Jiaoma Jipian (Chicken in Sichuan Peppercorn and Scallion Sauce)

Although I have been cooking for years, I find that I still have a lot to learn. This observation rings especially true as I explore the cuisines of different cultures around the world. My explorations take me back to one of my favorite regional cuisines, at least in China. That cuisine can be found in the Sichuan province. The cuisine has a special place for me because it caters to my love of spicy food. Yet, the spice does not always come from the use of hot chiles, such as the Tien Tsin. In the Sichuan province, "spice" does not always equate to "heat."

There is a different kind of "spice," namely numbness, which comes from the Sichuan peppercorn. That is not actually a pepper; instead, it is the berry from the prickly ash tree. I previously explored this ingredient when I made Qiatou Ni Yen, which is a hot chicken dish from Sichuan province. The recipe came from Fuschia Dunlop's The Food of Sichuan. Dunlop's book provides a fascinating look at the region's cuisine, and, I have quite a few recipes that I have wanted to make from the book. 

This recipe represents a return to that book and the cuisine, but with a twist. I chose to prepare Jiaoma Jipian. The word, jiaoma, refers to the Sichuan peppercorn; and, this dish features that ingredient in the sauce. The sauce combines a modest amount of the peppercorns with a lot of scallion greens and some salt. These ingredients are then combined with a mixture of sesame oil, soy sauce and cold chicken broth or stock. 

Once the sauce is prepared, it is poured over some pre-cooked chicken that has been cut into bite-sized pieces. The recipes typically leave it to the cook as to how to prepare the chicken. However, I decided to poach the chicken because I could use the liquid in the preparation of the sauce. So, I used some bone-in chicken thighs, as both the bone and the skin would help to flavor the broth as the chicken cooked.  

This recipe represents a departure from what I generally make. As I think about it, I usually make hot dishes, whether meat or vegetable, appetizer or main course. It is relatively rare for me to prepare a cold dish. However, this dish was very easy to prepare. A simple poaching of the chicken (which Fuschia Dunlop provides instructions for in her book) and an equally simple combination of the sauce ingredients. 

In the end, this dish is very delicious. The only change that I might make is to add some more Sichuan peppercorns because I did not get as much of the numbing effect as I expected. It works just like chiles: the amount can be adjusted if you want more of the heat (or numbing feeling) or reduced if you want less of that effect. Something to try the next time that I prepare this dish. 

JIOMA JIPIAN

(Chicken in Sichuan Pepper and Scallion Sauce)

Recipe from Fuschia Dunlop, The Food of Sichuan, page 71

Serves 4

Ingredients:

• 14 ounces cold poached chicken meat, off the bone
• 1/2 teaspoon whole Sichuan pepper
• 1 3/4 ounces scallion greens
• 1 teaspoon light soy sauce
• 2 Teaspoons sesame oil
• 7-8 tablespoons cold chicken stock
• Salt

Directions:

1.  Prepare the chicken. Cut the chicken into bite-size slices. Place in a serving dish.

2. Prepare the sauce. Cover the Sichuan pepper with a little warm water and let soak for about 20 minutes. Wash the scallion greens thoroughly, shake dry, and then slice thinly. Place on a chopping board with the drained Sichuan peppercorns and a pinch of salt, then use a sharp knife or mezzaluna to chop them together extremely finely. 

3. Finish the sauce. Transfer the chopped ingredients to a small bowl, then add the soy sauce, if using, along with the sesame oil and 7 tablespoons of stock and mix well. If you are not using soy sauce, add an extra tablespoon of stock and season with salt to taste. 

4. Finish the dish. Pour the sauce over the chicken. Mix well before eating. 

PEACE.

Grilled Clams with Mexican Salsa and Crumbled Chicharrones

Grilling clams is an easy way to prepare the shellfish. The heat of the grill cooks the clams in just minutes. The clams can be plucked off the grill, thereafter removing the top shell. The clam rests on the bottom shell, ready for whatever topping you wish to apply. I have experimented with a few different toppings, which seem to gravitate around Southeastern Asian cuisine. I have prepared Grilled Clams with a Cambodian Ginger Sauce and Vietnamese Grilled Clams with Oyster Sauce and Peanuts.  Both recipes were delicious.

However, this time I wanted to draw inspiration for a topping from a different part of the world. I chose Mexico because I thought that a take on a salsa would be a great topping for grilled clams. I looked for recipes, which were not too hard to find. However, I wanted to do more than simply create a Mexican-inspired topping. I wanted to go above and beyond. I really wanted a recipe that would stand out.

Looking at the recipes, some of them called for the use of bacon. Pork goes very well with clams. Look at any clam chowder and you will find some kind of pork (usually bacon, salt pork, or ham) used to make the recipe. There also also many dishes, like Porco Alentejana, that combine a cut of pork (like a pork butt) with clams. For this recipe, I wanted to take a more Mexican approach. The pork would not be bacon. Instead, it would be chicharrons.

Generally speaking, chicharrones are pieces of fried pork skin. There are many versions of chicharrons, but the classic version involves pork skin or pork belly that is deep fried. If it is just the skin, the process produces a light, puffy, crackling goodness. Chicharrones did not originate in Mexico; instead, these fried pork rinds got their start in Spain, and, more specifically, in the Andalusia region. Spanish conquistadors and colonialists brought not only pigs with them, but the recipes to prepare, among other things, chicharrones. The fried pork rinds took hold across much of the Spanish speaking world, including Mexico, where they are often added as an accompaniment or to finish a dish. 

That is how I used them in this grilled clams recipe. I prepared a Mexican salsa, drawing from recipes that I could find from Baja California. That is the Mexican State where one is most likely to find and harvest clams in Mexico. I took that recipe and then used crumbled chicharrones as a way to finish the dish. The end result was amazing.  I definitely need to incorporate this ingredient into my cooking more often.

GRILLED CLAMS WITH MEXICAN SALSA AND CRUMBLED CHICHARRONES

Recipe adapted from E is for Eat

Serves 2-3

Ingredients:

• 2 pounds of top neck clams (about 8-12 clams)
• 1/4 cup chicharrones, crumbled
• 1 bunch scallions, white parts finely diced, green parts thinly sliced
• 1 small serrano pepper, seeded and diced
• 1 tomato, seeded and diced
• Splash of tequila (about 1 ounce)
• Pinch of red pepper flakes
• 1 teaspoon dried Mexican oregano
• 3-4 cloves garlic, minced
• Couple dashes hot sauce (optional)
• 1 lime, zested and juiced
• Sea Salt
• 2 tablespoons minced cilantro
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil

Directions:

1. Sauté the onions, pepper and garlic. Heat the vegetable oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Add the scallions, peppers and garlic. Sauté for about 4-5 minutes. Add the crushed red pepper and oregano. Stir the mixture. Add the tequila and cook for about another 2-3 minutes until the tequila has cooked down. Add the tomatoes and cook for another 2-3 minutes.  

