Hot Tomale!

Archive for May, 2009

A recent AP newswire story reported the consumer group, Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), has found that the typical Chinese restaurant menu is full of bad nutritional properties.

For example, a plate of General Tsao’s chicken is loaded with about 40 percent more sodium, and more than half the calories, of an average adult’s daily needs. The battered, fried chicken dish with vegetables tallies out to 1,300 calories, 3,200 milligrams of sodium and 11 grams of saturated fat. That’s before the rice, which is 200 calories a cup. And, if you order the egg rolls, you add on 200 calories and 400 milligrams of sodium.

- Across the board, American restaurants need to cut back on calories and salt, and, in the meantime, people should think of each meal as not one, but two, and bring home half for tomorrow, said Center for Science in the Public Interest’s nutrition director, Bonnie Liebman.

According to government guidelines, the average adult only needs approximately 2,000 calories a day and 2,300 milligrams of salt, which equals one teaspoon.

My name is Jon C, and I am the office chef at Dawjee. Due to health and safety regulations, the only cooking utensils we’re permitted are a rice cooker, egg steamer and combination microwave oven (it can do grills and roasts). I try to use these tools to provide our staff with cheap healthy meals. Local dining establishments serve low quality, expensive food, that can have a noticeably negative impact on the afternoon performance of my staff.

In this article I shall describe a Chinese beef recipe that I cooked a couple of weeks ago. The seasoned strips of beef provide a tasty source of protein. While the rice and vegetables complete the meal to make it healthy and balanced. It cost under £5 to feed 3 hungry workers. And one of them ate enough for two.

I shall not list quantities in the ingredients list as I just take a guess and chuck things into the pot. Just use a sensible estimate and experiment until you have the balance of flavours that you require.

Ingredients

For beef:

rump steak

ginger

garlic

sesame oil

light soya sauce

ground black pepper

Indian style chinese chili chicken in gravy, cooked with lots of onions and green chilies. Very tasty, very must eat to it. Just over a year ago Zack had his first Christmas Eve dinner with us and some of our friends here in Luna Pier. An hour prior, he called to ask, “Do I need to wear a suit? I’ve never been to one of these things!” And this-coming Easter Sunday after anchoring the 13abc morning news in Toledo (he doesn’t mind working the Christian holidays), Zack will join us with Mary’s brothers for Easter dinner.
 
I love Indo-Chinese dishes, it’s really tastes simply superb spiced up with Indian seasonings and Chinese cooking style. Last week when this here German Lutheran was holed up in a Catholic hospital, Mary found the book Cooking Jewish in the hospital’s gift shop and bought me a copy. I already love this book! There are some incredible recipes in here and while there are no photos of the completed dishes it’s not difficult to visuallize how they’d turn out. But what’s even more endearing about the book is the whole “family” aspect of the overall writing. The family tree is laid out, charts indicate which family member is related to which and how that happens (i.e., Fanny Vitner is Silvia Robbin’s mother), and a written history goes back over 100 years. Indian Chinese chili chicken is Stir fried boneless chicken in fiery curry or tossed dry.
 
Indian Chinese Fusion cooking is one of my favorite. White Chicken Chilli Recipes selected by the collective tastebuds of the masses from Group Recipes. Yesterday evening Mary made Hilda Robbins’ Cherry Chili Chicken from Cooking Jewish. When I handed him the dish from the photo at the beginning of this post he said, “I can’t eat this much before a game. I’ll throw up!” However the dish is so good he couldn’t help but eat it all as well as taking more with him. Calling after the game he said he didn’t feel nauseous at all, but instead felt he had the energy of a 12-year-old, scoring 15 points.
 
chili chicken dry is very similar to the chicken prepared by Chinese people living in India. This recipe makes a lot of food. The book says it serves 8 but take a closer look. There are two chickens 3 – 4 lbs each, each cut into eight pieces. The dishes are packed hygienically and delivered in fresh, hot condition. A few changes we made were to use golden raisins vs. dark raisins, granulated garlic instead of powdered, and a Chardonnay for the white wine. We also served it on a bed of buttered white rice. Please purchase online http://www.indomunch.com in NewYork city.

Written by m.jeya our expert of the day.

Cooking Mexican food is one of those things – you either love it or you haven’t tried it. There are so many reasons why cooking this popular cuisine is such a good, healthy choice. No, you do not have to be from Mexico to appreciate this delectable cuisine. In fact, this is a cuisine that has been gaining immensely in popularity over the past decade. And what isn’t to love?

When choosing the best in ingredients and preparation techniques, you are supporting a healthier lifestyle for yourself and your family. The foods are superbly colored to offer a taste of color to your eyes, the combined smells of onions, peppers, and fresh fruit tantalize your nostrils, and of course, the taste is unique and exquisite offering a complete meal for all of your senses.

When it comes to cooking Mexican food, you will find that there are many popular techniques. No single technique or recipe is right, but there is guaranteed to be a right one for you. With so many choices and options available, you will get the best for your time and money when you know what it is you want.

Alvin Starkman  M.A., LL.B.
 
