Poulet Basquaise

"The extent to which you can walk in someone else's shoes or at least eat their food, it's a plus for everyone." 

-- Anthony Bourdain

Although I have always been fascinated by other countries and other cultures, in many respects, Anthony Bourdain has been the one to introduce me to someone else's food. Whether it was No Reservations or Parts Unknown, I would watch intently as Bourdain traveled around the world and communed with people at a table eating food. It is one of the most basic ways to achieve a mutual understanding. 

One of the many places that Anthony visited was Basque country, a region that straddles both Spain and France. It was a place that returned to again and again. The reason, as he described it, was "my love for the Basque, for Basque culture, for my Basque friends, is absolute." If a region, its people and its culture can strike a feeling like that in Anthony Bourdain, then an exploration is a must. 

I have previously prepared dishes from Basque country, but mostly focusing on that part that lies within Spain. I wanted to cross the border into France, to learn more about the Basque who live in that country. Anthony Bourdain's recipe for Poulet Basquaise provided that opportunity. 

The dish, Poulet Basquaise, is said to have originated from the Soule province of southwestern France, which is deep in the Basque country. The original recipe called for creating a sauce from bread and vegetables; however, it evolved over time to require the use of a piperade, which is base of tomato, onion and bell pepper. The dish also features the espellete, a pepper grown in the region (but which can be hard to find elsewhere). While the use of espellete is a must in Basque cooking, adequate substitutes include paprika or, if you would like a little more heat, Aleppo pepper. The Basque are also known for their wines, which can sometimes be hard to find as well. If you cannot find a Basque white wine, an adequate substitute is Picpoul de Pinet, a wine that comes from the neighboring French region of Languedoc. (I used that wine because it is more available and, as an added bonus, reasonably priced.)

When one prepares a dish like this, it transports them to a kitchen of a house in a small village in Soule. A dish that brings together local produce, a chicken from a nearby farm or market, some wine in the house, and herbs from the garden to produce a dish that would be the centerpiece of the family dinner. Basque cuisine features heavily local ingredients, influenced by French cuisine more than Spanish cuisine. It evolved over time, as evidenced by the tomatoes and peppers in the piperade. But, just as French cuisine has influenced Basque cuisine, the reverse is also true, as this particular dish is not just popular in Basque country, but in other areas of France as well. 

The exploration will continue, both in Basque country and elsewhere. Stay tuned....

POULET BASQUAISE

Recipe from Food & Wine

Serves 4

Ingredients:

• 1 whole chicken, cut into 8 pieces
• Salt
• Pepper
• Pinch of cayenne pepper or piment d'Espelette
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 2 red bell peppers, thinly sliced
• 2 green bell peppers, thinly slice
• 1 onion, thinly sliced
• 1 can (16 ounces) Italian plum tomatoes
• 1/2 cup white wine
• 1 cup water
• 1/2 cub chicken bouillon or 1/2 cup light chicken broth or stock
• 3 sprigs of flat parsley, finely chopped
• Rice pilaf, for serving

Directions:

1. Prepare the chicken. Season the chicken all over with salt, pepper and the cayenne pepper. Heat the oil in a large pot or Dutch oven over medium high heat, about 2 minutes. When the oil is hot, add the butter. When the butter has melted and the foam has subsided, add the chickens, skin side down and brown on that side only, about 5 minutes. Remove the chicken and set aside on the plate. 

2. Saute the vegetables. Add the peppers and onion to the pot and reduce the heat to medium low. Cook for about 10 minutes, then add the tomatoes and cook until the liquid is reduced by half. Stir in the wine, scraping to get up the good stuff. Cook until the wine is reduced by half, then add the water and bouillon cube or broth. Return the chicken to the pot, making sure to add all the juices on the plate. Cover the pot and simmer on low heat for about 25 minutes. 

3. Finish the dish. Transfer the chicken to a platter. Crank up the heat to high and boil the sauce until it has thickened and reduced, about 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper and add the parsley. Pour the sauce over the chicken and serve with rice pilaf. 

PEACE.

Pintxos de Txampis

Basque cuisine gave us the "pintxos." Small plates adorned with tasty foods often served skewered with a toothpick, and served with bread, that could be found in most any tavern across northeastern Spain (also known as Basque country).

The history of these little dishes goes back more than 100 years, recounted well by Martin Buckley in a book called Basque Country and by a profile of the author and the book in the Independent. It was a time when food was scarce but comraderie was in abundant supply. Back in the 1920s, the social custom at the time was to drink outside of the house.  People would go from bar to bar,  socializing with their family and friends. By the 1940s, this practice of going from tavern to tavern with a group of friends, known as a kuadrilla, became well established. The kuadrilla is a closely-knit group formed of friends from early childhood. Its bonds are tightly formed over time, and often closed to outsiders, allowing those within the group to truly be themselves. 

Yet, as those kuadrillas moved from bar to bar, they did so during difficult times. With the Spanish Civil War, scarcity set in. While there was plenty to drink, food was scarce. As the kuadrillak drank glass after glass of wine (some of which was smuggled in from France), the tavern owners would place small plates of food on the bar. Those small plates are the origin of pintxos (which is Basque for "to pierce"), althought the name did not catch on until a couple of decades later. 

This particular pintxos is simple to make, although a little more difficult to plate. The combination of onions, shallots and garlic go well together (obviously), but they make a rather unstable base for the soft mushrooms. Fortunately, the toothpicks keep everything in place at least until they are eaten. As someone who enjoys Spanish tapas, as well as Basque pintxos generally, I think this is a start on a path to furhter exploration of these small plates.

PINTXOS DE TXAMPIS

Recipe from Sweet C

Serves 4

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 onion diced
• 1 shallot diced
• 2 garlic cloves, diced
• 1 cup dry white wine
• Flour
• 24 mushrooms, button or cremini, whole cap
• 1 baguette sliced into 12 slices

Directions: 

1.  Prepare the ingredients. Clean mushrooms by wipiong with a dry cloth or paper towel, discard stems. Dice onions, shallots, garlic. You can finely dice or rough chop.

2. Saute the onions, shallots and garlic. Add olive oil to a pan and heat on medium-high heat. Add onions and and shallots. Add onions and shallots to pan. Saute to soften, about 6 minutes, stirring occasionally to prevent sticking and over browning. When onions and shallots are soft, add garlic and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. 

3. Cook the mushrooms. Sprinkle flour over ingredents, stir to combine well. Place mushroom caps in pan, add wine, stir to combine well and place lid on pan. Reduce heat to simmer and reduce the sauce until thick and the mushrooms cook and reduce in size, about 10 minutes. Stir to prevent sticking or burning and rotate mushrooms a few time while cooking. The sauce should thicken and the mushrooms soften, but they should not brown too much. 

