Noah Wilson's (In) Famous Chili-Garlic-Ginger Paste

My friend Noah Wilson has submitted me his excellent recipe for Asian style chili-garlic-ginger paste. I speak for most of us by proclaiming "nom".

Noah's (In)Famous Chili-Garlic-Ginger Paste

Your cast of characters.

-1.5 tsp. each: *chilis*, *garlic* and *ginger*, finely minced

All fresh - no powders or pre-chopped/dried, etc.; the heat of the chilies is up to you... I prefer fresh cayenne with seeds in, or Italian cherry peppers, or Habaneros for big heat; the pics are with a good jalapeno, since it's winter and ripe chilies are hard to come by.

-approx 3/8tsp each: *honey* and *neutral oil*

(safflower oil is my fave - and if you measure/pour the oil first, the honey won't stick to your measuring spoon!)

-approx 1/8tsp each: *coarse sea salt*, *rice wine or cider vinegar*

Mortar and Pestle (if you've got a real, i.e. big, one) or a Food Processor



Prep garlic, ginger and chili pepper,

-really do be sure to finely mince them if using mortar and pestle; remember, when you're grinding by hand, life is a lot easier when you do the big stuff with a sharp knife and not a dull stone.

Place fresh ingredients into mortar or processor bowl, half at a time (or less if you're not a proficient grinder), with equivalent ratio of coarse sea salt. Grind until a rough paste begins to form. Note the presence of a thick potholder under the mortar and pestle in my pictures? There's a reason why - keeps the noise down, and the counter-tops unmarred.




Then add oil, honey and vinegar, and you will see the paste start to become creamy and well combined. Continue to grind until it is fairly homogeneous (see later pictures.) Taste for seasoning and adjust - more ginger, more garlic, more heat, more sweet, more salt, etc.



Eat immediately by the spoonful, on crusty bread, in your ramen, on your eggs, on your birthday cake... or save some for later in a glass jar in the fridge. Since there's a combination of garlic and oil going on here, botulism is a concern. Eat it within three days.

If you haven't managed to take care of business by then, just add it to a stir-fry, bowl of noodles, or salad dressing (great with chopped napa cabbage, carrots and radish, a-la kim-chee - just a little extra vinegar, salt and oil 'n you're golden.)

Add cilantro and cumin/coriander for a lovely Indian version; coconut milk, kaffir lime, fish sauce and lemon grass for a thai delight... have fun and experiment! Great with crusty semolina bread, on roasted veggies, on shrimp or fish... the possibilities are nigh well endless...

Shrimp Vindaloo: It's Actually Sorta Portuguese!

Vindaloo is an Indian dish that's particularly common in Goa - the well known Indian "vindaloo" derives from the Portuguese dish Carne de Vinha d' Alhos, which was adapted with tons of spices to the Indian palate. Today's vindaloo is defined primarily by the addition of vinegar - red wine vinegar traditionally - and a considerable amount of chili. Although vindaloo is traditionally prepared with pork, shrimp can be easily substituted, as I've done here. Vindaloo isn't all that common in India - in fact, I don't remember seeing it on the menu anywhere - but it sure as hell is good and worthy of addition to your recipe roster. This particular recipe is from the Cooking Club cookbook, and it's pretty darn easy (and good).

You will need (for 4 servings):



1 teaspoon whole cloves
1 teaspoon black mustard seeds
2 teaspoons garam masala
1 teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 to 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/3 cup white wine vinegar
1/3 cup tamarind concentrate/paste
4 cloves garlic
2 tablespoons chopped ginger root
1 tablespoon ghee or vegetable oil
1 to 2 pounds shrimp
1 teaspoon salt
Fresh black pepper
1 large onion, sliced
1/2 cup water
1/2 of a 14.5 oz can of diced tomatoes, with juice
7 curry leaves/ 2 bay leaves
1 tsp sugar
1 red bell pepper cut into 1 inch pieces



Get yourself a small skillet and heat it over medium heat. Add the cloves and mustard seeds, and dry roast them til' they get fragrant - about 2 minutes.



Put the cloves and mustard seeds into a blender jar, along with the garam masala, turmeric, cinnamon, cayenne, vinegar, tamarind, garlic, and ginger. Blend it all at a nice high speed until it's turned into something approximating a liquid.



Now, heat up the ghee or oil, and brown the shrimp. Once they're pretty much done, stick them in a bowl. The aim is to get some nice flavoring on them.



Next, saute the onions and get them caramelized - this will take around 10 or 12 minutes. Be patient. Once that's done, toss in the spice paste and saute until they're fragrant, around 2 minutes.