2. Finish the sauce. Remove the onion mixture from the heat, add the lime juice, lime zest and sea salt. Stir to combine. Pour the sauce into a bowl, garnish with the cilantro and chicharrones. 

3. Grill the clams. Heat a grill on high heat. Place the clams on the grate. Close the grill and cook the clams until they open, at most 5 minutes.  Remove the clams from the grill.

4. Finish the dish. Remove the top shells from the clams. Spoon some of the salsa over each clam. Serve immediately. 

PEACE.

Tacos de Chapulines con Tequila y Guacamole

One of the benefits of a personal food blog, as well as the desire to learn more about food, is the moment of discovery. If I just lived my life in a suburban city in the United States, in my own little bubble or cocoon of daily existence, there is a lot that I would never, ever come across. This blog has served as the primary means through which I can learn more about food. It has led me down paths that I know I would never have walked otherwise. 

One such path led me to eating fried grasshoppers.

They are called chapulines, and, have been a fixture of the cuisine of indigenous peoples in Mexico and Central America. The little grasshoppers were an important source of protein before Spanish conquistadors and colonizers brought domesticated animals like pigs and cows. People would head out early in the morning, when it was cooler, to collect the grasshoppers. (Apparently, grasshoppers are less active when it is cooler, rather than in the heat of the day.) They would bring back the catch, and prepare them on a comal, which is a flat, cast iron griddle on which the grasshoppers would be toasted or fried. Once cooked, the grasshoppers would be seasoned with garlic, lime, salt and chiles. 

To state the obvious, I did not go out into fields to catch grasshoppers. I also did not toast them on a comal or any other griddle. As someone who lives in the suburbs of a city, I ordered a package of chapulines online. The grasshoppers came pre-seasoned with salt, lime and chiles, which was okay for the preparation that I had in mind. 

My goal was to recreate my very first experience eating chapulines. It was at Oyamel, a restaurant owned by renown chef, Jose Andres. The restaurant's menu included (and still includes) a chapulines taco. The menu described the taco as including grasshoppers sautéed with shallots, tequila and served with guacamole. Channeling my inner Andrew Zimmern (the host of Bizarre Foods), I ordered the taco. When I took my first bite, I noted the crunchy texture of the grasshoppers, which was well contrasted with the smoothness of the guacamole. 

For my effort, I decided to give a little nod to the region of Mexico that is most associated with chapulines ... Oaxaca. I found a recipe for Oaxacan guacamole from Bricia Lopez's Oaxaca cookbook (which is an excellent cookbook). That would serve as the basis for my taco. I then used the grasshoppers I purchased online, sautéing them in some oil with the shallots and finishing it with what was basically a shot of tequila. 

The recipe was very good, reminding me of what graces the plate at Oyamel. The biggest difference was the saltiness of the chapulines, which was due to the package that I purchased. When I make this dish in the future, I will have to figure a way to lightly rinse off some of that salt. This rinse will be necessary especially if (and when) and I try to incorporate them into other recipes, such as tlyuda.

TACOS DE CHAPULINES CON TEQUILA Y GUACAMOLE

Guacamole recipe from Bricia Lopez, Oaxaca, pg. 252

Serves 4

Ingredients (for the tacos):

• Corn tortillas
• 1 cup chapulines (plain, lime/salt, adobo or chipotle)
• 2-3 tablespoons tequila
• 1/4 small shallots, julienned or chopped finely
• 2 tablespoons olive oil or vegetable oil

Ingredients (for the guacamole):

• 6 tablespoons fresh lime juice
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
• 1 serrano chile, stem removed
• 1/4 dried oregano
• 3 avocados, pitted and peeled

Directions:

1. Prepare the guacamole. Blend the lime juice, cilantro, sea salt, chile and oregano in a blender. In a large mixing bowl, mash the avocados. Pour the lime mixture over top and mix until everything is well combined.

2. Prepare the chapulines. Heat the oil in a skillet. Add the shallots and sauté for a few minutes. Add the chapulines and continue to fry until crispy. Add the tequila and keep stirring for another minute or two. 

3. Finish the dish. Warm the corn tortillas. Spoon the guacamole in the center of the taco and top with the chapulines. Serve immediately. 

PEACE. 

Crying Tiger (Suea Rong Hai) with Jaew Sauce

One can trace the origin of this recipe -- Crying Tiger (Suea Rong Hai) -- to its principal range, which extends from northeastern Thailand into Laos. One could find cuts of beef, usually brisket, marinating in a mixture of herbs and spices that balances sweet, spicy, sour, and savory.  Cooks then grill the marinated meat over charcoal. Once the meat is grilled, the cooks slice it thinly and serve it with a dipping sauce.

There is a lot to learn about Crying Tiger, but some of it is shrouded in mystery, like the name.  There are at least three different versions of where this recipe got its name. The first one focuses on the meat itself. It is said that cooks used cuts of beef that were so tough that they would make tigers cry when they chewed them.  The second focuses on a farmer's cow. A tiger came out of the jungle and stole the cow. The tiger then proceeded to eat most of the cow. The tiger eventually was too stuffed to eat the brisket. The tiger looked at the juicy piece of meat and began to cry because it could not finish it. Finally,  there is the story that the fat marbling on a brisket looked like tiger stripes and, when the brisket was grilled, the fat dripping off the meat looked like a tiger's tears.

Whatever the origin of the name, this dish represents some of the best qualities of Thai cuisine, especially given the balance of flavors that I mentioned above. That balance is reinforced with the jaew sauce, which is one of many nam jim (or sauces) that are served alongside Thai dishes. The jaew sauce comes from Isan, the northeastern Thai region that borders Laos. The one ingredient that sets jaew sauce apart from other nam jin is the use of toasted rice powder. The powder adds an element of toastiness to the sauce, as well as serves as a thickener. The other ingredients -- lime juice (bitter), tamarind (sweet), chile pepper (spice), and fish sauce (sour or umame) -- provide a level of balance to the entire dish.

In the end, Suea Rong Hai with Nam Jim Jaew provides a multi-dimensional balance of flavors that makes one of the best beef dishes that I have made or had recently. It gets me to thinking about what other recipes are lurking out there, waiting to be discovered.

