Fina'Denne

Sangan i guaguan (Speak what is valuable)

-- Chamorran proverb

The Chamorro people have inhabited what are now known as the Marianas islands for thousands of years. Those islands are currently divided politically between Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands, both of which are part of the United States. Yet, most of those who live in the continental United States probably have never heard of the Chamorro, let alone know of their history, their culture, and their perspectives. 

I have known about the Chamorro people, although I have to admit that, until recently, I knew very little about them other than where they lived. It was my search for hot sauces to make that opened a door into learning more about the Chamorro people. And, this post serves as an opportunity for me to speak what is valuable.

The Chamorro people are believed to have come to the Mariana Islands from what is now known as the Philippines or Indonesia. At their height, there was believed to have been anywhere from 50,000 to 100,000 Chamorro living on the islands ... until Spanish colonialism arrived. Disease and violence reduced the numbers of Chamorro to as little as 1,000, who were forcibly relocated to Guam. After the Spanish, others ruled over the islands, including the Germans, Japanese and ultimately, the Americans, who have controlled Guam since 1899 (as a result of the Treaty of Paris) and the Northern Mariana Islands since the end of World War II. Today, there are over 160,000 people who identify as Chamorro. 

As one would expect a history of colonization would leave imprints upon modern day Chamorro culture and cuisine. Those prints reflect influences from Spanish, Filipino, Japanese and American cultures. Yet, there remains something uniquely Chamorro - inafa'maolek or "doing good for each other." This concept reflects six traditional values: (1) respectu, respect for the elderly and other significant individuals within the family and community; (2) manginge, an expression of respect for elders or person so authority; (3) mamahlao, to be shamefaced, embarassed or ashamed; (4) chenchule, to give or donate without relationship to any event; (5) che'lu, relationships with siblings; and (6) patgon, valuing children and acknowledging that raising them is everyone's responsibility. Taken together, these values recognize the interdependence and respect of every part of society, from young and old. Values like these build communities, developing and reinforcing the bonds between one another. 

Yet, there is also a less positive aspect: where one does not contribute according to their means or ability, then they should expect resistance to that person. Take, for instance, the United States' occupation and control of much of where the Chamorro live, namely those Marianas islands. Inafa'maolek provides the conceptual framework through which resistance to the U.S. presence in Guam. When the Chamorro believed that the U.S. was not fulfilling its duties and responsibilities to their community, then political resistance, such as in the 1970s with respect to the U.S. presence in Guam and elsewhere, became the means by which the Chamorro could seek to restore the balance within the community.  

Source: Paleric

These are principles that have helped the Chamorro overcome collective challenges, and they can serve as valuable lessons for others. An important starting point for further exploration into Chamorro cuisine and culture. 

As part of this journey, I prepared Fina'Denne, which is a very spicy condiment that is a staple of Chamorro cuisine. It reflects foreign influences, with the use of soy sauce and chiles. (Indeed, Fina'Denne translates to "made with chile pepper"). Yet, this dish predates the Spanish. The earliest versions were simple preparations using salt and pepper. The Spanish introduced vinegar, which the Japanese later supplanted with soy sauce. Other ingredients, such as the Thai bird-eye chiles (or "boonie peppers"), were added later to create the condiment that is known today. 

Once prepared, it is usually drizzled over meat or rice. Fina'Denne can be prepared with more soy sauce than lemon juice for red meat, chicken or pork dishes. Alternatively, one can use more lemon juice than soy sauce to prepare a Fina'Denne that could work well with fish or seafood. This particular recipe uses an even split between soy sauce and lemon juice. That seemed like an appropriate start for the first time preparing this sauce. 