Susana Trilling and her staff offer a marathon culinary experience of bacchanalian proportion.  Location of instruction is shared between the Wednesday Etla marketplace, and Susana’s traditionally styled, large kitchen complex near San Lorenzo Cacaotepec, a village located between Oaxaca city and the town of Etla. 
 
Susana herself needs no introduction, having established an impressive pedigree of culinary greatness dating back 30 years, the last 20 of which having been spent residing in Oaxaca. 
 
At 9 am sharp a van pulls up to a downtown Oaxaca hotel, the pre-arranged meeting place, and picks us up, an assorted group of 12 ranging in age from 9 to 60ish.  All I knew was that we were off to a local market for some tasting, a light meal and purchasing ingredients for the cooking lesson, followed by the comida we were to prepare. 
 
We arrived at the bustling and colorful Etla marketplace after about 40 minutes, and were greeted by Yolanda, a member of Susana’s staff.  It quickly became apparent that Susana would not be with us in the market.  Someone asked if Susana would be giving the class, and Yolanda’s response was somewhat affirmative:  “Yes, I think we’ll all be there for the class.”
 
Yolanda’s English was excellent, but just as important, her knowledge was extensive.  She took us for an extensive, magical market tour, explaining about the town and surrounding villages, who comes from where to attend the market, and what the region is best known for. She stopped at several outdoor stalls to provide explanations of what we were seeing, ranging from produce to cooking utensils.  Tidbits of information seeming to supplement a fixed format easily rolled off her tongue, both in response to questions asked, and of her own accord:  “Do you want to know where your chewing gum comes from, well here’s the fruit, the chico zapote.  Everybody taste it.  What do you think?”
 
Chico zapote was the first of twenty or more samplings in the market, each providing a burst of a uniquely different flavor, and accompanied by an explanation as to differences between seemingly like foodstuffs, and when and how they are customarily eaten:  a half dozen different tamales from a local vendor who attends the market with steaming offerings; distinctly different breads and rolls for dipping chocolate, making sandwiches and other traditional usages;  the three varieties of Oaxacan cheeses most commonly encountered;   ice creams known as nieves, flavored with pecan, another with lime zest, with a third being  an egg yolk – cinnamon concoction known as sorbete.
 
“Remember I explained to you about the different types of molcajetes or hand grinders for milling all kinds of things, well here’s one of the uses, to produce the zest use to make this wonderful lime ice.  Taste the freshness, and distinct difference between what you’re probably used to having made with lemon or lime juice, and what these small key limes can produce?
 
“And here’s a little tip for you, if you want your hot chocolate to be frothy, don’t boil your water and chocolate at the same time, otherwise you’ll never get that foam on top.”
 
Yolanda spends extra time identifying chiles and explaining their uses, not at all unexpected given the importance of chiles in Oaxacan cookery.  She explains the uses of the nopal cactus, and then when we walk by some fava beans she comes back to how nopal and fava can be used together.  She once again refers back to the nopal when we see mounds of prickly pear, or tuna as they’re locally knows.  She stresses which are used for eating, and which for making a fresh sweet juice or a sherbet, and from what type of cactus each is derived.
 
Our medical lesson begins with a stop by the lady with bundled fresh herbs on the ground, and continues at the booth of the vendor selling dried and boxed local remedies.  One in the group simply can’t resist the opportunity to buy a local product for whatever was ailing him.  I didn’t ask.  Another picks up a 15 peso amulet from Chiapas known as ojo de venado (literally deer’s eye), to give to a friend back home with a different infirmity.
 
“Now before we sit down for a light lunch over here, let’s sample what these women over there are pouring.”  Of course it’s tejate and chilacayota, the two most popular drinks traditionally prepared in local markets, which to the untrained tourist would normally be a no-no.  “Don’t worry, everything you eat here in this market with me is safe.”
 
We sit down alongside some locals, at a long white ceramic tile lunch counter with women at the grill behind.  Our choices are enchiladas, entomatadas and enfrijolandas, each drenched with a different salsa or mole over softened tortilla, garnished with cheese and sliced white onion. I request an extra small serving (“only one enchilada please”) but a full meal, albeit one item . . . oversized, arrives.  I eat it all anyway. 
 
“Now why don’t you all wander around on your own for a half hour, perhaps buy some things that caught your eye earlier, and we’ll meet back at the van where we started out, let’s say at 12:30.” 
 
It’s now after 1 pm.   We traverse the countryside over dirt roads en route to the Trilling kitchen, with a strong feeling of anticipation.
 
Clad in white blouse and skirt, an angelic looking Susana warmly greets each of us individually, and welcomes us into a most impressive and spacious dome-topped kitchen and dining area with adjoining gift shop. “Please, make yourself at home, we have two washrooms, there are a couple of types of fresh fruit juice, and coffee. Pick up your recipe outines.  We’ll be starting shortly.”
 
There is now a staff of five milling about, consisting of Yolanda, Peg who appears to be Susana’s administrative assistant, two kitchen staff, and Jesús, a young helper-for-all Seasons.
 