CRYING TIGER (SUEA RONG HAI) WITH JAEW SAUCE

Recipe from Thai Caliente & The Wanderlust Kitchen

Serves 4

Ingredients (for the steak)

• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon fish sauce
• 1 teaspoon palm sugar (or brown sugar)
• 1 pound of beef (such as rib eye, sirloin or strip steak)
• 1 lime, juiced

Ingredients (for the Jaew Sauce):

• 2 tablespoons fish sauce
• 1/3 cup lime juice (about 2 limes)
• 1 teaspoon tamarind concentrate
• 1 teaspoon ground toasted rice
• 2 teaspoons ground Thai chile peppers
• 2 teaspoon coconut sugar (or brown sugar)
• 2 tablespoons cilantro, chopped
• 2 tablespoons scallions, chopped
• 1 tablespoon water, if needed

Directions:

1. Marinate the beef. Combine the soy sauce, fish sauce, sugar and lime juice. Whisk the ingredients. Add the beef and allow it to marinate for 30 minutes to 45 minutes at room temperature. 

2. Prepare the Jaew Sauce. Combine fish sauce, lime juice, tamarind, toasted rice powder, chile peppers, sugar, cilantro green onion and, if necessary, water.  Adjust the sauce by adding water to dilute it or lime juice, sugar, or fish sauce to balance the flavors.

3. Grill the beef. Heat a grill or cast iron skillet over the stove to hot. Pat steaks dry, season with salt and pepper, and place steaks on grill or skillet. Cook for a couple minutes on each side until desired temperature (medium rare) is reached.  Allow the steaks to rest for 10 minutes. 

4. Finish the dish. Slice the steak and serve immediately with the Jaew sauce and condiments such as lettuce leaves, cucumber slices and rice. 

PEACE.

A Casualty of History

When the people don't give a damn about reason, they can be manipulated quite easily - and in such cases the perception of the people are manufactured by those controlling the narratives. As a result, ask an Azerbaijani, "who do you think is at fault for the conflict at Nagorno-Karabakh" and they'll say, "Armenia of course" .... Hard as it may sound, whoever controls the narrative, controls the people. And the only way to break that spell is to practice reason, but without losing your warmth.

-- Abhijit Naskar

It is often hard to find a narrative that is not tainted by whoever wields it, especially when it comes to culture, history and/or politics. There are often multiple narratives, some of which are irreconcilable. Yet, even in the fog of conflicting narratives, some facts shine through. Those facts cannot be denied, because they unfold before our eyes or the sounds reach our ears. This has been the case for the past days, weeks and indeed months as a so-called "breakaway republic" will now fade into the pages of history books. The consequences of what happened will live on, not only in those who suffered in the past, but in the suffering of untold numbers in the future. 

The "breakaway republic" that I am referring to is known as the Republic of Artsakh, more commonly known as Nagorno-Karabakh. The latter name is a combination of Russian (Nagorno) and Turkish/Persian (Karabakh) that translates roughly into "mountainous black garden." The Armenians living in the region preferred to call it Artsakh, because that lacked any reference to Russians, Turks, Persians or Azerbaijani. I will refer to Nagorno-Karabakh and Artsakh interchangeably. No country has recognized Nagorno-Karabakh as an independent state; instead, it has been considered to be part of Azerbaijan. Yet, the people who live within the borders of Nagorno-Karabakh are overwhelmingly Armenian. 

That one fact -- a region populated by Armenians that is part of a larger country whose majority is Azerbaijani -- provides the starting point. The mapmakers who created this issue were colonialists, but of a Russian kind. The Russian Empire obtained territory throughout the Caucasus Mountains, including both Armenia and Azerbaijan, as part of treaties that ended the Russian-Persian war in the early nineteenth century. Wars erupted between the Armenians and Azerbaijani in 1917 over various parts of their territories.  It was not until the aftermath of the Russian Revolution, when the Bolsheviks occupied Azerbaijan (including Nagorno-Karabakh) and Armenia, that the borders began to become fixed. The resulting Soviet Union decided that the Nagorno-Karabakh region would remain in Azerbaijan, but the region would retain significant autonomy. That seemed to settle the matter ... until the Soviet Union ceased to exist. 

Azeri poster about Karabakh,
saying "Stand up, son of a Turk" 

As the Soviet Union crumbled, tensions increased within Nagorno-Karabakh. The majority Armenian population wanted the region to be transferred to Armenia. However, they could not get anyone to support their calls. In August and September 1991, both Azerbaijan and Armenia obtained their independence from what was the Soviet Union. Thereafter, the situation began to deteriorate precipitously.  On November 26, 1991, Azerbaijan ended the separate structure of Nagorno-Karabakh (officially known as the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast) and placed the entire region under Azeri control. The region conducted a referendum on December 10, 1991 (boycotted by Azerbaijanis) that resulted in a call for unification with Armenia. The lines were drawn. War broke out. 

The war killed approximately 30,000 people and made refugees out of hundreds of thousands more. A ceasefire was negotiated in 1994 and relative peace was achieved. I say relative because fighting would take place over the coming years and decades, including as recently as 2020. During that conflict, Azerbaijan not only attacked positions within Nagorno-Karabakh, but also Armenia. Those hostilities ended with another cease fire, but it seemed that Azerbaijan was gaining the upper hand.

But it is the events of the past few weeks that gave rise to the casualty of history. For some (additional) context, the predominantly Armenian territory of Nagorno-Karabakh was connected to the country of Armenia by one road, known as the Lachin corridor. Initially, a group of "environmentalists" blocked the corridor. I use the term in quotes because many of those "environmentalists" had connections with the Azerbaijani government. That government also cut off all gas supplies to Nagorno-Karabakh.

The Lachin checkpoint

Azerbaijan escalated the issue by establishing a checkpoint in the Lachin corridor. Perhaps the more appropriate term is a "chokepoint." The Azerbaijani military has used the checkpoint to restrict the passage of goods, materials and commodities between Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh. Azerbaijan imposed a blockade in April 2023, depriving the people of Nagorno-Karabakh of what they needed to survive, like food, gas and medicine. The blockade soon extended to anything and everything by June 2023. The people of Nagorno-Karabakh were cut off from not only Armenia, but the entire world.  

On September 19, 2023, Azerbaijan commenced a military offensive, which ended one day later with a ceasefire, along with subsequent violations of the ceasefire. Azerbaijan then commenced its efforts to integrate Nagorno-Karabakh into the country. The violence, along with the seeming end of any autonomy, led to a mass exodus of Armenians from Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia. As of the end of September 2023, more than 100,000 Armenians have fled to safety in Armenia. The population of Nagorno-Karabakh was approximately 120,000 prior to the recent Azerbaijani military offensive. Those who remain would be forced to accept Azerbaijani citizenship.

Ethnic Armenians fleeing Nagorno-Karabakh. Source: Vasily Krestyaninov (AP)

So, here we are, after months of an economic blockade, Azerbaijan used overwhelming military might to force the surrender of the governmental authorities in Nagorno-Karabakh. The military victory paves the way for the former Republic of Artsakh to be fully incorporated into Azerbaijan. The treatment of the Armenian people has led to a mass exodus that could, at the very least, be described as an act of ethnic cleansing.  Alternatively, Azerbaijan's conduct could be described, as it has by several legal experts, as a crime against humanity. 