FINA'DENNE

Recipe adapted from Dad with a Spoon and Annie's Chamorro Kitchen

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup lemon juice or white vinegar
• 1/2 cup soy sauce
• 1/2 cup scallions (green onions), thinly sliced
• 3 Thai chiles (or 2 serrano chiles), seeded and thinly sliced
• 2 fresno chiles (or 1 jalapeno chile), seeded and thinly sliced
• Cherry tomatoes, sliced or diced

Directions:

Combine the ingredients in a bowl and stir well. Rest in a refrigerator for up to three days for best results.

PEACE.

Guiji (Ghost Chicken)

Yunnan is one of the southernmost provinces of China; and, it borders Myanmar, Thailand and Laos. Within the province's borders, one can find the Dai people. I previously blogged about the Dai and their cuisine when I prepared Dai Carrot Salad. As I did some research for that post, I kept coming across a completely different recipe. The dish is referred to as Guiji or, by its more fanciful nickname, "ghost chicken."

The dish is an excellent reflection of Dai cuisine. It draws upon three key ingredients: raw herbs such as culantro and fish mint root; chiles, such as the very piquant Thai bird's eye chiles; and an acidic element such as lime juice. 

Notwithstanding the use of traditional ingredients, the "star" of this recipe is the chicken itself. Guiji is prepared with a silkie chicken, which gets its name for its white, fluffy plummage (which is said to feel like silk to the touch). Indeed, the first recorded sighting of a silkie chicken comes from Marco Polo in the 13th century, who wrote about a "furry chicken" that he encountered during his travels through Asia. Indeed, the silkie chicken originated somewhere in China (although it is possible that it could have emerged elsewhere in Asia, such as as India or Java).  

Beneath the fluffy white feathers, a silkie has black skin, darker meat and black bones, which are well known to and prized by chefs, especially in Asia. Chinese chefs (including Dai chefs) use the meat of the chickens for a wide range of soups, while using the bones for stocks and broths. 

While researching Guiji, I worked under the assumption that the dish was representative of Dai cuisine. Most of the websites attributed the dish to the Dai people. However, I came across some interesting information that placed the dish within the cuisine of another ethnic group, the Jingpo. The Jingpo live in the same region as the Dai, generally around the across the border between Myanmar (where they are known as the Jinghpaw) and China's Yunnan province. 

The link to the Jingpo also provided an interesting backstory to Guiji. There are Jingpo communities who practice a ritual of slaughtering chickens and offering them to departed family members and other souls, along with ancestral spirits or deities. The chickens would then be poached, which is a sign of respect for the dead. Once the chickens are cooked and have cooled down, the meat would be shredded. The shredded chicken is then combined with garlic, ginger and the key ingredients of Dai cuisine, that is, raw herbs, chiles, and lime juice. Hence, the Jingpo tradition may be where this dish gets its nickname, "Ghost Chicken." 

GUIJI (GHOST CHICKEN)

Recipe from Go Kunming

Serves 4

Ingredients:

• 1 whole silkie chicken (plucked and butchered)\
• 2 tablespoons ginger, minced
• 2 tablespoons garlic, minced
• 7-10 tablespoons culantro
• 3-4 tablespoons fish mint root (optional)
• 5-10 Thai bird's eye chiles, sliced thinly
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 1 pod dried red cardamom
• 5 limes, juiced

Directions:

1. Poach the chicken. Place the entire bird into the pot with just enough water to cover and the single pod of red cardamom. Season with a pinch of salt after the water begins to boil. Cover the pot with a lid, lower the flame, and simmer for 10 minutes. Remove the pot from the stove and allow the chicken to sit in the hot liquid for another 20 minutes to continue cooking. After 20 minutes have passed, drain the liquid, remove the cardamom and set the chicken aside to cool. 

2. Pull the chicken meat. Once the chicken has cooled, use your fingers to shred the meat into thin, uniform strips and discard the bones. This should yield about 4 cups of meat, including the skin (the traditional Yunnan way). 

3. Finish the dish. Toss the chicken with the rest of the ingredients in a bowl. Taste. If the flavor is not strong and piquant, add more lime juice, salt or fresh chiles as necessary. Serve cold. 

