkle of dried Aleppo flakes (optional)

2 eggs

1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

A few sprigs of flat leaf parsley

To serve: Pita bread

Preheat your oven to 200 C and once this temperature has been reached, put the aubergines on a baking tray and bake for about 40 minutes or until very tender (If it is summer and you have the grill on, use the residual heat (once you have eaten) for your aubergines for a nice charcoal taste).

In the mean time mince the garlic and puree by pressing down with your fork (or use a pestle and mortar and give it a good bashing).

Once the aubergines are ready, take them out of the oven and let them rest for five minutes, then just peel the skin off. Chop finely with a knife or mix in a blender.

Put your pan on low heat and add the olive oil and the garlic. Warm the pan very gently and let the garlic get very slight yellow. Add the tomatoes, the salt and pepper, the chilli flakes and the Baharat. Cook for 10 minutes.

Add the smashed aubergines and cook for another 5-10 minutes. If it gets too dry, add a slash of water. Once the aubergine- tomato mixture smells divine and looks like a puree or dip, take two spoons from it out of the pan and put into a big mug. Let it cool slightly.

Add to these two spoonfuls the two eggs and mix them under the puree. Ideally they should not start to cook since the puree is no longer warm, but this extra step prevents curdling.

Add this egg-tomato-aubergine puree to the pan, stir constantly for 2 minutes, then turn off the heat and add the lemon juice. Put into a plate, sprinkle with the parsley and, if desired, add another glug of your very best olive oil.

Serve with Pita bread and use your fork to pile it on the bread like a generous dip. Eat and repeat.

Verdict:

Bloody hell, this is good. Move over Sakshuka!

Pho! Pho! Pho! Vegetarian Pho!

Variable 3 or 4, becoming north 4 or 5, increasing 6 later.

Smooth or slight, occasionally moderate.

Showers.

Good, occasionally moderate.

 

 

Most Vegetarians have a dish which really stretches their resolve. I have a friend, a Vegetarian for 40 years, who is not at all tempted by whatever you offer here. However she visits once every three years her home country, Germany, and there she succumbs to “Leberkaes”.  

She wont touch any other meat product and it happens only every three years, but she cant resist this particular siren. 

Another friend found his formidable opponent in the shape of a chorizo. My youngest son walks a bit faster if he passes a chicken on a grill. My daughter is fond of Yorkshire pudding, cooked in lard.
For me it was always Pho. Dont get me wrong, I am by no means a full blown Vegetarian. Even when I did not eat anything meaty or fish, I always used anchovies, fish and oyster sauce. As I said several times I try to avoid meat products if there is an equal scrumptious Vegetarian alternative.  And there are plenty. But sometimes there are none. And so far Pho was one of them.
I am a soup person and I try constantly to make my ever changing list of the best ten soups of the world. While the order is up to daily changes, the list consist of a variety of influences. From a French onion soup, an Italian Pappa al pomodore, a Scottish Cullen Skink, an American Clam chowder, a Malaysian Laksa Lemak, a Thai Tom Yam, a bourride..the list is endless. But there is one soup which tops them all, a Vietnamese Pho. Spicy, scrumptious beef stock, filled with noodles and garnished with many herbs, beansprouts and lime juice..there is no better way to start the day. Or end it. Or have as a lunch.

When I was working in Vietnam I had it daily. Most of the times for breakfast, but if not for breakfast, than later in the day. And I still cook it once per week. But it is beef and no amount of trial could convince me that there is a Vegetarian alternative. Until recently when I looked for alternatives to finally tackle the disappointing issue of the so called vegetable stock.

My mistake was that I only looked at vegetables and never at fruit and vegetables. Once I got there, through a website on Huế fod, the Vegetarian Pho was there. As satisfying as any meat product. It sounded so bizarre and I tweaked it a bit but only after I realised that the structural concept is correct.  I have broken it down for you in case you don’t want to try a Vegetarian option. Just replace step one with a beef broth and swap in the soup “assembly” the pieces of tofu with the beef. May I suggest that you have a look in your Chinese supermarket, in the fridge selection, if there is any “five spice brisket”. Use it. If it is not there, just make your normal beef stock.