The objective of the crime is two-fold: (1) to eliminate the Republic of Artsakh; and (2) to eliminate the Armenian culture that developed within its borders. As Azerbaijan has largely achieved both goals, feelings of powerlessness and meaninglessness may seem too much to overcome. Then again, remember who controls the narrative. In the face of violence and inhumanity, we can break the control over the narrative. So that no one will forget who lived in the mountainous black garden that the Armenians called Artsakh.

That is the purpose of this post. My goal is to make the one food that indisputably comes from the Armenian community that lived in Artsakh. That food is called Zhingalov Khats. The recipe embodies the principle of "Karabaghstin sovadz chi mnoum" or "the people of Karabakh do not remain hungry." During the wars with Azerbaijan, the local populace would gather greens from the forest and elsewhere to prepare this dish, as well as a broth of wild greens. 

The recipe starts with an unleavened dough, which is rolled out into a thin circle. A filling is then prepared by chopping various herbs very finely. If one were preparing this dish in Artsakh, they would be looking for herbs that go by the name of k'ndzmendzyuk, chercheruk, s'msemok and mokhratal. These are just some of the at least seven herbs that are used to make zhingalov khats. Some recipes call for as many as twenty herbs for the filling. Regardless of the number of herbs used, the other ingredients include lemon juice, paprika and some salt. The dough is then folded over and sealed. The packet is then pressed slightly so that it looks like a deflated American football. Once the bread is ready, it is cooked over a saj, which is a specialized domed griddle.

In my case, I prepared a filling that consisted of cilantro, spinach, kale, Swiss chard and scallions.  I could not reach the threshold of seven ingredients because I had some difficulty in finding the other greens at my local grocery store. These greens and herbs included chervil, turnip greens, tarragon, radish tops, sorrel and watercress. Nevertheless, I kept those ingredients in the recipe below in case you are able to find them in your local store. As for the preparation, once I placed the stuffing and sealed the dough, I used a standard griddle to cook the bread.

One final note: it is said that zhingalov khats is best enjoyed with a fine red wine. I definitely have a suggestion, namely, the Karas Classic Red, which comes from Armenia.

ZHINGALOV KHATS

Recipe adapted from Cafe Osharak and New York Times

Serves 4

Ingredients (for the Lavash):

• 2/3 cup lukewarm water
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 1/2 cups of all purpose flour, plus 200 grams more for dusting

Ingredients (for the filling):

• 2 pounds chard, tough stems discarded
• 4 packed cups fresh cilantro, chervil and dill leaves and tender stems
• 4 packed radish greens and sorrel
• 6 spring onions or 10 scallions, thinly sliced
• 2 tablespoon lemon juice
• 3 tablespoons sunflower oil or other neutral oil
• Lavash dough

Directions:

1. Prepare the lavash. In a medium bowl, combine 1 1/2 cups of flour and the salt. pour the lukewarm water into a large bowl, then gradually add the flour mixture, using your hands to incorporate. The dough will be sticky. Dust the counter with flour, turn dough onto it and knead gently until the surface becomes smooth and the dough stops sticking to your hands and counter, about 5 minutes. Roll the dough into a ball, place it in a lightly oiled bowl, turn it to coat, then cover it with a kitchen towel. Let it rest at room temperature for 20 minutes to 1 hour.  

2. Prepare the filling. Wash and dry all of the greens. Chop the greens finely. Mix with spring onions, lemon juice and salt. 

3. Prepare the bread. Spread flour over the work surface. Divide the dough into 4 equal pieces and roll into thin 8 inch ovals using a rolling pin. Place about 2 cups of the filling in the center, then use your hand to pat it down into a round, leaving about a 1 inch border of dough. Pick up the two opposite sides of the dough and pinch them together over the center of the filing, from top to bottom so the middle is wide and the ends form points. 

4. Continue to prepare the bread. Firmly pinch the seam to make sure it's sealed, then turn the dough over and gently flatten it out with the palm of your hand so it resembles a deflated football, sealing any holes in the rough. It should be about 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick. If it is thicker, use a rolling pin to smooth it out aa little. Pinch shut any holes in the dough and then place it on parchment. Repeat steps 3 and 4 with the remaining dough.

5. Cook the bread. Heat a large cast iron pan over medium high. Working with one dough portion at a time, place the dough seam-side down in the center of the pan. Lower the heat to medium and cook for about 3 minutes, until cooked and lightly browned in places. Flip, and cook the other side for 2 minutes. If the dough seems raw in places, flip and cook evenly. Repeat for the rest of the zhingalov khats and serve warm or at room temperature.

*    *    *

Nagorno-Karabakh has become a casualty of history. A history of artificially drawn borders, dividing communities with political boundaries that, sometimes, bind those communities with larger groups of people. When one adds the worst of humanity - distrust and hatred of those who are different - with the desire for power and control, then the scene is set for the events of Nagorno-Karabakh. The only question is when the final act will play out. It has unfolded while the world has watched. It did so silently as brutality, inhumanity and violence caused Artsakh to fall and to force over 80% of the population to flee their homes. 

I leave you with one last note: there are many more Nagorno-Karabakhs across the globe. As you read this post, the military forces of Serbia are amassing along the border with Kosovo, a breakaway republic in the Balkans that is only partially recognized. My guess is that the Serbian government has made a bet: if the West sat silent as Azerbaijan ethnically cleansed Nagorno-Karabakh, then it is unlikely to do anything if the scene repeats itself in Kosovo. 

Only time will tell.

Dai Carrot Salad

The name "Dai" refers to several groups of the Tai people, including the Tai Lu and Tai Koen. These groups live principally in the southern southwestern regions of China's Yunnan province.  These groups also live in neighboring countries, such as Myanmar, Thailand and Laos. They are one of the many cultures within China that are profiled by cookbook authors Jeremy Alford and Naomi Duguid in their book, Beyond the Great Wall.

Given where they live, it comes as little surprise that the cuisine of the Dai bears some resemblances to the food and dishes of those neighboring countries. Alford/Daguid at 13.  For example, Dai cuisine often features a lot of fresh herbs and vegetables, creating a colorful vibrancy to many of the dishes. Indeed, as one Dai chef - Mi Wei - observed, "without herbs there is no Dai Food." That quote comes from an interesting article on Not Quite Nigella, which explores Dai cuisine further than I can do with this post.

Back to Alford and Duguid, they observe that many Dai recipes are also are known for combining tart and sour tastes with hot and spicy flavors. Thus, there is a significant presence of various chiles, black peppercorns, and Sichuan peppercorns in Dai recipes. This dish - which is a rather simple recipe for a carrot salad - represents that balance. The balance comes from one ingredient: the pickled peppers. I did not have access to store bought pickled chiles, so I pickled my own. (Recipes can be easily obtained with an Internet search engine.) The vinegar and heat from the chiles features prominently in the dish, with the remaining ingredients (the soy sauce, rice vinegar and roasted sesame oil) working to round out the harshness from the pickled chiles. 