4. Finish the dish. While the mushrooms cook down, slice baguette and drizzle with olive oil. Heat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit. Bake for 8-10 minutes, until light lightly browned and crispy. When the mushrooms are softened and the sauce has thickened, use toothpick to skewer two mushroom caps onto the bread. Sppon sauce over the top. 

PEACE.

Rohingya Tomato Soup

While much of the world (including myself) focuses its attention on the Middle East, there are atrocities that continue to unfold around the world. One such atrocity marked its seventh anniversary: Myanmar's ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya in the Rakhine state. 

Seven years have led to between 750,000 and 1.1 million Rohingyans being forced to flee Myanmar for neighboring Bangladesh. Most of the Rohingyans who fled to Bangladesh have found themselves in Cox Bazar, a district where there are thirty-three refugee camps that, combined, house over 930,000 Rohingyans as of July 2023. 

The camps are overcrowded, many of which exceed the guidelines established by the United Nations Human Rights Commission ("UNHCR"). For example, the UNHCR standards provide that the number of people per latrine should be 4-6 and, in emergency situations, up to 20 per latrine. Six of the refugee camps are at 30 people or more per latrine and one is as high as 54 people per latrine. The UNHCR standard also provide that the number of people per water supply should be 1 water supply for every 80 people. Nine of refugee camps exceed that standard, with one of them -- the Nayapara Refugee Camp -- having a water supply for every 1,931 people. Add in the lack of educational and employment opportunities generally in the refugee camps, and, the situation is very bad and getting worse for the Rohingyan refugees.

Rohingyan refugee camp in Cox Bazar (Source: Danish Refugee Council)

Life for Rohingyans who remain in Myanmar is also getting worse. Approximately 636,000 Rohingyans remain in Myanmar, where they are subjected to an apartheid legal system that refuses to recognize them as an ethnic minority (even though Myanmar recognizes 135 other minority ethnic groups). To make matters even worse, those Rohingyan remaining in the Rakhine State are caught between a military conflict between the Myanmar army and the Arakan Army, a nationalist military organization. The situation continues to worsen and little is seen or heard as it is drowned out by events elsewhere in the world.

To be sure, I have spent quite a bit of time in recent months focusing on Palestinian culture and cuisine. However, I have talking about the plight of the Rohingyan people for years. I have previously focused upon the Rohingyans, their culture and cuisine, along with their plight. My prior posts can be found here and here. 

Rohingyan family (Source: CORE)

I return my focus to the cuisine of the Rohingyan with this recipe for a Tomato Soup. This recipe is not just any soup. It is a window that reveals a common bond shared between the Rohingyan people and many other groups of people from Pakistan to Thailand (and beyond). That window can be found in the combination of three ingredients: ginger, garlic and turmeric. Together those three ingredients are the base of a curry. And not just any curry. They are the fundamental building blocks of the original curries that emerged from the Indus river valley more than four thousand years ago. That historical curry is the foundation of curries across the subcontinent and into southeastern Asia. 

This connection proves a basic truth: despite an organized, governmental effort by Myanmar to strip the dignity and humanity from the Rohingyan people (by refusing to recognize their ethnicity and declaring them a stateless group), the Rohingyans have a common bond with the other peoples. This bond extends to the other ethnic groups across Myanmar. This tomato soup shares similarities with other curry dishes prepared in Myanmar, such as those who live in the Shan Hills. But the bond extends far beyond the borders of Myanmar, across not only the subcontinent and southeast Asia, but across the world.

ROHINGYA TOMATO SOUP

Recipe from SBS Food

Serves 4

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 large onion, thinly sliced
• 12 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 40 grams ginger, grated
• 1 tablespoon ginger powder
• 1 tablespoon ground turmeric
• 2 tablespoons ground coriander
• 4 large tomatoes, roughly chopped
• 1 liter of water
• Salt, to taste

Directions:

1.    Saute the vegetables. Heat the oil in a large, heavy-based frying pan over medium heat. Add the onion, garlic and ginger and stir for 5-6 minutes until softened. Add the spices and stir until fragrant. 

2.    Add the tomatoes and water. Add the chopped tomatoes, water and season with salt. Bring to a boil, then simmer for 7-10 minutes until slightly thickened. 

3.     Finish the dish. Serve scattered with chopped green chiles and coriander (cilantro), with lime wedges and steamed rice on the side. 

PEACE.

Tomato, Garlic and Sumac Salad

This post, and its recipe, have their purposes. I have devoted my personal culinary blog to exploring the cuisines and cultures from around the world. I often find myself conflicted in writing posts about food and recipes, especially when the people about whom I am writing face deprivation and starvation. That has certainly been the case when I prepare Palestinian recipes and write about their cuisine. Indeed, as of December 2023, the 2.3 million Palestinians living in Gaza constituted eighty percent (80%) of the the people in the world who were experiencing famine or extreme hunger. How can I write about Palestinian cuisine and food when millions have been relegated to eating not only canned food, but expired canned food?

The answer is two-fold: first, to honor the culture and dignity of Palestinians who live in Gaza and the West Bank; and, second, to protest the reasons why Palestinians are being forcibly starved. Those are the purposes of this post: namely, to take what is a very simple recipe to prepare and use it to protest against the governments and militaries that are waging campaigns that use deprivation and starvation as critical components of their strategies. 

I have previously posted about the Palestinians, their culture and cuisine. I started with Zibdiyet Gambari, a spicy shrimp dish that came with a focus on the ties between Gazans, fishing and the sea.  I turned inland to make Gazan Dagga, a salsa that combines chiles with dill and that included a discussion of the ties between Gazans and their land, especially when it came to agriculture. I concluded with Qidreh, an amazing lamb and rice dish that accompanied a discussion of the assault upon the Palestinian people and their culture.  

All of those posts were my reaction to the inhuman, unethical and immoral campaign being waged by the far-right government of Israel against the Palestinian people. I had seen and heard too many people talk about how Hamas uses innocent civilians as human shields. That is a war crime. But I also saw and heard how the Israeli defense forces and the Israeli government - under the leadership of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir - simply directed their campaign at and through those human shields, rather than trying to wage their war against Hamas in a way that minimized the impact upon innocent Palestinian civilians. I firmly believe that those government officials should be indicted, hauled to The Hague, and stand trial for violations of international law. 

To make matters worse, famine has both short term and long term consequences. Some of those long term consequences can impact future generations of Gazans. Study after study has shown that famine can cause increased risk of hyperglycemia (a condition most commonly associated with diabetes) not only in the current generation, but also the next generation. That next generation has a greater risk of developing diabetes, obesity and cardiovascular issues. Thus, in a real sense, Israel's use of starvation in its war against Hamas targets not only innocent Palestinians currently living in Gaza, but future generations of Palestinians. 