Then, add the water, red pepper, tomatoes, curry leaves, and sugar, and bring it all to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium low and simmer for about 20 minutes or so. Once done, it should look about like this.




Serve it up with some yogurt raita (recipe forthcoming,) and some other Indian veggie dish - this roasted cauliflower, potato, and pea dish with Indian spices was a delicious addition. The tomato chutney I talked about earlier also goes nicely - not surprising. Go forth, my brethren, and cook Indian tonight.

Shrimp Bhuna with Okra from the Crescent City Farmer's Market Cookbook

Shrimp and Okra Bhuna from the Crescent City Farmers Market Cookbook



New Orleans food activist and farmers market advocate Poppy Tooker has released the Crescent City Farmers Market Cookbook of late, and it's already making a splash around town. 13 years in the making, Tooker gathered excellent recipes from the producers and customers at downtown's Tuesday and Saturday farmers markets, putting together an interesting mix of local favorites, gourmet treats, and international specialities with a particularly Louisiana inflection. Interesting profiles of local producers and farmers market sellers are also included in the text - because it's always good to know the story behind your latest supper. And even better to know that story isn't "factory farmed and dumped into a microwaveable freezer bag with a cartoon character on it."



I've got the book, and I believe that it's a great buy for anyone with a passion for both New Orleans cuisine and local ingredients. I'm very much looking forward to cooking my way through this book in the coming months, and I'm glad to have a fresh and local resource to work from (because the human body can only take so much clarified butter.) Check out the recipes for sautéed drum with spinach, oysters, shiitakes and Virginia ham, Latin inflected chilaquiles en salsa verde, or Gator-Tater salad and tell me you wouldn't like to play around with this cookbook a lot. Didn't think so.

Local Louisiana ingredients happen to go startlingly well with Indian cuisine, and this recipe from the now defunct Shalimar is easy and tasty. Louisiana-India cross cultural exchange? Taste it right here.

Shrimp and Okra Bhuna

1/2 cup yogurt
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 teaspoons olive oil
1/2 teaspoon paprika
pinch of turmeric
cayenne pepper
salt
1 pound shrimp peeled/deveined
4 tablespoons corn oil, divided (I didn't use this.)
4 button mushrooms
1 medium onion, sliced
1 medium green bell pepper in strips
1/4 tsp cumin powder
1/4 teaspoon coriander powder
1/4 teaspoons chopped fresh garlic
pinch of turmeric
Cayenne
Salt
1 diced tomato
1 tablespoon chopped cilantro
1 cup cut okra




In a bowl, combine the paprika, the yogurt, the lemon juice, the turmeric powder, cayenne, and salt. Mix it up then put in the shrimp, then chill for three or four hours. (If in a hurry, 20 minutes or so is acceptable in my experience.)

Heat 2 tablespoons of the oil in a wok or pan over high heat - I used a pan and it worked fine. Toss in the mushrooms, the onion, the bell pepper, the cumin, the coriander, the garlic, the turmeric, the cayenne, and the salt. Cook this and add a little water if stuff starts to get scorching.



When the veggies are done, toss in the shrimp, tomato, cilantro and yogurt. This will create a nice creamy overtone to the curry. Reduce heat and cook for two or three minutes, until the shrimp are pink and complete.



Now, it's time to cook the okra. Heat up your oil until it's hot, then throw in the okra and fry until browned - this can take a bit.



Once the okra is browned,, toss it into the the shrimp and vegetable mixture and stir to meld the flavors. Congratulations, you're done. Serve the bhuna with fresh basmati rice and a cucumber and tomato salad or the tasty pear slaw from the cookbook. Don't forget to put plenty of hot sauce on the table. Crystal will work just fine.

Recipe from the Crescent City Farmer's Market Cookbook

Creole Okra from Cooking Up A Storm: Tasty!

Creole Okra



This is a recipe from Cooking Up A Storm, a new cookbook compiled by the food editors of the New Orleans Times Picayune. The cookbook is great: it's made up of recipes requested by readers of the Times Picayune, attempting to gather up the beloved New Orleans recipes that had been lost to the storm or simply lost to history. Judy Walker and Marcelle Bienvenu, the cookbooks editors, combed through these recipes to include the most popular and the just plain best - and the result is an excellent cookbook, full of the good stuff that people really eat in New Orleans.

Being an okra fiend, I decided to try out the Creole Okra for my first experiment from the book. The results? Delicious.