I do have a few more Dai recipes lined up in the queue, which will offer additional opportunities to explore this cuisine a little further. The use of chiles has definitely caught my attention, as well as the overlap of the Dai cuisine with the foods of Thailand and Laos.

DAI CARROT SALAD

Recipe from Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid, Beyond the Great Wall, at pg. 83

Serves 4

Ingredients:

• 1 pound large carrots
• About 2 tablespoons pickled red chiles or store bought pickled chiles, cut into 1/2 inch slices
• 3 scallions, mashed and sliced into 1/2 inch lengths
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon rice vinegar
• 1 teaspoon roasted sesame oil
• 1/2 teaspoon salt, or to taste
• 2 to 3 tablespoons of coriander leaves

Directions:

1. Prepare the carrots. Peel the carrots. Using a cleaver or chef's knife, slice them very thin (1/8 inch thickness if possible) on a 45-degree angle. You should have 3 cups. in a medium saucepan, bring 4 cups of water to a boil. Toss in the carrot slices and stir to separate them. Cook just until slightly softened and no longer raw, about 3 minutes. Drain.

2. Prepare the salad. Transfer the carrots to a bowl and let cool slightly, then add the chiles and scallion ribbons and toss to mix. 

3. Prepare the dressing. Whisk together the soy sauce, rice vinegar, and sesame oil. Pour over the salad while the carrots are still warm. Stir or toss gently to distribute the dressing, then turn the salad on to a serving plate or into a wide shallow bowl. 

4. Finish the dish. Serve the salad warm or at room temperature. just before serving, sprinkle on the salt and toss gently, then sprinkler on the coriander and toss again.

ENJOY!

Qiatou Yi Nen

What we eat is an essential part of who we are and how we define ourselves.

- Fuscia Dunlop, Shark's Fin and Sichuan Pepper: A Sweet-Sour Memoir of Eating in China

Writer Fuscia Dunlop is a well known culinary writer who has focused her attention on Chinese cuisine. Her books -- such as the one quoted above, along with others like Every Grain of Rice (which one a James Beard award in the international cookbook category -- provide interesting insights and perspectives to many different aspects of Chinese cuisine, including provincial and regional dishes, cooking techniques and ingredients. 

My introduction to Dunlop's work comes with her book, The Food of Sichuan. That food is perhaps known best for its hot and spicy dishes. Those dishes catch my attention given my love of chiles.

Yet, there is more to Sichuan cuisine that the heat of the peppers. As food writer and culinary historian, Andrew Coe, noted for Serious Eats, "Sichuan food is really about a variety of flavors: spicy, flowery (Sichuan peppercorns), salty, sour, sweet, bitter, smoky, etc." I find this description intriguing. I have previously explored the concept of "Ngũ Hành" (as it is called by the Vietnamese), which recognizes five fundamental tastes. This concept actually originated in China, which identifies those tastes as salty (or han in the Sichuan dialect), sweet (tian), sour (suan), hot or pungent (la) and bitter (ku). (Dunlop, The Food of Sichuan at 21.) 

Perhaps one of the oldest references to the five tastes can be found in the Tao Te Ching, the text written by Lao Tzu in 400 B.C.  The text is important to Taoism, a school of thought or religion that teaches how one can live in harmony within the universe. Verse 12 of the Tao Te Ching references the five tastes, although there appear to be many, slightly different translations that basically say the same thing. The translation that I chose is the following:

The five colors make people's eyes blind;

Galloping and hunting make people's heart go wild; 

Goods hard to come by make people's acts injurious.

The five flavors make people's mouth numb;

The five notes make people's ears deaf.

Hence, when the sage man ruled,

He supported the stomach, but not the eye.

Therefore he abandoned that and chose this.

All of the translations basically read as having the five tastes causing one's mouth to go numb, in other words, cause people not to taste. 

Sichuan peppercorns
(Source: Serious Eats, photo: Vicky Wasik)

In some sense, Lao Tzu's words are representative of Sichuan cooking, which has its own variation on the five tastes. However, in that cooking, the hot or pungent taste is replaced with numbing (ma). 

This change may be a nod to the use of Sichuan peppercorns, which are not actually pepper. Instead, they are the berries from the prickly ash tree. There are two types of Sichuan peppercorns: red, which provides earthy notes; and green, which provides more floral notes. Both types share something in common. When eaten or tasted, Sichuan peppercorns cause a numbing sensation. They could, in the words of Lao Tzu (however translated), cause "an injury" or "numbness" to the palate. 

Sichuan cuisine even adds another taste: umami (xian) or fragrant (xiang), creating six or seven tastes. Taken together, all seven tastes provide a window into the complexity that can be found in this regional Chinese cuisine. 

Eager to explore these seven tastes, I started selecting recipes from The Food of Sichuan to make in my home. I thought that it would be best to start with some of the simpler recipes. One such recipe - Qiatou Yi Nen - stood out. It is a fairly easy recipe, with the only difficulty arising with a couple of the ingredients. (I still cannot find Sichuan pickled chiles.) Nevertheless, I worked with what I have - including Sichuan peppercorns - to make this dish. The end result was perhaps one of the greatest chicken dishes since I made Chengdu Chicken with Black Beans, Chiles and Peanuts, which happens to be another Sichuan-inspired recipe.

Qiatou Ni Yen focuses primarily on the salty and hot tastes (as well as the Sichuan taste of numbing), both of which comes from the variety of chile and chile-based ingredients. As I move on to other recipes in The Food of Sichuan, my hope is to explore how the cuisine incorporates the other three (or, if we include the other Sichuan element, four) taste elements into the dishes. 

QIATOU YI NEN

Recipe from The Food of Sichuan, pg. 204

Serves 4

Ingredients:

• 10 ounces of boneless chicken thigh, preferably with skin
• 2 teaspoons potato starch
• 1 teaspoon whole Sichuan peppercorns
• 6-8 scallions, white parts only
• 1 teaspoon finely chopped ginger
• 2 teaspoons Sichuan chile bean paste
• 1 tablespoon chopped salted chiles or coarsely chopped Sichuan picked chiles
• 1 1/2 tablespoon ground chiles
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 6 tablespoons cooking oil (ideally a mix of half lard and half rapeseed oil)

Directions:

1. Prepare the chicken. Place the chicken on a chopping board, skin side down. Use a knife to make shallow, parallel cuts into the chicken at 1/4 inch intervals and then make similar cuts at right angles to the first ones (this cross-hatching will help the flavors to penetrate the chicken and speed up the cooking).  Cut the chicken into 1/2 to 3/4 cubes.  Place in a bowl, add the potato starch and Sichuan peppercorns, along with 1 1/2 tablespoon cold water and mix well. 