This simple dish of tomatoes, chiles, garlic and sumac symbolizes what has been taken away from Gazans: the ability to obtain fresh ingredients, the opportunity to prepare a simple dish, and the necessity of being able to feed themselves to survive. Enough is enough. There must be a permanent cease-fire, accompanied by a restoration to the Palestinians what is rightfully theirs in Gaza and the West Bank, and an opening of the borders to allow humanitarian aid to reach those in need. 

TOMATO, GARLIC AND SUMAC SALAD

Recipe from Reem Kassis, The Palestinian Table, at 99

Serves 4-6

Ingredients (for the salad):

• 1 pound tomatoes, seasonal or heirloom tomatoes, sliced into 1/2 inch thick rounds
• 2 green chiles, seeded and finely chopped
• 3-4 sprigs of fresh mint, stems removed, and leaves coarsely chopped
• Flaked sea salt
• 1/2 teaspoon sumac

Ingredients (for the dressing):

• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice

Directions:

1. Prepare the tomatoes: Arrange the tomato slices in a pretty serving platter or plate. 

2. Prepare the dressing. Put the ingredients for the dressing in a small bowl and whisk until well combined, then spoon over the tomatoes. 

3. Finish the dish. Sprinkle the tomatoes with flaked sea salt, then top the chopped green chiles and mint leaves and sprinkler with sumac. Serve immediately. 

PEACE.

Merken Especial

The Mapuche have a very interesting history, and, until very recently, it was one about which I knew very little. While I have been going out of my way to learn more about indigenous cultures, both generally and through this blog, I have to admit that my focus has largely been trained on North America, only occasionally diverting itself into Central America or the Caribbean. I had never really spent any time focused upon the indigenous people of South America. And, now I realize, that has left me with an incomplete picture of history before colonization and exploitation. 

The Mapuche have lived in a region in the central part of present day central Chile, as well as part of western Argentina, for centuries. They are a proud people, who resisted colonization by the Spanish, even to the point of having their own independent society until well into the nineteenth century. That ended when the Chilean army, as well as the Argentinian army, invaded and occupied the Mapuche lands. While improvements seemed to be on the horizon during the Salvador Allende administration, which passed the Indigenous Law recognizing the Mapuche people, all of that came to a screeching halt under the dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet. A once-independent proud people were reduced to what most indigenous nations face today: severe poverty, rampant discrimination, and a threatened identity. 

Yet, the culture continues, both within the Mapuche themselves and those who want to learn more about them. I fall in the latter category, as I was looking for recipes for a rather sizeable cut of picanha or top sirloin cap. My search led me down well trodden pathways, usually ending with recipes that involved the preparation of a chimichurri. Those pathways are well trodden for a reason: chimichurri is the go-to condiment for grilled meats in Brazil, Argentina and Chile. I wanted to do something different, and I wanted to take a path less taken. That led me to the Mapuche and to Merken.

Merken is a ground chile mix prepared by the Mapuche. The traditional preparation involves a particular chile: the goat horn chile or cacho de cabra. The chiles are first smoked and then dried. Thereafter, they are ground to a powder, producing one of two spice mixes. There is Merken Natural, which consists of the ground chiles and salt. Then there is Merken Especial, which includes not only the ground chiles and salt, but also toasted, ground coriander seeds. The preparation of the especial is rather exact in its proportions: 70% ground chile, 20% ground salt and 10% ground toasted coriander seed. 

Both preparations have an important role in Mapuche cuisine. They are used not only in rubs or marinades for grilled meats (which is my intended use), but also for soups and stews. Merken is basically that spice mix or condiment that is used much in the way cooks would use black pepper or cayenne pepper to season a dish. 

Finally, cacho de cabra may not be available everywhere. (It certainly was not available where I live.) I looked for suitable alternatives, which may include the aji pepper from Peru or even the Hatch chile from New Mexico. However, the key to merken is that the chile is smoked. That step is important because it imparts particular aromatic and taste elements. Not any dried chile can recreate those elements completely. For that reason, I went with an ancho chile pepper. Ancho chiles are sometimes dried with the use of smoke and are known for contributing smoke elements to dishes. If you have dried chipotle peppers, those would work well too. If you wanted to balance out the smoke, perhaps use a mix of dried ancho (or chipotle peppers) and dried guajillo or hatch chiles. 

In the end, I can say that this particular chile spice mix is incredible; and, I can only imagine what it would be like if I actually had cacho de cabra chiles on hand.  This recipe - and this post - represent a first step in learning more about the Mapuche, both their culture and their cuisine. Who knows where the next step will take me.

MERKEN ESPECIAL

Recipe from The Food Dictator

Ingredients:

• 8.5 teaspoons dried seeded cacho de cabra pepper flakes
• 2.5 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon coriander seeds

Directions:

1. Prepare the ingredients. If the peppers are leathery, they will need to be crisped. Place them on a baking sheet and put them in a 350 degree Fahrenheit oven. Immediately turn off the heat and let the peppers sit in the oven a few minutes. Remove the peppers from the oven and let them cool on the baking sheet. Toast the coriander seeds in a dry skillet until fragrant.

2. Prepare the mixture. Grind the salt and coriander seed together in a spice mill or coffee grinder until fairly finely textured. Crumble the peppers into the mill and grind the mixture to whatever consistency you desire. 

PEACE.

Kashmiri-Style Raan

Many recipes have a history; and, for this leg of lamb recipe, that history can be traced to the fourth century B.C.E.  Alexander III of Macedon -- known as "Alexander the Great" -- was leading his armies on a path eastward into what was known then as Bactria. The region was well established along the Silk Road in an area that is divided amongst common-day Afghanistan, Pakistan and Tajikistan. While history confirms Alexander's conquest of the mountainous region in which Bactria could be found, what comes next is the subject of some dispute.

As one story goes, it was 327 B.C.E. when Alexander the Great had just conquered the Hindu Kush, a mountainous region that could have been the southern part of Bactria. Basking in the victory, Alexander married Roxane, the daughter of Oxyartes. The centerpiece of the wedding feast was known as Sikandari Raan or Alexander Raan. Alexander would go on to appoint Oxyartes to serve as the governor of Bactria.

Another story paints a different picture: Alexander the Great sent his army into the Battle of Hydaspes in 326 B.C.E. The battle took place along the Jhelum River in what would become northeastern Pakistan. By the end of the battle, Alexander's forces had captured the local king, Porus. Alexander asked Porus how he would like to be treated; and, the defeated monarch replied "treat me like a King would treat another King." Alexander the Great released Porus and the two became friends. A feast was held to celebrate the friendship. The centerpiece of that feast was a leg of lamb.