INGREDIENTS:
1 lb okra
2 tablespoons olive or vegetable oil or butter if you're bad
1 onion
2 cloves of minced garlic
1 8 oz can of tomato sauce
1 chopped tomato (my addition)
1 chicken bouillon cube (trust me)
1 cup water
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1 tsp dried basil (I also used about three sprigs of fresh basil.)
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 to 1 pound shrimp or spicy sausage, or both!




Cut up your okra - I like to slice them in half for easier eating - and wash the heck out of them. This helps de-slime them a bit. You may also want to prepare your chicken bouillon: dissolve it in one cup of boiling water. You can cheat and do this in the microwave. I won't tell.



Toss the okra in a big pan and brown them on all sides, heat on high. They may create a mildly distressing slime slick around them but this is perfectly normal. It is just their way.



Add the onions and garlic, as well as the chopped tomato, and sauté until soft and translucent. (I also added some sliced baby portobello mushrooms, which may be a crime, but a tasty crime.)



Once that looks satisfactory, toss in your 8 oz can of tomato sauce and stir it all up. You will also want to toss in the dissolved bouillon.



Add the salt, the pepper, the dried and fresh basil, and the garlic powder if you are so inclined. If you like it spicy, toss in as many shakes of Crystal hot sauce as required. You should now have something that looks like this. Cover, reduce the heat to a simmer, and cook for 30 to 45 minutes.



If you are using shrimp or sausage, you will want to add it in the last 10 minutes of cooking. I used some nice little gulf shrimp - I sauteed them briefly with some Cajun spices then tossed them into the mix.



And here's what you should have at the end of 45 minutes. De-licious.

Serve over rice or pasta or whatever floats your boat. Leave out the meat and you've got a great hearty side dish - keep the meat in and you've got an easy one dish meal with some real Louisiana flavor. You really can't lose.

HOW TO MAKE BHINDI MASALA

Bhindi masala is one of my favorite Indian dishes. Okra, often maligned in American cuisine, is transformed by the addition of Indian spices into as delicious a vegetable as can be imagined. I ate bhindi masala all across India and became quite a connoisseur: I realized, upon my return to the USA, that I was simply going to have to learn to make it myself. Which I did. And now I will tell you. This is a very simple bhindi masala, a rather half-assed variant on a dish that can get very tasty and rich indeed. I use no ghee, I don't grind the spices myself, and I generally exist in a state of pleasant and American laziness. I still think it tastes pretty good. I'll also show you how to make some simple Indian spinach - now that's easy.




First, you are going to need some okra. If everyone present really really likes bhindi, a good pound should feed around three people with leftovers. If there are people present who consider okra to be an agent of Satan, budget for less. Of course, you may convert them.



Cut the bhindi. I like to slice them in half - I think it makes them cook faster. Now, and this is VERY IMPORTANT, wash the heck out of these guys. Wash them once, wash them twice, wash them again. This helps eliminate quite a bit of the dreaded slime factor. You should also chop two whole tomatoes while you're at it.



Cut a white onion , throw it in a pan, and saute until it all starts getting clear. This should be self evident.



Next, throw in about 1 and a half teaspoons of minced garlic and ginger. Add more or less depending on personal preference: I often up the ginger. Cook this briefly until the garlic starts to color.



Now you'll be adding your spices. Toss in: 1/2 teaspoon of turmeric, 2 teaspoons of coriander, and 2 teaspoons of cumin. Mix it up. DO NOT ADD SALT: it makes okra slimier during the cooking process.



Now add your two chopped tomatoes. Stir, mix up, get a bit of heat on them.



The big moment! Toss in your bhindi, as well as a teaspoon or two of garam masala. Add a bit of water if the mixture looks too dry. Cook on heat for about four minutes or so, stirring continuously. Then, turn the heat down to low and cover. Bhindi is best if cooked for about 20 minutes. Check on it and stir occasionally.



Bam! This is what you should end up with. It is now okay to add salt: it will not activate your bhindi's sliminess receptors.

But that's not all! Here's how I do super-fast Indian spinach.



Get yourself a white onion and slice that sucker up. Throw it in a pan or wok and stir-fry until clear. Add 1 and a half teaspoons of ginger and garlic, respectively. You may also add some whole mustard seeds. If desired, slice and add a tomato, and stir-fry for a bit.



Once that's all together, add your spinach. You will probably need about one bag of spinach a person, depending on the spinach-loving proclivities of your guests. Keep on adding in clumps as it cooks down.



Cook until it wilts and ta-da, you're done! If I was doing this real-Indian style, I'd cook it much longer and run it through a food processor, and add some ghee or milk or cream.

There you go: vegetarian Indian food that any idiot can cook. Go forth and eat!