2.  Prepare the other ingredients.  Cut the scallion whites into 3/4 inch lengths. Place in a bowl and add the ginger, chile bean paste, chopped chiles, ground chiles, salt and 1 tablespoon of oil.

3. Cook the chicken. Heat the rest of the oil in a seasoned wok over high heat.  When the oil is sizzling hot, add the chicken and stir-fry. As soon as the pieces have separated, add the bowlful of aromatics.  Continue to stir-fry until the oil is gorgeously orange in color and the chicken is just cooked (test one of the larger pieces by cutting it in half to make sure). Serve immediately. 

ENJOY!

Yakitori Negima

Good food is very often, even most often, simple food.

- Anthony Bourdain

Bourdain's words provide an apt description for one of the simplest, but perhaps, greatest kebabs in the world ... Yakitori. Even the word is simple, translating to "grilled bird." Small bite sized pieces grilled over a charcoal grill, sometimes basted with a particular sauce or other times just a sprinkle of salt. These particular chicken skewers a truly a unique culinary experience. 

The history of yakitori dates back to the middle of the Meiji Period, around the 1880s and 1890s. (However, there are references to grilled chicken dishes going as far back as the Kamakura Period, the fourteenth century, and the term "yakitori" is said to have appeared in the oldest Japanese cookbook, Ryori Monogatari, which was produced during the Edo Period in 1643.)

Yet, it may have been pigs who led the way. Before yakitori become widespread, there was yakaton, which was pork offal skewers, which were first made in the Kanto Region of Japan (which includes, among others, the city of Tokyo). It is said that these pork offal skewers led the way for the chicken skewers that became yakitori. Food stalls -- or yatai --started popping up across Japan, from which vendors offered skewers of grilled innards from the expensive game birds served by from restaurants. The grilled skewers became a way for Japanese to enjoy grilled birds, which were often too expensive to bun the restaurants.

It took some time to get used to the smells of these stalls. For many Japanese, the smells of roasted or grilled meat was distasteful. Vendors began grilling their skewers using a particular type of coal, binchotan coal. This coal gets very hot, burns cleanly, but produces its own smoky aromas, which not only mask the smell of the grilled fowl, but also provide a smoky taste to the skewers. Vendors also started applying a tare, a sweet and salty sauce that added more aromas and flavors to the meat. 

There are many different types of yakitori, with each type focusing on a particular part of the bird or chicken. The most common yakitori is Yakitori Negima (ねぎま), which consists of bite sized pieces of chicken thigh skewered along with pieces of scallions or long onions. This particular yakitori includes the preparation of a tare, which is a sauce consisting of soy sauce, mirin, sake and sugar. The sauce is brushed on the skewers during the grilling process, as well as served alongside the skewers.

This recipe seemed like the perfect start for the trifecta of yakitori recipes that will serve as the latest installment of my Kebab-apalooza series. Come back and check as I head further back into the origins of yakitori, including the preparation of kebabs using chicken offal (like hearts and gizzards). 

YAKITORI NEGIMA

Recipe from Curious Cuisinere

Serves 4

Ingredients (for the chicken):

• 8 bamboo skewers
• 1 pound chicken thighs, cut in 1 inch pieces
• 6 scallions, cut in 1 inch pieces

Ingredients (for the tare):

• 1/2 cup soy sauce
• 1/2 cup mirin
• 1/4 cup sake
• 2 tablespoons sugar

Directions:

1. Prepare the grill and the skewers. Preheat the grill to a medium-high to high heat, roughly 450 degrees Fahrenheit. Soak the skewers in water for 10 minutes.

2. Prepare the tare. In a small saucepan, mix the soy sauce, mirin, sake and sugar. Bring the mixture to a boil over high heart. Reduce the heat to medium heart and set it aside to cool slightly. Once cool, divide the sauce between two small bowls. One will be used for brushing the raw meat, one will be used for serving. 

3. Prepare the skewers. While the sauce is simmering and resting, remove the skewers from the soaking water and skewer the chicken and scallion pieces, leaving a little room at each end for easy turning.

4.  Cook the skewers. Cook the yakitori skewers over a hot grill for 2 minutes on the first side. Flip the skewers and cook for an additional 2 minutes on the second side. Flip the skewers again and brush them with the yakitori sauce. Flip and brush the skewers once more. At this point, the chicken should be firm and the sauce should be beginning to caramelize and create a nice glaze on the chicken.

5. Finish the dish. Transfer the cooked yakitori to a platter and brush them once more with the yakitori sauce (using a clean brush and the second bowl of yakitori sauce that has not been used for the chicken as it cooked).

Catfish Curry with Lemongrass and Chiles

It has been a very long time since I have made a "Chef Bolek Original." There are a few reasons. I have not had a lot of time to cook recently, so that limited the opportunities to get creative. When I have been cooking, I have been trying to learn how to make certain types of dishes, whether it is exploring the curries of the subcontinent or southeast Asia or experimenting with different whole fish recipes. 

Nevertheless, the cooking that I have done has left me with a lot of leftover ingredients, such as long lemongrass stems and more habaneros than I know what to do with. Rather than let those ingredients sit around until they are ready to be composted (which, unfortunately, happens from time to time because of my busy schedule), I decided that I would take the ingredients that I had and make a dish just off the top of my head. It is a slightly different method than how I used to make Chef Bolek original recipes. (The old way was for me to wander the aisles of grocery stores and try to get "inspired" to make something - a process that often resulted in a lot of leftover ingredients destined for the compost pile.)

I did have some inspiration this time around, which I drew from a catfish curry that I had previously made. The difference is in the principal ingredients for this curry, which were lemongrass stalks and those habanero peppers. I also had some extra shallots and scallions lying around, so I incorporated those into the recipe as well.  As for the main ingredient - the centerpiece if you will - I went with catfish nuggets. The pieces left over after the filleting of catfish. It only seemed appropriate that those scraps be used in a recipe where I was basically throwing the "kitchen sink" into the bowl. 

In the end, this curry was something completely different and delicious than what I have previously made. The lemongrass, accentuated by the garlic and the fish sauce, was front and center, distracting one from the kick of the habanero chiles. Perhaps the lesson from this dish is to change how I make Chef Bolek originals. Only time will tell. Until next time ...