ENJOY!

Vietnamese Grilled Whole Fish

There are a wide variety of fish dishes in Vietnamese cuisine, which is only to be expected given the country has 3,260 kilometers of coastline. There are also several major rivers that run through the country, such as the Song Da, Song Chiang, and, of course, the Mekong River.

One of the most interesting subset of dishes are the whole fish dishes. Setting aside the relatively easy preparation, I find that it is the sauces that one prepares alongside the whole fish to be one of the truly interesting aspects of Vietnamese whole fish dishes. The sauces provide an extra level of flavor that often enhances whatever spices, herbs and citrus are stuffed into the fish. 

Take, for example, chef and author Charles Phan, who has quite a few whole fish recipes out there. My parents gave me his cookbook, Vietnamese Home Cooking, as a gift. I decided to make the whole fish recipe in that cookbook, which is set forth below. The fish was delicious, but it was that dipping sauce that, for me, completed this dish.

The dipping sauce represents what the Vietnamese call "Ngũ Hành" or the five tastes. It is an excellent balance of those tastes, namely, spice, salt, bitter, sour and sweet. The chiles provide the spice; the lime juice offers the bitterness; the fish sauce contributes both the sour and the salt; and, the sugar provides, as you can guess, the sweet. The balance in this dipping sauce led me to dipping every bite-sized morsel of the fish into the sauce. 

VIETNAMESE GRILLED WHOLE FISH

Recipe from Charles Phan, Vietnamese Home Cooking at pg. 181

Serves 2

Ingredients (for the fish):

• 1 (1 1/2 to 2 pound) whole branzino, cleaned with head and tail intact
• Kosher salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 1 by 1-inch piece of ginger, cut into thin coins
• 2 large Thai basil sprigs
• 2 large cilantro sprigs
• 3 thin lemon slices
• 3 thin lime slices
• 2 tablespoons canola or olive oil

Ingredients (for the dipping sauce):

• 2 1/2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice
• 2 tablespoons fish sauce
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 1 teaspoon peeled and minced fresh ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon minced garlic
• 1/4 teaspoon minced Thai chile

Directions:

1. Prepare the grill.  Prepare a hot fire for direct heat grilling in a charcoal grill (you should be able to hold your hand 1 to 2 inches above the grate for only 2 to 3 seconds). When the coals are ready, place a cast iron griddle or large cast iron frying pan on the grill grate and let it preheat until very hot.

2. Prepare the fish. While the fire is reaching temperature, rinse the fish in cold water and pat dry with paper towels. Season the inside with salt and pepper and then stuff the cavity with the ginger, basil, cilantro and lemon and lime slices. Drizzle the oil on both sides of the fish and set aside. 

3. Make the dipping sauce. To make the sauce, in a small bowl, stir together lime juice, fish sauce, sugar, ginger, garlic, and Thai chile until the sugar has dissolved. Set aside.

4. Grill the fish. When the griddle or pan is very hot, add the fish and cook it without moving for about 6 minutes until the skin is a deep golden brown and no longer sticking to the griddle. To check, gently try to lift the fish; of it does not release easily, continue to cook until it does. 

5. Continue to grill the fish. With a large, wide spatula centered at the middle of the fish, flip the fish and cook on the second side until golden brown. After 1 minute, begin checking to see if the fish is done. Insert a knife into the fish and wiggle it gently; the flesh should be barely clinging to the bone. If you feel resistance, continue cooking, repeating the test until the flesh offers no resistance.

6. Finish the dish. Transfer the fish to a plater and serve immediately. Accompany with the dipping sauce. 

Mirchi Qorma

Modern history defines Kashmir in a broad stroke. That stroke illustrates a land divided amongst three separate powers. There is Azad Kashmir and Gilgit Baltistan, which is under the control of Pakistan. As that stroke moves east, there is Jammu and Kashmir, along with Ladakh, both of which are controlled by India. The stroke finishes with Aksai Chin and the Trans-Kakoram Tract, which are under the control of China (and, which are administratively part of Xinjiang and/or Tibet). 