The true story, along with the recipe for that leg of lamb, are lost to history. Nevertheless, the centerpiece of the feast is still known as Sikandari Raan. And, unlike any conqueror or king, this leg of lamb recipe lives on today as the focal point of many celebratory meals. 

I prepared raan for my own little celebration, namely, by birthday. I chose to prepare a Kashmiri-style raan, because I thought that this meal is reflective of Kashmiri cuisine. This cuisine is perhaps the most meat-centric of all the subcontinent cuisines, as Kashmiris eat more meat -- mainly lamb and mutton -- than in any other region of Pakistan or India. This aspect of their diet corresponds to the importance of livestock itself, as there is a long history of nomadic herders raising sheep in the region's valleys. While Kashmiri cuisine may be heavy on the meat, it is much leaner when it comes to the use of spices in recipes.  Commonly used spices include chile powder, ginger powder, saffron, aniseed, and asafetida.  

Perhaps the most intriguing aspect of Kashmiri cuisine is the distinction between Muslim and Pandit (Hindu). This distinction mostly revolves around the ingredients used to prepare the dishes. On the one hand, Muslim Kashmiris use onion, garlic and tomatoes in their preparations, while the Hindu Pandits do not. Another difference lies with the protein, as Muslims tend to use more lamb and mutton, while the Pandits use goat or chevron more in their dishes. 

This Kashmiri-style raan is clearly inspired by the Muslim preparations, as it incorporates not only lamb, but also onions in the recipe. It also follows the traditional preparation, which incorporates two marinades. The first marinade is a dry rub, which is first applied to the leg of lamb. The second marinade is a wet rub, a combination of Greek yogurt and even more spices). Some recipes combine the two marinades together, but the Kashmiri-style raan recipe that I found retained this two-step approach.

Apart from the time it takes to prepare the lamb, this is a very easy recipe to make. The difficult part is to decide what should accompany the roasted lamb. I prepared a traditional Kashmiri pulao, and I even had an ambitious goal of preparing one or two sambals to go with it. (The sambals did not happen.) One can also just serve some naan and a salad alongside the lamb. 

KASHMIRI-STYLE RAAN

Recipe adapted from from Big Oven

Serves several

Ingredients (for the dry rub):

• 10 green cardamom pods (seeds only)
• 1 star anise
• 2 mace 
• 4 dried bay leaves
• 2 tablespoons fennel seeds
• 2 inch cinnamon stick

Ingredients (for the marinade):

• 1 1/4 white onions, thinly sliced
• 7 garlic cloves mashed or roughly chopped
• 1 1/2 teaspoon Kashmiri chile powder
• 2 inches of ginger, peeled, roughly chopped
• 1 1/2 cup Greek Yogurt
• 1/2 teaspoon saffron
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon turmeric
• 1 tablespoon honey

Ingredients (for the lamb):

• 1 leg of lamb (about five pounds)

Ingredients (for the gravy):

• 5 garlic cloves
• 1 inch ginger
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin powder
• 1 tablespoon coriander powder
• 12 teaspoon Kashmiri chile powder
• 1 teaspoon cardamom powder
• 3 tablespoons Greek yogurt
• 2 tablespoons ground almonds
• Salt to taste

Directions:

1. Prepare the lamb and the first marinade. Trim all of the fact from the lamb and, using a sharp knife. Roast the dry rub spices in a dry frying pan over a low heat for about 10 minutes. Shake the pan a few times as they release their aroma. Cool slightly and grind to a fine powder. Rub this spiced powder all of over the leg of lamb, in the cuts as well. Leave to marinate for 40 minutes while you get the second marinade ready. 

2. Prepare the second marinade. Soak the saffron threads in hot water for five minutes. In a large frying pan, add the oil and fry the onions until light brown. Turn off the heat and cool. Set half of the onions aside. Add the remaining half of the onions, garlic, ginger, and 2 tablespoons of Greek yogurt to a blender. Blend into a smooth fine paste. In a large bowl, add the blended paste along with the remaining yogurt, chile powder, and saffron (with water). Season to taste and mix well. Pour this marinade all over the leg of lamb, mixing well to ensure that it is covered well. Drizzle the leg of lamb with honey. Cover and marinate in the refrigerator overnight or two nights. 

3. Roast the lamb. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit. Roast the lamb in a covered baking dish for 1/2 hour. Reduce the heat to 325 degrees Fahrenheit and cook for 25 minutes per pound, around 1.5 hours until the meat is tender. 

4. Prepare the gravy. Blend the garlic and ginger to a smooth paste with a space of water in a grinder or blender. Heat a large frying pan with the oil. Add the paste and fry over a low heat for 2 minutes. Add the spiced powders along with the yogurt and ground almonds. Add any leftover marinade and juices from the baking try to the pan. Fry for 4 minutes. Add 6 tablespoons of water and simmer over a low heat for 12 to 15 minutes. Stir often to make sure that it does not stick to the bottom of the pan. Add a little more water if required to thin it out slightly. Season to taste and keep warm.

5. Finish the dish. Serve the ran on a platter with the fried onions, shallots, mint and pomegranate, as well as pulao and gravy.

PEACE.

Rohingyan Beef Curry

We all miss home, but we cannot go back to the same fear. -- Nur Anya 

For decades, the Rohingyans -- a Muslim minority group --  have suffered under dehumanizing discrimination in Myanmar. The government refused to grant citizenship to the Rohingyan people, denying legal status to an entire ethnic group. Yet, the government passed laws that placed significant restrictions upon the Rohingya. For example, in the northern towns of Mungdaw and Buthidaugn, the authorities limited Rohingyan couples to two children. The government also requires Rohingyans to get approval before they can marry, as well as to travel or move outside of their home towns. These conditions are exacerbated by the fact that the area where most Rohingyans call "home," the Rakine State, is the least developed of Myanmar's states and has a poverty rate of 78%, which is more than double the national rate of 37.5% percent. 

The discrimination and repression led to violence in 2017, after a militant group known as the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army attacked police and army posts. The military cracked down on the Rohingyan people. As the United Nations would later find in an after-the-fact investigation, the Myanmar military showed "genocidal intent" and, in a 2018 report, the UN determined that Myanmar found that the military engaged in "clear patterns of abuse" that included, among other things, the systematic targeting of civilians, promoting discriminatory rhetoric against the Rohingya and establishing a "climate of impunity" for the government's security forces. After approximately one year, it is estimated that the Myanmar military and security forces killed nearly 24,000 Rohingyans.

Fleeing Death and Destruction

The violence and death led to mass displacement of Rohingyans, significant numbers of whom fled as refugees to other countries. I previously touched upon the Rohingyan refugee crisis as part of my culinary challenge involving Myanmar. Approximately 740,000 Rohingyans fled into neighboring Bangladesh. Many more fled to Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia. It was, at the time, the world's fastest growing humanitarian crisis.