CATFISH CURRY WITH LEMONGRASS AND CHILES

A Chef Bolek Original

Serves 2

Ingredients:

• 3/4 pound of catfish nuggets or catfish fillet
• 1 tablespoon of fresh lemongrass, peeled to soft core and chopped
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 shallot, sliced
• 2 habanero chiles, deseeded and sliced
• 4 scallions, white parts only
• 2 tablespoons of ginger, peeled and chopped
• 2 tablespoons fish sauce
• 2 tablespoons rice vinegar
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil or canola oil, plus one tablespoon
• 1 teaspoon turmeric powder
• 1 lime, juiced

Directions:

1. Prepare the marinade.  Add the lemongrass, garlic, shallot, habanero chiles, scallions, ginger, fish sauce, rice vinegar, turmeric powder and oil to a food process and process until you have a relatively smooth sauce. 

2. Marinate the catfish. Place the catfish in a bowl, add the marinade and mix thoroughly. Let rest for 15 to 20 minutes or cover and refrigerate for a couple of hours. When you are ready to cook make sure to bring out the catfish at least 15 minutes before you start so that it can come to room temperature.

3. Prepare the curry. Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a pan over medium high heat. Add the catfish and saute for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. As you stir, break larger pieces of catfish into smaller ones and continue to stir so that all pieces are coated by the sauce. 

4. Finish the dish. Remove the catfish from the heat. Sprinkle the lime juice over the catfish. Plate some rice and put the catfish on top. Serve immediately.

ENJOY!

Whole Roast Fish with Lemongrass and Ginger

There is something about a whole fish that is either roasted or grilled. The entire fish - head to tail (minus the innards), laying on the plate, inviting the diner to peek below the skin to see the flaky, flavored meat. Working one's way down the filet and then lifting the backbone to reach the other fillet resting on the plate. It is perhaps the best way to enjoy fish because the cooking process ensures the maximum amount of flavor, given the fish is cooked with the bones and the skin. 

As much as I love whole fish, it is a preparation that I have rarely done. There are quite a few reasons; however, the main one is that I had some difficulty in finding whole fish that I would want to cook in this manner. Most standard grocery stores don't carry a large selection of whole fish. Some higher end stores have the selection, but it comes with a rather hefty price. All of this changed when I started shopping at the local Asian markets. Those stores had a large selection of whole fish.

I recently decided to take advantage of that selection. I purchased four whole sea bass because I wanted to make a New York Times recipe for whole roast fish with lemongrass and ginger. This particular recipe reminded me of my recent forays through southeast Asian cuisine. The lemongrass and ginger reminded me of Burmese (or Myanmar) cuisine, which utilizes these ingredients provide freshness to their curry dishes. The use of habanero chiles evokes Laotian cuisine, which boasts of dishes that have a spicy kick. The coconut milk draws parallels to Thai curries. All of these ingredients come together for a completely unique dish, which is why the recipe caught my attention. 

This recipe worked very well with sea bass. It could also work well with any other mild white fish. Truth be told, that would most likely come in the form of whole Tilapia, but it might work well with speckled trout or rainbow trout. Other mild white fish, such as cod, grouper or halibut are rarely sold whole and, if so, are well beyond the budgets of most people (including me). 

WHOLE ROAST FISH WITH LEMONGRASS AND GINGER

Recipe from New York Times Cooking

Serves 4

Ingredients:

• 2 1/2 pounds of whole fish, scaled and cleaned (about 3 branzino)
• 6 tablespoons of neutral oil (such as grapeseed or canola oil)
• 1 1/2 tablespoons Kosher salt
• 1 stalk lemongrass (about 2 1/4 ounces tougher outer part discarded, chopped)
• 1 (2-inch) piece of ginger, scrubbed and chopped
• 4 scallions, green parts sliced and white parts trimmed and left whole
• 1 scotch bonnet chile, with or without seeds, chopped
• 1 shallot, peeled and and chopped
• 2 lemons
• 1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
• 1/2 cup full fat coconut milk
• 10 cilantro sprigs, cut crosswise

Directions:

1. Prepare the fish. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit.  Pat the body and inside of the fish dry, and space the fish evenly apart on an unlined sheet pan.  Using a sharp knife, cut two diagonal slits, 2 inches apart, into the skin of each fish, making sure not to cut through to the bone. Repeat the slits on the other side.  Drizzle both sides and the inside with 3 tablespoons of oil and season with 1 1/2 tablespoons salt. 

2. Prepare the marinade. Working in batches if necessary, transfer the lemongrass to the bowl of an asanka or a mortar.  Use the pestle to pound the lemongrass pieces until fragrant.  Move the crushed pieces to one side of the mortar bowl or the asanka.  Add the ginger pieces and repeat the process until they are crushed.  Combine the ginger and the lemongrass.  Add the scallion greens and the scotch bonnet chile.  Use the pestle to crush and combine these with the lemongrass mixture.  Add the shallot and the zest of 1 lemon, crush and combine with the paste.  Stir in the turmeric and coconut milk.  (Makes about 1 1/4 cup marinade.)  As an alternative, you can use a food processor, adding the ingredients in order and pulsing them together.  Stir in the turmeric and coconut milk.

3. Continue to prepare the fish. Slice the zested lemon into 3 or 4 rounds. Spread the marinade generously over both sides of each fish and about 2 tablespoons into each cavity.  Place a lemon slice, the white end of a scallion and some cilantro sprigs in each cavity.  (At this point, the fish can be left to marinate for up to 30 minutes or covered and refrigerated overnight.) Drizzle the tops of the fish with the remaining oil.

4.  Roast the fish. Roast the fish until firm and cooked through, rotating the sheet pan once halfway through the process, about 22 to 25 minutes.  Slice the remaining lemon into wedges.  Serve the fish over steamed rice or alongside a hearty salad with lemon wedges for squeezing.

ENJOY! 

Mi Zhi Ji Chi Chuan

Behind every recipe there is a story or an image. That is certainly the case when it comes to Mi Zhi Ji Chi Chuan, which are chicken wing skewers. I struggled to tell that story or frame the image. Someone else has fortunately captured what I was thinking when I came across a recipe for these chicken wings. It is cook and author Lillian Chou, who wrote the following in an article for the food magazine, Saveur:

My favorite chicken wing joint, Kuan Dian, is set atop a shack in Xicheng district, near central Beijing. Here, a grill in a makeshift kitchen overlooks a maze of hutongs, the traditional alleyway dwellings unique to Beijing, and rowdy students clamor over chicken wings that have been smoldering over charcoal embers until the blistered skin resembles a crisp veil the color of mahogany. 

Lillian Chou, Fire in the Belly, Saveur No. 157 (June 6, 2013). Her words conjured up exactly what I was thinking: a small restaurant or food stall in or near a maze of alleys, with a cook standing over a grill, turning skewer after skewer of chicken wings.

