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Curry and Spice and Everything Nice

Big Business

           Before traveling anywhere, it is always a good idea to research its history and get a basic understanding of the culture. One of the biggest historical influences on Indian culture came during the late 1700’s from the British-run East India Trading Company. Not only was this company the equivalent of today’s corporate giants, but it also had military-like control over parts of the Indian subcontinent. The British essentially annexed India and appointed a General-Governor to ensure their rule was complete. Due to this, India has a lot of British influence and interaction. One of the many ways this can be demonstrated is by looking at some Indian cuisine. One of the most famous Indian dishes that is cooked by people around the world is chicken tikka masala. This dish uses Indian spices with a Western twist to combine the ingredients in a complex construct of flavors that really pack a punch. Although there are many variations, as with most cuisine, the general formula for the dish includes marinating chicken in yogurt mixed with spices such as fresh garlic, ginger, turmeric, curry powder, cumin, garam masala, and chile peppers. After marinating the chicken for several hours, it is braised and chunked before being added to a sauce consisting of cream and tomato paste with onions and more of the same spices. Although this dish is very different from anything we consider to be “normal” in the West, it is quite delicious. Below, is a picture of my chicken after marinating it for 5 hours.

No Harm, No Foul

           Another highly influential aspect of Indian culture is religion. Although there are likely representatives from all religious affiliations, two of the most prevalent religious factions in India are Hindu and Muslim. One of the heavily emphasized aspects of Hinduism is to do no harm. Therefore, this results in a lot of vegan/vegetarian dishes from the areas influenced heavily by Hinduism. The Muslims, although they eat meat, refrain from pork as per their customs. Therefore, meat is not a very important part of these dishes. Many Indian dishes can be made without meat and still taste very good. One such dish is aloo gobi. ‘Aloo’ is Urdu for potato and ‘gobi’ means cauliflower. This dish is essentially just diced potatoes and cauliflower florets with garlic and almost identical spices to the tikka masala. Somehow the cauliflower almost perfectly replicates the texture of the potatoes and the flavors mix very well. I made mine a little hotter than I meant to by adding a little too much red chile flakes, however it was still very good. The picture below shows my two dishes on the stove both cooking at the same time.

Peace and Harmony

           One of my personally favorite aspects of Hinduism is the belief that the more control you attempt to have, the more suffering you will experience. Funny enough, these dishes reminded me again and again of this. There was such a complex balance of spices, and every time I would taste them as they were cooking it seemed as if one aspect of the blend slightly overpowered the rest. I had to keep trying to add more of one thing or the other in an attempt to perfect the flavor. In the end I really still didn’t have the whole thing perfect and I gave up trying. I realized that there was more meaning to the meal than just the taste of the food. It was about breaking bread and sharing sustenance with those around me. About being aware of ourselves and acknowledging that the world is constantly moving and changing all around us. It can be scary at times, but also kind of liberating to know that we can’t really control anything. So, take a small lesson from the Indian culture and just try to liberate yourself from the constant struggle for control that is so ever-present in the West.

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Human Rights and Hungry Mouths

The Apartheid Regime

           This time around, we took our taste buds on a trip down to South Africa. For this meal, I chose two different dishes commonly found in South African cuisine and did my best to accommodate the recipes during our little quarantine. I chose to make boerewors (BO-ruh-vors) which is a yummy South African version of hot dogs, as well as Durban Chicken Curry. These are two dishes that reflect the cultural heritage of South Africa due to the history of the country and its food. Many have heard of ‘apartheid’, yet many don’t really know what it is. An apartheid is an enforced segregation based on race. During the mid-1900’s there was a political regime in South Africa that enforced racial segregation. The whites, mostly of Dutch and British descent, considered the South Asian or Indian population to be inferior to them as well as considering the Africans to be even below the Indians. This was all due to skin color. Due to this unfortunate circumstance, the Indians were treated better than the Africans and therefore were the ones that had the ability to feed groups of people and could meet in groups undisturbed. This meant a lot of intermingling between the Indians and Africans in the Indians’ homes where the Africans were influenced heavily by the curry and other Indian spices. Many dishes in South African cuisine have curry and other Indian spices incorporated into them. Pictured below is a my plate with both dishes on it.

Braai

           As I mentioned earlier, boerewors is like South African hot dogs. However, when grilling out in South Africa, there is a method used that is called braai. It is just like grilling but they only use charcoal or wood to fuel the fire rather than electric. So obviously it would be close to impossible to make my own boerewors sausage so I got a plain ring sausage at the supermarket and slathered it with a special sauce blend I whipped up. I just melted butter, added a splash of malt vinegar, some curry powder, coriander, nutmeg, and black pepper and then brushed it over the whole coiled up sausage. I grilled it on charcoal to replicate the braai grilling style and grilled it as a whole sausage coil as pictured below. This was the closest way to making them South African style as I could do with some of the grocery limitations occurring during the quarantine. Braai is a very prominent holiday cooking festivity similar to barbecues in the U.S.

Hot vs. Spicy

           I feel that it is important to note that there is a difference between ‘hot’ and ‘spicy’, so before I go on, I will explain the difference. When something burns your mouth like a hot pepper, it is hot. When something has nutmeg or cloves or cinnamon or ginger, it isn’t hot but it is spicy. This seemingly miniscule difference actually can become a big one when writing if your words aren’t chosen carefully. Therefore, I will say that the curried chicken was both hot and spicy. Simmering the chicken in cumin, coriander, curry, cinnamon, tomatoes, potatoes, onion, ginger, garlic, and cayenne powder (pictured below) was definitely resulted in a combination I never would have come up with on my own. It was quite unique and delicious. It was sweet and savory, yet spicy and had just a little hot to it. I can’t say it was like anything I’ve ever eaten before. I can just imagine an old Indian lady cooking for a group of all races in a tiny kitchen in South Africa as everyone plans protests and resistances to protect their human rights together. Fortunately, this story has a good ending. The South African government was converted to a democracy in the late 90’s. I believe this dish and its combination of such a wide variety of unique flavors symbolizes the assimilation of multiple cultures together to form a complex and beautiful blend of “flavors”. It was a wonderful insight into the trials and tribulations of another culture and the beauty that can result from a resolution in conflict.