Rohingyan refugees. Source: UNHR Australia

The stories of those who became refugees is heart-wrenching. As Nur Anya recounted from a refugee camp in Bangladesh: 

In Myanmar, we had our lands where we grew flowers, vegetables and many plants. We had a big house where all the family members lived together. The violence and the killing drove us to leave our homes. They brunt houses in my neighbourhood. They shot and killed a lot of people in my village. We were living with fear every day.  When we decided to leave, we had no other option.

It was the most difficult journey of my life. We walked 13 days and nights. To cross the river, my family used a handmade bamboo raft. There were a lot of people with us -- I could not say what the number was, it was so huge. 

As Rohingyans became refugees, many of their villages were abandoned and even more were distroyed. At one point, 176 of 471 Rohingyan villages -- or more than 1/3 of the villages -- had been abandoned.  The Myanmar government cleared entire Rohingyan villages and farms. The government then built homes, infrastructure and military bases in their place. 

Preserving the Rohingyan Culture

The end result, and perhaps the government's objective, was to eliminate the Rohingya people from Myanmar.  The government sought to take the legal status of the people -- that is, no recognition of the Rohingyans -- and make that a factual reality. This creates a clear and present danger to the Rohingyan identity and their culture, including their cuisine. The stories from the refugees include accounts where they had to leave everything behind, including all of their cooking utensils, which makes it harder for them to prepare food for themselves and their families. This leaves the people dependent upon food aid, which has become more difficult to obtain, leading to smaller meals or even skipped meals.

Rohingyan refugees eating a meal. Source: UNHCR

There are efforts to preserve that culture and its cuisine. One example involves the Endangered Material Knowledge Program (EDKM), which provides grants to conduct research on critically endangered knowledge. One project that was under consideration in 2023 was entitled, Rohingya Recipes and Food Practices of stateless Rohingya Community in Camps of Bangladesh. The project description noted the historical difficulty of the Rohingyan people when it came to food: they struggled to maintain the needed nutritional demands, whether it was at their homes in Myanmar or in the refugee camps in Bangladesh. The objective of this project is, among other things, to document recipes and practices of the Rohingyan people. 

This research is sorely needed, as there are few resources and research available on the Internet about the Rohingyan people, their culture and their cuisine. I was able to find a few recipes (which was more than my previous research when I was working on my Around the World challenge). I found a couple of recipes, including one for Rohingyan beef curry.

This recipe is a very interesting one. It calls for beef with bones. When I went to the grocery store, I had to improvise: I purchased some stew meat and some marrow bones. The "masala" for this curry -- turmeric, red chile powder, coriander, cumin, and garam masala -- provided for an aromatic cooking experience and a lot of flavor to build upon the garlic/ginger paste. 

The end result is a delicious beef curry with a slight kick. (I used Kashmiri chiles for the ground red chile powder.) I could not escape the thoughts about how this dish is just a memory for nearly a million Rohingyan refugees who have been forced from their homes and subjected to even greater poverty than what they previously experienced. I feel incredibly fortunate to be able to prepare this dish and prepare this post, as my effort to help publicize the Rohingyan culture and cuisine. More of this is needed so that the world does not forget the tragedies that unfolded over six years ago. 

ROHINGYAN BEEF CURRY

Recipe from SBS Food

Serves 4

Ingredients:

• 2 large onions, diced
• 1 kg diced beef, with bones
• 1 large tomato, diced
• 2 potatoes, diced
• 1 tablespoon garlic paste
• 2 tablespoons ginger paste
• 1 teaspoon turmeric powder
• 1 tablespoon red chile powder
• 1 tablespoon coriander powder
• 1/2 tablespoon cumin powder
• 3 teaspoons garam masala powder
• 4 tablespoons cooking oil
• Coriander, as garnish
• Green chiles, as garnish

Directions:

1.    Saute the vegetables and brown the meat. Heat oil on high heat in a large pot. Add onions, garlic paste and ginger paste. Stir for 2 to 3 minutes until brown. Add diced beef and bones and stir-fry for 2 minutes. Add turmeric powder, red chile powder, coriander and cumin. Stir-fry for 2 more minutes. Add the garam masala and stir-fry for another 2 minutes. 

2. Add the liquid and tomatoes. Add 1 cup of water and diced tomatoes and cook on high heat for 5 minutes. Add the potatoes in the last half an hour. 

3. Finish the dish. Garnish with coriander (cilantro) and green chiles. Serve with hot steamed rice.

PEACE.

Morning Tsampa

In a prior post, I began the exploration of tsampa, one of the most fundamental aspects of the Tibetan foodways. The cultivation of barley, along with the roasting of barley berries, gave rise to a foodstuff that provided sustenance to the Tibetan people, allowing them to expand their culture and civilization across the high, arid Tibetan plateau. As part of this journey, I made my own tsampa, roasting the barley and grinding it down into the finest powder that I could with what I have. 

Now it is time to go further down those foodways, to explore the uses of tsampa. A British adventurer and food writer, Peter Fleming, once recounted a basic way of preparing breakfast with tsampa: 

You fill your shallow wooden bowl with tea, then you let the butter melt in the tea (the butter is usually rancid and has a good cheesy flavor); then you put a handful of tsampa in. At first it floats; then like a child's castle of sand, its foundation begins to be eaten by the liquid. You coax it with your fingers until it is more or less saturated and has become a paste; this you knead until you have a kind of doughy cake in your hand and the wooden bowl is empty and clean. Breakfast is ready.

Fleming provides quite the description, and, maybe someday I will try to prepare breakfast in that manner. That date may have to wait until I have some rancid butter. 

More recent accounts, such as one by Barbara Hazelton, who visited Tibet in 2016, provide a similar glimpse into how tsampa is eaten at breakfast. Hazelton wrote: 

The trip to Tibet is long and arduous, and over these many trips to Tibet, I have found I have developed my wits and ways of adapting to this fierce world. In the monastery, the food, tiresome, over-fried and boiled vegetables and tasteless white rice which the kind, bow-legged cook Karma carefully prepares for the "foreigners," Rinpoche's guests, I discovered one gloomy cold morning, can be avoided by taking refuge in the warm cozy kitchen, where one finds the dzo yogurt from the nunnery and the leather bag of tsampa from the cook's family, hanging on a post by the kitchen stove and in the decorated wooden bowl, dried cheese, and sugar. This is where the monks gather and laugh and chat, as they make their morning tsampa balls and slurp the heavy nourishing butter tea, in the kitchen y the long black metal stove filled with fragrant wood, that snaps and spreads out its waves of welcome heat. 

This account -- with its dzo yogurt and tsampa -- provides a tie-in to what I decided would become my attempt to make a breakfast meal using tsampa. 