Oh, and the photo is not mine. My piece of shit called a camera broke finally down so I had to find a picture which was labelled “allowed for reuse”. The darker slices which look like meat are “fake duck”. While “fake duck” is really good, you don’t need it in my recipe. And please don’t be disheartened by the list of ingredients or steps. It is really simple.

Vegetarian Pho

Step one, the stock

1 tart apple

1 pear

1 carrot

1 baby leek

5 radishes or half of a daikon radish

1 shallot

1 fermented garlic

1 litre water

2 tbsp salt

1 tsp rock sugar or Kandis

2-3 dried porcini, unsoaked

Step two, the special Pho aroma

1 knob ginger (about 5 cm) sliced but not peeled

2 star anise

2 cinnamon stick

2 cardamom pods with their shells

2 shallots

Step three, the assembly

50 gr tofu skin or "mock duck", soaked in warm water 15 mins

100 gr tofu deep-fried and cut into bite-size

200 gr fresh shitake mushrooms

100 gr dried flat rice noodle

20 gr sawtooth herbs chopped (optional since it is really tricky to get)

20 gr Thai basil

100 gr bean sprouts, blanched

1 lime, cut into quarters

1 red bird eye chilli, cut in small pieces.

Fish sauce

Hoisin sauce

Sriracha

Cut the vegetables and fruits into small pieces.  Add to the water, dried mushrooms, fermented garlic, sugar and salt. Bring to a boil and then lower the heat to simmer for 30 minutes.

Make the special Pho trade mark: Cut the shallots in half (no need to peel) and put, cut side down into a pan. Fry without oil until the shallots omit a charred flavour. Add the other aroma ingredients and let them roast as well. About 2 minutes. Add the aromas to the stock and continue to cook all for another 30 minutes.

In a separate pan cook the rice noodles according to instructions and dump into ice water after they are done. This prevents them to get soggy and overcooked.

Fry the tofu, the tofu skin (if you use it) and blanche the bean sprouts. Slice and fry the mushrooms.

Assemble the bowl: Noodles, tofu, mushrooms. Make a separate plate where you put the beansprouts, the lime, the herbs and the chilli. Make another small plate where you add a bit of the hoisin sauce and the Sriracha.

In Vietnam you will get three sets: One with a bowl full of noodles, broth and beef (or tofu and mushrooms), one plate with the “vegetables” and a third small plate where you can put your favourite condiment.

 Put the finished stock through a sieve and capture the broth with a bowl. Discard of the contents of the sieve and ladle half of the stock into your bowl. Adjust for personal taste with lime juice and/or fish sauce. Let it warm for a minute.

Before you eat you add a bit of the bean sprouts, herbs, and chilli into the soup. This is no pretentious food wankery. The saw tooth herb and Thai basil turn black if they are too long in a hot broth and Vietnamese food is all about freshness. Take a piece of tofu or meat and dip it into either the Hoisin or Chilli sauce. Then get with your spoon the noodles, broth, beansprouts, herbs and chilli and slurp them. Add another small amount of beansprouts and/or herbs and repeat.

It may sound complicated and I really tried to get a video to show it to you. But there is none. All there is are videos from people doing it wrong. The worst is one from Anthony Bourdain who throws everything in and tops it with chilli sauce. No wonder the guy next to him looks horrified. It is quite astonishing that a chef doesn’t question why another chef did not put everything in the first place. Hey dude, there is a reason for three plates. And it is not that Asian people like doing the washing up. Actually I found one. Notice how some people don’t use any of the condiments while others eat just the bit where they added the herb or beansprouts.

Freeze the other half of the stock for another Pho experience.