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Venture Down to Ecuador

Venture Down to Ecuador

About Ecuador

           For this culinary adventure, we chose to take our taste buds on a trip to the northern South American country of Ecuador. This country is known for its strong Latin roots and its beautiful coastline. Due to its well-known coastal area, a lot of the prominent food in Ecuador is very colorful, exotic, and tropical. That is why we chose to make fritada de chancho, onion and tomato curtido, and fried plantains. These dishes gave us a wide variety of color and taste to simulate the authentic feeling of traditional Ecuadorian food. Additionally, I had the wonderful opportunity to have the company of a close friend, Ally, who is originally from Ecuador (pictured below). Ally came to the U.S. as a child with her family, but they still are a heavily traditional family when it comes to home life. For this reason, I put her in charge of helping with the fried plantains and she also helped make sure that I was cooking everything else properly.

The Food Culture

           Due to its tropical nature, Ecuadorian food is very colorful and vibrant. This provides a lot of insight into how vivid and intense the culture can be. Ecuador is also from the Global South which can be known for its more interdependent culture as well as lower economic status. The strong flavors and fresh ingredients show how valuable not just powerful tastes are, but also their dependence on others. There was no way I would have been able to complete this meal without the help of my partner Anthony and our guest Ally. They did a wonderful job and even made the dish that I liked the most, which was the onion and tomato curtido. This meal was also fairly cheap as well. Most of the vegetables and ingredients were very common, easy-to-obtain things that didn’t cost an arm or a leg. However, the ingredients were combined in a way that I’ve never even considered. I will say that using orange juice to cook pork was a very interesting discovery as well as eating fried plantains for the first time. The pork was sweet and savory from the onions, garlic, and orange juice that it was simmered and reduced in. The curtido was very tangy from the lime juice and the combination of red onions and tomatoes. The plantains were phenomenal and, in my opinion, tastes better than fried potatoes (sorry French fries).

           My plan going forward is to experiment much more with Ecuadorian cuisine because I loved it all so much. I was so thankful for Ally’s know-how and assistance with the food. It is times like these where you get to reflect and think about what you really truly appreciate. I think one thing the people of Ecuador and I definitely have in common is pride in strong friendships. In the future, I hope to have Ally join again so I can learn more from her and grow in our friendship together.

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Traditional Korean Beef Bulgogi

What is Bulgogi?

           When considering Korean BBQ, one of the first and most iconic dishes that comes to mind is bulgogi. For those unaware, bulgogi (bool-GOH-gee) is a sweet and savory dish made with small slices of either beef, pork, or chicken. It can be prepared in many different ways and marinated with a wide variety of ingredients. The most common ingredients being honey, sugar, soy sauce, garlic, and sesame seed oil. Some prefer to add spicy ingredients, some add fresh fruit. One beauty of this tasty dish is its flexibility in flavor while still maintaining a distinct general process. Bulgogi is typically grilled, although pan-searing is another method that is used fairly often. The meat is marinated in this combination of ingredients for typically anywhere from an hour to overnight. The picture beneath is my beef marinating for dinner. Another common practice is to pour the thick sauce over the rice and eating them together rather than separate.

Bulgogi for Dinner

           Traditionally, Koreans would originally eat bulgogi with family and friends when they went out to eat. It was a typical cuisine eaten during gatherings and special occasions. It is a frequent practice for those eating bulgogi to also feed each other. This is something quite uncommon in the U.S. Most American people don’t go out in public and feed others, regardless of whether they are friends or not. This goes to show the close, familiar, interdependent relationships that people of Eastern culture tend to form. This interdependence favors strong relationships with the individuals in your life over personal and private success for definition of self. It is popular in Korean culture for friends and family to go to restaurants where people are seated around a grill with marinated bulgogi is ready to be cooked. The people proceed to cook and share the meat while enjoying the social interaction of dining with the people that they care about. Eastern culture in general values personal relationships over individual aspirations. This offers a lot of insight into the value given to interpersonal relationships in Korean culture. Although the idea of breaking bread with friends is common in most cultures, this mindset of valuing your relationships with others over personal desires can be very foreign to a Westerner such as an American. We depend so highly on our independence and stress our individuality in Western cultures that we often get too caught up in what we want to do to consider how our actions and lifestyles affect those around us.

Reflecting on Our Meal

           As much as the photo above showing our beef bulgogi meal with friends might seem like we do this all the time, this group of people have never all shared a meal together. Anthony and I had the pleasure of creating our own sort of “special occasion” by bringing all these people together who normally wouldn’t hang out together. Not only was the food tasty, but the dinnertime conversation was very interesting. I guess one could say that we embodied the social spirit associated with Korean culture for a night. This experience offered wonderful insight into how bulgogi has brought people together to enjoy good food and good company for such a long time.

References:

“Korean Food Storytelling.” Korean Food Foundation, web.archive.org/web/20170227231653/www.hansik.org/en/board.do?cmd=view&bbs_id=211&menu=PEN3020000&lang=en&art_id=37066.

 “Bulgogi.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 14 Jan. 2020, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bulgogi.