The recipe, Morning Tsampa, comes from the Beyond the Great Wall cookbook, which was written by Jeffery Alford and Naomi Duguid. That cookbook taught me how to make tsampa in the first place, so it seemed only appropriate that it should guide my on my next step: to incorporate the roasted barley flour into a dish. 

The Morning Tsampa recipe, like many tsampa recipes, is very simple. It involves up to four ingredients, namely, tsampa, yogurt, berries and some sugary ingredient like maple syrup or honey. Those ingredients are combined in a bowl and eaten. The combination of tsampa (which is high in fiber, has important minerals, and promotes the growth of healthy gut bacteria), along with the yogurts and berries, probably represents the healthiest breakfast that I have ever had in my life time. 

For that reason, I have resolved that this dish will constitute the start of my day whenever possible. It also represents a significant step forward on my Mindfulness Foodways, as it not only represents a notable improvement in my diet, but one based upon an ingredient and foodstuff that has an important place in our world. 

MORNING TSAMPA

Recipe from Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Daguid, 

Beyond the Great Wall, pg. 181

Ingredients:

• About 1/2 cup whole milk yogurt, plain or sweetened
• 3 tablespoons Tsampa, or to taste
• Handful of berries or chopped fruit (optional)
• Honey, sugar or maple syrup, to taste

Directions:

Place the yogurt in  bowl and stir in the tsampa thoroughly so it is all moistened. Add fruit and a sweetener (honey, sugar or maple syrup) if you wish.

PEACE.

Chargrilled Hmong Black Pig Skewers with Sesame Salt

"I would tell people that Hmong food is not just a type of food. It's not about the product. It's a philosophy.... If you want to know our people you have to know our food. By knowing our food, you will know our story. You'll know where we been and it will show the trajectory of where we're going.  

-- Chef Yia Vang

To the extent people know about the Hmong, that knowledge comes more from political history. The Hmong are an indigenous ethnic group that has lived for centuries as a minority in eastern and southeastern Asia. During the Vietnam War, the United States Central Intelligence Agency recruited and trained the Hmong living in Laos for a "secret war" against the North Vietnamese Army. The Hmong harassed the North Vietnamese along the Ho Chi Minh trail, safeguarded U.S. radar installations, and rescued downed American pilots. After the war, the communist governments of Vietnam and Laos declared that the Hmong were "traitors." The governments persecuted the Hmong. They arrested the Hmong, who were sent to hard labor camps. They sprayed Hmong villages with chemicals, including napalm.  Nearly ten percent (10%) of the Hmong population was killed and around 100,000 Hmong sought refuge in neighboring Thailand and beyond. 

The culinary history of the Hmong is far less known. Before the Vietnam War, the Hmong had a strong agrarian tradition in the mountains of northern Laos and Vietnam. They grew rice and other produce, as well as raised livestock, such as pigs. The Hmong practiced animism, believing that objects, plants animals, and even places have their own spirit. These beliefs underlie the respect that the Hmong hodl for what they have. It also informs their traditions. 

For example, there is a Hmong tradition -- called Noj Tsiab (nee-al jia) -- that centers around the butchering of a pig. During the last week of December, each family would select a pig from their herd to be butchered. Every family member had a role in the process, being taught by the elders how to prepare the pig, how it would be cut, and how to ensure that all of the pig would be used with nothing going to waste. This knowledge was important, and it was passed on from generation to generation. The end products would be used to prepare a meal for the community for the new year. It enabled everyone to participate in a tradition that gives thanks for what they have been given and to their ancestors for watching over them.

This tradition was lost, at least temporarily, for those Hmong who fled their homes and found themselves in refugee camps. Even after they escaped those camps, making their way to the United States or elsewhere, many of their new lives did not include the raising of pigs, let alone the opportunity to butcher them in accordance with their traditions. 

I knew none of this when I came across a recipe for Chargrilled Hmong Black Pig Skewers with Sesame Salt.  It was in a cookbook called the Food of Vietnam. The author, Luke Nguyen, is a Vietnamese-Australian chef who was part of a television show, Luke Nguyen's Vietnam, that I watched on public television. Every episode fascinated me, both with respect to the people, the surroundings, and, of course, the food. When I got this cookbook, as well as another Vietnamese cookbook, I spent a lot of time paging through the recipes. This one caught my eye because of the reference to the Hmong people. 

Roasted sesame seeds with salt

According to Chef Nguyen, the Hmong raised black pigs in the hills and mountains of Vietnam. The cuts from the necks would be used for this dish. I had access neither to those particular black pigs, or, more generally, to pig necks. Instead, I looked for any cut of pork that would enable me to slice thinly or that came sliced thinly. 

There are two things that I really like about this recipe. The first thing is the marinade. The recipe calls for a combination of scallions, lemongrass, fish sauce, oyster sauce, black pepper, and honey, for a marinade. This particular combination of ingredients imparts a lot of flavor into the meat, which is facilitated by the fact that the meat has been thinly sliced.  The second thing is the ease of preparing this dish. Once the marinade is complete, the rest of this recipe is easy: just thread some pre-soaked skewers, place on a heated grill, flip the skewers a few times and you are done. 

These skewers are very delicious and, given the ease of preparing this dish, I will very likely make this recipe again. The next time will take on a little more meaning now that I have some understanding of the traditions of the people behind the recipe. 

CHARGRILLED HMONG BLACK PIG SKEWERS WITH SESAME SALT

Recipe from Luke Nguyen, The Food of Vietnam, pg. 318

Serves 4-6

Ingredients:

• 300 grams (10.5 ounces) pork neck, thinly sliced
• 2 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds
• 3 spring onions, sliced then bashed to release the flavor
• 4 tablespoons finely diced lemongrass, white part only
• 3 tablespoons fish sauce
• 1 teaspoon oyster sauce
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil

Directions:

1. Prepare the marinade. Combine the onions, lemongrass, fish sauce, oyster sauce, sugar honey and black pepper in a mixing bowl and mix well. Add the pork and toss until well coated. Cover and marinate in the refrigerator overnight. 

2. Prepare the skewers. Soak 12 bamboo skewers in water for 30 minutes to prevent scorching. Thread the pork on to the skewers and chargrill on each side for 3 minutes. Mix the sesame seeds with a pinch of sea salt. Serve on the side for dipping the skewers into. 

PEACE. 

Mrefisa

What is past is gone, what is hoped for is absent, for you is the hour in which you are. -- Sahrawi proverb.