The word "chuan" refers to a range of kebabs, from those made with proteins (like lamb, beef, chicken or pork) to those made with seafood or even vegetables. I have previously made Yangrou Chuan, lamb kebabs as part of my Kebab-apalooza challenge. When I prepared for that challenge, I researched a variety of chuan recipes. When I came across a recipe for Mi Zhi Ji Chi Chuan, I was immediately intrigued by the use of chicken wings. These wings were not the diminutive wings that are dumped in a deep fryer, tossed with a sauce and dumped into a basket like buffalo wings in the United States. This chuan requires full-sized wings -- marinated in a sauce that combines elements of sweet, spicy, and salty -- skewered and then grilled to perfection (or, in my case, as close to perfection as an amateur cook can get). 

A chuan vendor in Xinjiang.
(Source: Wikiwand)

And, as much as I love this recipe, it nevertheless conjures up another image, one that is far less enjoyable than a small makeshift kitchen overlooking a maze of alleyways in an old part of Beijing. This image is a much darker one, and, it is one that is currently unfolding. The many forms of chuan originate with the Uyghur people. They are the people of East Turkestan, now known as the Chinese province of Xinjiang. The Uyghur culture is the subject of a systematic attack by the Chinese government. This attack is all encompassing and, to say the least, very inhumane. I have previously discussed this matter at length. I won't repeat it here, except to say that the attack upon the Uyghur culture threatens the very source of beloved recipes or foods such as Mi Zhi Ji Chi Chuan. That is the darker image: a juxtaposition of the Chinese love for chuan and the cruel oppression of those who brought forth the recipes.  

In the end, every recipe has a story or conjures up an image. I stand corrected in that, some recipes may conjure up more than one story or image. Some may be good, while others are bad. The important thing is to ensure that all images can be seen and that all stories can be heard. Nothing should be hidden or repressed. Every person should know what truly lies behind what they eat.

MI ZHI JI CHI CHUAN

Recipe from Food.com

Serves 4

Ingredients:

• 1/3 cup soy sauce, divided
• 1/4 cup peanut oil, divided
• 1/4 cup Sichuan peppercorns, lightly crushed
• 2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper, plus more to taste
• 2 teaspoons honey
• salt to taste
• 2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil
• 8 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 2 scallions finely chopped
• 1 ginger, peeled finely chopped (2 inches)
• 2 pounds whole chicken wings, tips removed
• 6 12-inch bamboo skewers, soaked in water for 30 minutes
• 1/4 cup rice vinegar
• 2 tablespoons hot sesame chile oil

Directions:

1. Marinate the chicken. Stir together 1/4 cup soy sauce, 1 tablespoon peanut oil, half of the Sichuan peppercorns, black pepper, honey, toasted sesame oil, 2/3 of the minced garlic, scallions, ginger and pinch of salt in a bowl.  Add chicken wings and toss to coat.  Cover and refrigerate for at least 4 hours or up to overnight. 

2. Prepare for grilling. Heat a charcoal grill or set a gas grill to high.  When hot, bank coals or turn off burner on one side.  While grill is heating up, remove chicken from marinade and working in batches, thread 2 wings lengthwise onto a skewer and set aside.

3. Grill the wings. Grill the wings on the hottest part of the grill, turning as needed until charred in spots and cooked through (about 12-15 minutes). If the outside starts to burn before wings are cooked, move to cooler section of grill until done. 

4. Finish the dish. Whisk remaining soy sauce, peppercorns and garlic, plus vinegar and hot sesame chile oil in a bowl and drizzle over wings on serving platter.

ENJOY!

Catfish Curry

It seems that, in recent weeks, I have been making a lot of dishes influenced by Southeastern Asian cuisine. These dishes include Chengdu Chicken with Black Beans, Chiles and Peanuts and African Chicken, which draw from Chinese and Macanese cuisine. Other dishes include Vietnamese Grilled Clams with Oyster Sauce and Peanuts and Aromatic Chicken from the Shan Hills (in Myanmar).

I prepared all of these dishes from recipes, either found in cookbooks on my shelves or on the Internet. The question for me is whether I learned anything from making these recipes. Could I use the techniques, ingredients and inspiration embodied in these ingredients to make my own recipe? A Chef Bolek original?

The last Chef Bolek original recipe dates back to May 30, 2020, when I smoked a turkey breast. The time seemed right for a Chef Bolek original. This recipe for Catfish Curry emerged. 

Catfish had long been on my mind. It is perhaps one of my favorite fishes to eat (and I love to eat pretty much any kind of fish). When I was at the grocery store recently, I saw that there were "catfish nuggets" for sale. Some stores sell these nuggets, which are the pieces left over after the fish have been filleted. Rather than throw them away, the stores sell these catfish pieces, usually at a discount. It is a way to reduce waste and one that I accept in open arms. Catfish is catfish, whether in whole fillets or in nuggets. 

Turning to the recipe, I began by creating a garlic, ginger and chile paste, similar to what I had to create for the Aromatic Chicken from the Shan Hills recipe. I added that paste to the catfish, along with some wet ingredients (namely, fish sauce, rice vinegar and oil, all of which were inspired by the African Chicken recipe), and some dry ingredients (ground coriander and turmeric). I left the fish to marinate for a very short period of time, as is customary for some curries, like the Aromatic Chicken. Once I was ready, I sautéed the fish and added some garnishes, like lime leaves and cilantro. The dish was complete and served with rice. 

In the end, this dish represents an elevation beyond the Chef Bolek original recipes of the past. It represents an effort to apply something I learned while cooking to create something of my own. Perhaps it could be the start of my own Chef Table.  

CATFISH CURRY

A Chef Bolek Original

Serves 3-4

Ingredients:

• 1 pound of catfish fillets, cut into bite-sized pieces, or catfish nuggets
• 1 1/2 tablespoons minced ginger
• 1 1/2 tablespoons minced garlic
• 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 Thai bird's eyes chiles, minced
• 1 tablespoon fish sauce
• 1 tablespoon rice vinegar
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil, plus 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1 teaspoon ground coriander
• 1 teaspoon ground turmeric
• 1 bunch of scallions, whites and greens sliced
• 1 tablespoon cilantro, chopped
• 8-10 lime leaves (optional)

Directions:

1. Prepare the catfish.  Combine the garlic, ginger, chiles and salt in a mortar and pestle. Grind the ingredients until they become a paste.  Place the catfish in a large bowl, add the garlic/ginger/chile paste.  Then add the wet ingredients (fish sauce, vinegar and 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil) and the dry ingredients (coriander and turmeric). Mix well to ensure that the catfish is well coated. 

2. Sauté the catfish. Heat 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil over medium high heat. Add the scallion whites and sauté for 2 to 3 minutes.  Add the catfish and continue to sauté, stirring occasionally to ensure that the catfish is thoroughly cooked.  Add the lime leaves and cilantro after about 5 minutes.  Cook the catfish for about 10 minutes or until fully cooked. Remove from the heat.

3. Finish the dish. Serve the catfish with rice, garnish with the scallion greens.

ENJOY!