Looking back into the past, when one spoke of Kashmir, they were more than likely talking about the Kashmir Valley.  It is a region bookended by the Pir Panjal range to the southwest and the Himalaya Mountains to the northeast. It is also the historic home to the Kashmiri people.  They are the focus of this blog post. 

The Kashmiri people are a Dardic ethnic group, a group of Indo-Aryan peoples who live in northeastern Pakistan, eastern Afghanistan and Kashmir. It is a region that has seen conquerors come and go, including the Mughals, who ruled the region for about 200 years between the 1580s and the 1750s, the Afghanis, who ruled for a few decades; and the Sikhs, who ruled for about twenty years until they were supplanted by the Dogra Regime, who controlled the area until 1947. It was the Dogra Regime that perhaps best underscored the problem: a Hindu monarchy that exploited the masses of Muslim Kashmiri people.  As it was once described: 

The poverty of the Muslim masses is appalling. Dressed in rags and barefoot, a Muslim peasant presents the appearance of a starved beggar.... Most are landless laborers, working as serfs for absentee landlords.

This description is particularly jarring, especially given Kashmiri cuisine.  Dishes primarily feature rice, usually served with a protein, such as lamb or mutton. These include, by way of example, Machwangen Kormeh (meat cooked with spices and chilies, including Kashmiri chiles) and Yakhni (a yogurt-based mutton gravy flavored with bay leaves, cloves and cardamom). Indeed, meat features prominently in these dishes, which is something that naturally appeals to a die-hard carnivore like myself. 

A Wazwan Feast (from Auralcrave)

This dish has its place in Kashimiri cuisine. It is one of about 30 lamb dishes that are part of a 36-dish Kashmiri feast known as the wazwan. (In the Kashmiri language, waz means "cook" or cooking, while wan means "shop.") The feast celebrates the legacy of the 15th century Turko-Mongol conquerer Timur.  The conqueror brought with him 1,700 skilled workers.  Those workers included cooks, who would butcher the lambs for the dishes.  The cooks worked under the supervision of a wouste waze, who is the master chef.  As the dishes are completed, they are brought out to the guests, who sit at tables of four with a traem (a large bronze plate) on the middle of the table. The guests share the dishes as they are placed om the traem until the last dish - gushtaba (meatballs cooked in a spicy gravy - is served. The meatball recipe signifies the end of the feast. 

This recipe for Mirchi Qorma comes from Ahdoo's Hotel, which is located in Srinagar, the capital of Jammu-Kashmir.  A qorma is the Urdic word "to braise." In this case, it is the braising of pieces of lamb in a fiery chile sauce made from Kashmiri chiles.  The dish itself illustrates the influence of the past, as a qorma is a Mughal dish, typically made in the kitchens for the court of the rulers. The cooks first seared the lamb over high heat, typically with ghee, adding liquid to create the gravy or curry in which the meat continues to cook. This recipe basically follows that historical approach. The end product is one of the best curries that I have had in a very long time. 

MIRCHI QORMA

Recipe from Saveur

Serves 4-6

Ingredients:

• 6 dried Kashmiri chiles or pasilla chiles, stemmed
• 2 small red Thai chiles or 1 red jalapeno, stemmed 
• 2 pounds lamb shoulder
• 1 tablespoons black pepper corns
• 4 green cardamom pods
• 1 stick of cinnamon
• 1/4 cup canola oil
• 1 teaspooon kala jeera (black cumin seeds
• 10 cloves garlic, mashed into a paste
• 2 Indian (or regular) bay leaves
• 1/4 cup tamarind paste
• 3 tablespoons dried mint
• 1 tablespoon red chile powder, such as cayenne
• Kosher salt, to taste.