It’s now approaching 2 pm.  Susana begins her lecture regarding Oaxacan cookery, in detail explaining every recipe which is before us in a series of printed pages.  She notes that her book is for sale, about her PBS television series, and regarding the mezcal being offered as a courtesy of the house, also for sale:  “The owner of the mezcal factory is a friend of mine.” She continues:  “I’d like to introduce you to Don Alejandro Lopez Juarez, a gentleman who lives one village over, and carves and paints wooden figures together with his wife.  You know his arthritis is pretty serious now, so there’s not much work he can do.”  Don Alejandro gingerly removes from his bag and carefully unwraps about ten simple, rustic carved painted pieces, generic cattle they would appear to be, and places them on the table, for sale. 
 
We’re comfortably seated while Susana lectures for just over an hour, detailing each of the five principal recipes we’ll be creating, peppering her oratory with interesting and informative anecdotes and gems:  “No, estofado which we’ll be making today isn’t one of the seven moles, but rather a stew; however just so you’ll know, the moles are….and the difference between them and stews are….” 
 
Susana provides invaluable information about substituting one ingredient for another, helpful to both vegetarians and those who live in parts of the US or further abroad where encountering select ingredients can be challenging.  She plugs a couple of books which appear to be dear to her heart, In Defense of Food and The Omnivorous Dilemma.  She urges us to buy books at our local bookstores rather than via the internet with a view to supporting neighborhood economies.   Susana’s motivation is clearly a sincere attempt to foster patronage for worthy causes, local business,  and people for whom she cares. 
 
Yolanda hadn’t bought any ingredients for the class during the market tour.  All was displayed for us in Susana’s kitchen, for our arrival, the ingredients for each recipe laid out in a wicker basket with instruction sheet atop. As Susana begins to explain each recipe, Jesús brings over the appropriate canasta.  She details how we’ll be creating each of the following:
 
1)     A fairly complex appetizer dish from the Yucatan known as Salbutes;
2)     Green salad with jícama, guava and pumpkin seeds;
3)     Chilled chayote bisque;
4)     Spanish chicken stew with capers and olives (Oaxacan, though imported from Spain during colonial times);
5)     Layered mango pudding or “charlottle.”
 
“Now tell me who wants to make which dish, but first let me recap what we’ll be making, because I know it was a lot to take in.
 
“Let me tell you where the stations are.  Here’s the soup station, over there is the pastry department, and just so you know, we’ll be using the outside kitchen for toasting seeds since it can get pretty smoky.
“Please, couples split up.  That way you’ll get a more diverse learning experience.”
 
It’s now 3 pm, and each group of two or three begins to gather at its designated area.  Everyone mills about, initially a bit confused, but quickly realizing that the staff, in particular the two women assistants, are there, at our disposal.  Yolanda leaves at some point during the afternoon.  Susana is present in the kitchen assisting roughly half of the time, more so after about the first hour.  Jesús ensures that beer flows freely. 
 
With Susana’s fine orchestration, all miraculously comes together.  “Who wants to help set the tables?”  The meal is served, Susana joining us and paying tribute to her staff, to our toasting and applause.  Presentation is exquisite, with flavor and texture of each dish unparalleled.
 
But alas, all good things must come to an end, with Susana signing a couple of books, and bidding farewell to each, as we board the van.  We arrive at  downtown Oaxaca around 7:30 p., after a very full day. 
 
Susana appeared to be present with us for about three and a half hours of this all encompassing gastronomic experience.  Her staff was extremely knowledgeable and helpful, all that one could want, and more.
 
As an aside, I was subsequently advised by Peg, the administrative assistant, amongst other things, that Yolanda Giron is the main leader of the market tour these days; that Susana is in fact on site from when a class arrives at the school, until it departs; and that at times the group is large, 20 people used as an example.
 
Seasons of My Heart:  http://www.seasonsofmyheart.com
T:  951-505-0469;  E:  info@seasonsofmyheart.com

Written by Alvin Starkman our expert of the day.

Suggest going out for Szechuan cuisine, and many people immediately envision platters of hot, spicy food – the kind that has you gulping down copious amounts of water all evening in an attempt to soothe your burning tastebuds. People are often surprised to discover that at least of one-third of the recipes that make up Szechuan cuisine are not spicy at all. That is not to say that Szechuan’s reputation for producing “mouthburners” is undeserved. But, along with fiery classics such as “Hot and Numbing Fish” and “Kung Pao Chicken,” Szechuan is the home of “Tea Smoked Duck” – a fascinating dish made by smoking a duck over tea leaves.

Moreover, the chili peppers that have made Szechuan cooking famous are a relatively recent addition. It was Christopher Columbus who brought chili peppers back with him from his travels (on behalf of the Spanish crown) in what he mistakenly took to be the Orient, and which we now know was somewhere in the Bahamas. By the time the intrepid, Genoa-born Italian explorer set foot in the New World, chili peppers were flourishing throughout South America, the Caribbean, and Mesoamerica (Mexico and Central America). Most sources state Columbus named the plant himself, christening it pimentito or “pepper” out of a mistaken belief that he had discovered black pepper.