The word Sahrawi translates to "inhabitants of the desert."  The particular inhabitants are a people of Berber, Arab and sub-Saharan ancestry who live in the western reaches of the Sahara.  Those reaches include parts of Algeria, Morocco, and Mauritania, They also include an area that historically known as Western Sahara. The nearly 105,000 square miles of this area, which is roughly equivalent to the square mileage of the State of Nevada, tell a story that few people know about. It's a past that has been difficult to tame. It's hope may be absent, but there is a potential for it to materialize. And, as for hour in which it finds itself, that part has yet to be written.

Western Sahara involves a stretch of northwestern Africa coastline running from the southern border of Morocco to the northwestern border of Mauritania. The area stretches inward in a Tetris-like shape past oases, such as Amgala and Meharrize, as well as cities like Laayounde, Bir Anzerane and Tifariti the actual western reaches of the Sahara Desert. 

This region has a long history, dating back to at least the Phoenician empire, which established settlements along the Atlantic coastline. Some of those settlements dated back to the 5th century B.C.E. They have since faded into history, as the Phoenicians were followed by the Romans, then the Berbers and the Arabs. 

During the 13th and 14th centuries, the area was known as bled es-Siba or the "land of dissidence." There was little centralized control over the region, which was occupied by tribes that raided the trade routes that ran east through the desert. 

Then, in 1887, the Spanish established a protectorate over what is present day Western Sahara, which became one of the last additions to the Spanish Empire. The protectorate was first referred to as the Spanish Possessions in the Sahara and later as the Province of the Sahara. As the Spanish tried to establish control over the region, they learned first-hand about bled es-Siba. The Sahrawi fought against the colonialists. Spain responded, as most colonial powers did, by repressing the local populace. However, repression is never a long term strategy. A resistance group known as the Polisario Front emerged in 1973, fighting against the Spanish rule. Less than two years later, the Spanish left the Western Sahara, with Morocco and Mauritania dividing the territory between themselves. 

The Polisario Front continued its guerrilla warfare, leading to a treaty with Mauritania, which recognized the right of the Sahrawi Democratic Arab Republic to Western Sahara. On the other hand, Morocco proceeded to seize most of the land given up by Mauritania, annexing that land in 1979. Morocco proceeded to build a wall between what it controlled and what was left for the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic. Morocco began the wall in 1980 and finished the seventh segment in 2020. 

A Sahrawi woman with the Sahrawi flag. Source: Michelle de Mello

That troubled political history obscures the cultural history of Sahrawi people. The people are a mix of Arab and Berber descendants, as well as some sub-Saharan peoples.  These influences are also apparent in the cuisine of the Sahrawi, which also has some Spanish influences resulting from colonization. Setting on the western reaches of the Sahara desert, agriculture is limited to what can be grown around oases, or what can be raised in those areas. The principal proteins of Sahrawi cuisine include goat, lamb and even camel. For those who live along the Atlantic Coast (most of which is still occupied by Morocco), the Sahrawi are able to add fish to their diet. 

Sahrawi recipes are hard to find. Most of the recipes are fairly simple, reflecting the difficult life of living in a desert and the limited ingredients for preparing dishes. Couscous is one staple that finds its way into many dishes, including one that is prepared with meal paste, meat and vegetables. There is also El Aych, which is prepared with the use of milk and cereals. 

And, then there is Mrefisa. This recipe is a traditional stew, often made with lamb, rabbit or camel meat, along with onions and garlic. The ingredients are then cooked together in a stew, with added water. Once the meat is very tender and the stew has cooked down, it is served upon a traditional unleavened bread that the Sahrawis prepare by cooking it in the sand. I don't have any sand where I live, let alone sand hot enough to bake bread. I went to a local Persian market, where I purchased some Taboon. Although it is leavened bread (it contains yeast), it is nevertheless a flatbread that could work as a substitute. (In some ways, I liked it more because there was more bread to absorb the lamb stock.) If you can find traditional unleavened bread such as Arboud, which is prepared by the Bedouin, then you are good to go. If you can't, then any flatbread will work. 

In the end, this is a very simple meal. Five ingredients -- onions, garlic, lamb, oil and water -- are combined to prepare a very tasty dish. It is a change from what I have been cooking, such as curries, in which there are often more ingredients that go into the masala, than there are in this entire recipe. It also demonstrates how a people who have little to work with given their circumstances and surroundings are able to produce something that is delicious to eat.

MREFISA

Recipe adapted from Book of Day's Tales

Serves 4

Ingredients:

• 1 pound of lamb, cut into 1 inch chunks
• 2 onions, sliced
• 2 cloves of garlic, sliced
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil or olive oil
• Water

Directions:

1. Sauté the onions and garlic. Heat the oil in a pot over medium high heat.  When the oil is hot, add the onions and garlic and sauté them for about five minutes.  

2.  Add the lamb.  Add the lamb and proceed to brown the lamb on all sides.  

3.  Add the water. Add enough water to barely cover the lamb and the onions. Bring to a boil and reduce the heat to a simmer. Stew the lamb for a couple of hours, adding water as necessary. 

4. Finish the dish.  Once the lamb meat can be easily shred, remove the stew from the heat. Place the bread at the bottom of the bowl. Add the lamb, onions and garlic over the bread. Spoon the lamb stock over the meal and serve immediately.  

PEACE.

Tsampa

Tsampae-drima kha (Having a Tibetan quality) - Tibetan proverb

At its simplest, tsampa is roasted barley flour. Hulled barley grains are roasted over fire until they turn a golden, slightly brownish hue. The grains are then removed from the heat, ground into a flour, and then set aside to cool.

Tibetans then combine tsampa in a bowl with butter and tea, rolling the mixture into small balls to be eaten. One may also see Tibetans combine tsampa with other ingredients to create a porridge called jham-thoo. 

However, tsampa is more than a fundamental staple food for Tibetans. It has a very meaningful story to tell. To understand this story, one needs to walk in the boots or shoes of the Tibetans themselves. If you are like me, and unable to actually travel to Tibet, then the next best way to traverse that path is to read about those who have done so. In the end, you learn that tsampa is not just any food, it is a fundamental aspect of the Tibetan identity.  This post represents the first of a few posts in which I explore tsampa and its connection to the Tibetan people. These posts will be available as part of my Beyond Borders project and my Mindfulness Foodways project. 

The Tibetan Tsampa Path

I have never traveled to Tibet, which rests mostly on the world's highest and largest plateau; but, from what I have read, the area is beautiful - with towering mountain ranges enclosing valley with rivers, plains, and lakes. The altitude, combined with the dry climate (Tibet receives only about 18 inches of precipitation annually), limits what vegetation can grow on the plateau. Grasslands cover nearly two-thirds of the Tibetan region, which provide areas for livestock -- from chickens to yaks -- to graze, but limit the types of crops that can be grown. The principal agricultural crop grown by Tibetans is barley.