Directions:

1.  Cook the lamb.  Heat a six quart saucepan over medium-high heat.  Cook dried chiles until lightly toasted, 1 to 2 minutes.  Transfer to a food processor, add fresh chiles and 1 cup of water.  Puree until smooth and return to pan.  Add lamb, peppercorns, cardamom, cinnamon and 3 cups of water.  Bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium low, cook, covered, until lamb is very tender, about one hour.  Transfer the lamb mixture to a bowl. 

2.  Finish the dish. Wipe the pan clean; heat oil over medium high.  Cook cumin seeds, garlic and bay leaves until seeds pop, about 1-2 minutes.  Add reserve lamb mixture, the tamarind paste, 1 teaspoon of mint, the chile powder and salt. Bring it to a boil and then reduce the heat to medium. Cook until thickened, about 1 hour.  Garnish with remaining mint. 

ENJOY!

Pork Laab

Transport yourself to Southeast Asia where you find yourself near the border of northeast Thailand and Laos.  Hunger grips your stomach, the clench tightening as the thought of food travels through your brain.  You enter a village and head immediately to the market.  The market just consists of just a few vendors.  However, there is one stall around which the local people gather.  You politely work your way in to see a vendor cooking a dish of minced meat, nutmeg/black pepper/chile spice blend and fresh herbs.  The aromas are so enticing that you almost miss the fact that the vendor is adding slices of pork liver and pork heart, along with a little pork blood.  As the vendor finished the dish for individual patrons, adding rice and topping it with fried garlic and pork cracklings.  You turn to a local standing next to you and ask what is this dish.  (Remember, you are not actually there, so a translator is not required.)  The local responds, "it is Laab."

Laab is a popular dish throughout Southeast Asia.  The story describes how the Tai Koen prepare this dish in Northeast Thailand.  If you were in Burma (Myanmar), the Shan people prepare Laab with lightly fried minced pork, along with shallots, lemongrass, galangal, sesame seeds, and a roasted chile paste.

I learned about these different variations of Laab in an article published by Naomi Duguid in Saveur.  The article included a recipe by Hong Thaimee of Ngam Restaurant in New York City.  This recipe does not require pork livers or pork blood.  Instead, it is a recreation of a classic Laab that does recreate many of the aromas and flavors one would expect is you were eating this dish in Southeast Asia.  This is definitely a great dish, which I will make again. 

PORK LAAB

Recipe from Saveur

Serves 2-4

Ingredients:

⅓ cup canola oil
3 tbsp. mashed garlic
4 red Thai chiles, stemmed and minced
10 oz. ground pork
1 tsp. crushed red chile flakes
1 tsp. Chinese five-spice powder
1 tsp. freshly grated nutmeg
1 tsp. kosher salt
¼ tsp. ground black pepper
¼ tsp. ground coriander
¼ tsp. ground cardamom
2 tbsp. minced mint, plus more to garnish
1 tbsp. minced scallions, plus more to garnish
1 tbsp. minced cilantro, plus more to garnish
2 tsp. fish sauce
Thinly sliced kaffir lime leaves, lemongrass, shallots, cucumbers, and cherry tomatoes to garnish

Directions:

1.  Cook the garlic and peppers.  Heat oil in a 12" skillet over medium heat. Add garlic and chiles, and cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 2 minutes. 

2.  Cook the pork and spices.  Add pork, chile flakes, five-spice, nutmeg, salt, pepper, coriander, and cardamom, and cook, stirring, until pork is browned, about 2 minutes. Stir in mint, scallions, cilantro, and fish sauce, and cook until pork is done, about 4 minutes.

3. Finish the dish. Transfer to a large serving bowl, and top with scallions, cilantro, kaffir leaves, lemongrass, shallots, mint, cilantro, cucumbers, and tomatoes. Serve at room temperature.

ENJOY!