Barley growing in Tibet. Source: Go To Tibet

Barley played a pivotal role in the settlement of the Tibetan plateau. The grain is hardy, with a high tolerance for frost and dehydration. Thus, Tibetans could grow barley with little effort or resources (like water). Once harvested, they could also turn the barley grains into tsampa, because the process (as outlined above) is relatively quick and requires little fuel. All of these factors led to an agricultural system that was built predominantly around that single grain.  

Thus, the singular importance of barley to the Tibetans also provides an important starting point on the map for the Tibetan food pathway. 

The Preparation of Tsampa

The preparation of tsampa.
Source: Ravencywoodpress

The traditional process of turning barley into tsampa is often described as long or arduous; and, before many of the modern conveniences, I can understand that characterization. If one were a Tibetan living out on the plateau during the 19th century through the mid-twentieth century, the process was, in fact, time-consuming. The process can be broken down into four basic steps: (1) acquiring the barley; (2) prepping the barley, if necessary; (3) roasting the barley; and (4) grinding the barley. While the first step would seem to be easy, given the availability of barley in Tibet, the rest of it required time and resources. Some of those resources, like fuel for the fire, are precious given their scarcity on the plateau.

During my research, I came across a personal account of how a Tibetan nun, Choe-la, prepared tsampa. According to the account: 

My mother would get barley grown at high altitude from Manali or Ladakh. [Manali is a city in India and Ladakh is region within India, so the account comes from someone whose family had left Tibet.] Once it arrived, Choe-la would get one or two helpers and they would start the washing process - which is tedious and time-consuming. Then comes my favorite part, which is the roasting. The washed and dried barley is roasted in hot sand until the barley is cooked through - like popcorn, one can smell the roasted barley or "yoe" as we call it, from a distance and Choe-la would allow us kids to fill our pockets with fresh "yoe" to eat on the way to school. Next is the final step of grinding the roasted barley into Tsampa flour .... Choe-la always said, the best Tsampa comes from the "chu-tha" - water mill.

This account tells us a lot about how tsampa was made. From the purchase of the barley, to the washing and drying of the seeds, and ending with the roasting over hot sand. 

Tsampa on the Tibetan Table

The roasted barley flour - having already been "cooked" - became a very flexible ingredient that could be used in a variety of ways. As the British travel writer, Peter Fleming, recounted during a trip in the Tibetan region: 

Tsampa ... is sustaining, digestible and cheap. For nearly three months we had tsampa for breakfast, tsampa for lunch and the diet was neither as unappetizing nor as monotonous as it sounds. One of the great virtues of tsampa is that you can vary the the flavour and the consistency at will. You can make it into a cake or you can make it into a porridge; and either can be flavored with sugar, salt, pepper, vinegar or (on special occasions for you only had one bottle) Worcester Sauce. And, if that were not enough, you can make it with cocoa instead of with tea. I would not go so far as to say that you never get tired of tsampa, but you would get tired of anything else much quicker. 

This food finds itself not only on the Tibetan Table, but in religious ceremonies as well. Some Buddhist rituals call for the throwing of pinches of tsampa into the air as a "mark of joy and celebration." Throwing tsampa has made its way into other occasions, such as throwing it on the new year, while chanting verses calling for good luck. To round out the occasions, Tibetans also throw tsampa at funerals, where, according to Buddhist ritual, it is intended to release the soul of the departed. 

The Mindfulness of Tsampa Preparation

Recently, I decided that I would prepare tsampa myself. Fortunately, I have a ready source for hulled barley and a ready fuel (namely, my stove). I also had a recipe in a cookbook, Beyond the Great Wall, which was written by Jeremy Alford and Naomi Duguid. While this book was given to me as a present, I had become familiar with Duguid's work exploring cuisines such as those in Burma or Persia (that is, Iran and the Caucuses). 

The process was not long or arduous to prepare tsampa, thanks to many modern conveniences. I did not have any barley on hand, but with the advent of the Internet, it was not hard to find a bag of organic, hulled barley berries. I also did not need any sand, I just used a good, solid pan on a stove. With the berries literally in hand, along with that heated pan, I began the roasting process. Once the berries were in the pan, things began to change. 

I look for moments in the day when I can use my mindfulness techniques. Some of those moments are forced, such as when I am dealing with a lot of stress, uncertainty or conflict. Other moments - such as my preparation of tsampa - come naturally. As I looked down at the seeds in the pan, I began to view them as one may view grains of sand. My pan had itself become a kind of sand garden. I took deep breaths and focused on the tasks presently before me. 

The recipe directed me to use a wooden spoon to move the seeds, so that they would not become scorched or burnt. As I moved the spoon, I focused on the movement of the seeds, as they were pushed ahead or fell to either side of the spoon. I moved the spoon in circular motions, occasionally flipping the seeds to bring the ones from the bottom to the top. As I did these moves, my sand began to slowly turn more golden and eventually a little browner in color. When the barley was roasted, I turned off the heat, moved the pan, and made some final stirs with the spoon. 

For that brief period of time, I felt as if I had a mindfulness moment. One that was quiet, where I could focus on the present, without thinking about what I had done previously or what I had left to do after the recipe was completed. The ability to take some deep breaths gave me a break during a relatively stressful holiday season. It also reinforced in me the need to find more such moments going forward. 

TSAMPA

Recipe from Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Daguid, 

Beyond the Great Wall, pg. 180

Ingredients:

• 2 cups barley berries (whole grain)

Directions:

1. Roast the barley berries. Place the barley berries in an 11 to 12 inch heavy skillet (cast iron works very well) and dry roast over medium heat. Stir constantly with a flat-ended spatula or wooden spoon, moving the grains off the hot bottom surface and rotating them from center to the outside, to ensure an even roast with no scorching. The grains will crackle a little as they expand in the heart, will start to give off a toasted grain aroma and will change color. Keep on stirring and turning until all of the grains have darkened to more than golden, about 10 to 14 minutes. 

2. Check the barley berries. Test for doneness by trying to bite into one of the grains - it should yield easily. Times will vary depending on the amount you are roasting, the size of your pan and the heat. Remove the pan from the heat and keep stirring for another minute or two to prevent scorching.

3. Grind the berries. If you are using a coffee or spice grinder to grind the grain, you will need to work in batches. A flour mill works well if you have one, no need for small batches and your grind will be finer and more even. Transfer about 1/2 cup of the toasted grains to a clean, dry coffee or spice grinder and grind to a fine flour-like texture (you will hear the sound change as the granules get reduced to a powdery texture.) Turn out into a bowl and repeat until all the grain has been ground to flour. If you want to perfect your grind, pass the milled powder through a fine sieve and then regrind any remaining larger pieces. 

4. Finish the Tsampa.  Let cool completely, then store in a well-sealed wooden or glass container in a cool place. Tsampa keeps indefinitely in the refrigerator.

PEACE.