Ginger and Ganesh

“Please teach me Indian cooking! I will bring ingredients and pay you for your trouble.” This is the advertisement Nani posted on Craigslist three years ago when she was struggling to capture the authentic flavors of Indian cuisine in her own kitchen. She had prayed to the elephant-god Ganesh, who is known as the remover of obstacles, and “slowly,” she says, “the obstacles fell away on this journey, and the doors flew open, leading me into a path of discovery, love, and coconut chutney.”

The bonds Nani formed with the women who responded to her ad, and the recipes they shared, became the substance for Nani’s book Ginger and Ganesh. Her book is a reflection on womanhood across cultures and includes tasty Indian recipes such as homemade cheese cubes in cilantro and almond curry, potato-curry dumplings and coconut stuffed okra.

As a writer, Nani believes that food is an important part of creating convincing fiction. She describes the images, smells and flavors of food as a powerful way to bring a person into a scene. Nani says, “I feel memory is a vital ingredient of fiction. Perhaps it is the main thing--how we process and remember our lives. Food ties in to memory. It is embedded in our sensory recall of life.” Food plays a focal role in each of Nani’s five published books.

Indian food is Nani’s favorite thing to cook and eat “because of its variety of spices and amazing depth.” She finds the masalas (the mixtures of spices) in Indian cooking fascinating. Masalas often include the following spices in varying ratios and combinations according to region: black & white peppercorns, ginger, fennel, cloves, cinnamon, turmeric, nutmeg, cardamom, cumin, star anise and coriander. In addition to their many and varying ingredients, Indian dishes often require complicated and time-consuming techniques to bring out just the right flavors. For instance, there are three methods of adding spices to an Indian dish, Nani explains: The first batch of fresh spices are dry-roasted and ground into a paste (which creates a much richer flavor than using pre-packaged spices); the second set of spices are added to an onion and tomato base, a method known as “burning in spices”; and the third way to add in spices is by creating a tadka, spices browned in hot oil and poured over the dish.

Nani relishes in the meticulous processes of cooking and believes that it is therapeutic for the soul, a way to fully appreciate and enjoy a meal. She is disappointed by the growing popularity of microwaveable, pre-packaged meals. “What are people doing with the time they save on cooking anyway? …probably watching TV.”

The recipe Nani chose to share is palak paneer:

Palak Paneer

Ingredients

¾ of a store-bought paneer block, cut into chunks (I like Nanak)

1 bag of washed spinach

1 red onion, chopped

1 green chili, chopped

2 garlic cloves

1-inch piece of ginger, chopped

2 teaspoons coriander

1 teaspoon cumin powder

1 teaspoon red chili powder

1 cup plain yogurt

1 cup water

Salt

Directions

Cook onions, garlic, chilies, and ginger in oil. When softened, add spinach and

spices. Cook until spinach softens down, about 5 minutes. Place all in a blender

with yogurt and water. Blend well and return to pan. Bring up to heat and let

cook down, about 5 minutes. Add paneer and let it warm through and puff up

a bit. Taste for salt.

Who’s Your Mama, Are You Catholic, and Can You Make a Roux?

Margaret is from Louisiana and damn proud of it. If you can’t tell where she’s from by the Saints jersey that she’s wearing, or the Who Dat license plate on her car, then maybe you can tell by the giant fleur de lis that’s tattooed on the front of her right leg, or the pair of red crawfish claws tattooed on the back. Margaret’s whole house is a shrine to the New Orleans Saints football team, complete with framed newspaper articles, Sports Illustrated magazines, autographed pictures, cleats and gloves worn by Saints players, and a piece of turf from the Superdome where the Saints played their 2009 season. And then there’s her yappy little Pomeranian named Deuce after Deuce McAllister.

Margaret and her family are serious about football, but they are also serious about food. People in Louisiana like to eat. A lot. All social gatherings revolve around food and cooking, and when Margaret goes home for the holidays, she can expect a banquet. Even when her dad picks her up from the New Orleans airport Margaret knows that there will be a messy shrimp po-boy from Danny & Clyde’s waiting for her in the car.

A cousin on Margaret’s mom’s side of the family is the author of the cook book entitled Who’s Your Mama, Are You Catholic and Can you Make a Roux? which Margaret translates roughly to: I know who your daddy is because of your last name, but I want to know what family your mom comes from; are you Catholic because I’m Catholic and I can’t marry outside my religion; and can you cook? This family cook book includes recipes for the authentic Cajun food Margaret grew up eating: red beans and rice, gumbo, shrimp stew, crawfish, jambalaya and smothered pork chops.

Many of these dishes are derived from three main components: seafood, the trinity, and rice. While seafood may be a luxury to those of us who don’t live near the Gulf of Mexico, it is a staple in every Louisiana home and is the main ingredient in many Cajun recipes. “People from Louisiana don’t have barbeques, they have crawfish boils,” says Margaret. “And we have four seasons in Louisiana: crawfish, crab, shrimp and king cake.” Many Cajun soups and stews also include the trinity, a mix of onions, celery and bell peppers that is the Louisiana spin on the French mirepoix (and yes, also a reference to the holy trinity). Finally, almost all Cajun dishes are served with a heaping pile of rice, simply because Louisiana happens to have great land for growing rice.

In Louisiana there is a philosophy that you should have fun any way that you can, as long as you’re not hurting anyone. There is also a strong belief in community and family. “When I call someone my aunt at home, she’s probably not really my aunt,” says Margaret. But when you become close to someone in Louisiana, they become family and will gladly give the shirt off their back for you. “The people of Louisiana are seasoned,” Margaret says, “just like our food. A gumbo is made with whatever is in your kitchen when you cook it, so there’s a little bit of everything in it. And just like a gumbo, people from Louisiana have a little bit of everything in their personality. They are a bit rough around the edges, but still generous, warm, and friendly.” …which is exactly how I would describe Margaret.

To Margaret, cooking and eating are part of what it means to be from Louisiana. “Food, family, friends and good times” are what it’s all about, she says. Many times after work, or on the weekends, or when we are on our way out with a group of friends to have some drinks, some laughs, and some good food, I’ve heard Margaret utter the Cajun French saying, “Laissez les bons temp roule”: Let the good times roll.

Margaret’s favorite recipe is red beans and rice:

Red Beans & Rice

Ingredients

1 pack dry red beans

1 medium yellow onion

1/2 bell pepper (green or red or 1/4 each)

1 stalk celery 

Garlic

1 pack smoked sausage (andouille if you can find it)

2 cups rice

This recipe makes enough for 5-7 people

Directions

1. Soak beans overnight or for 1 day in plenty of water (cover beans at least an inch or inch and a half)

2. Drain and rinse off soaked beans and put aside

3. Cut onion, celery, bell pepper, garlic, and sausage and saute in stock pot

4. Add beans to sausage and onion mix and add enough water to cover everything about 3"

5. Bring everything to a boil and lower temperature to just a simmer/slight boil

6. Stir often so beans don't burn or stick, cooking for a few hours till beans are almost a paste. Add water a little at a time to keep some liquid (you may have to mash a few beans to thicken them)

7. Prepare 2 cups of rice

8. Add beans over rice and enjoy!

The Big Apple

For many of us, food is an integral part of childhood and a source of many memories. The foods we eat are often a reflection of who we are and where we come from. Growing up in the heart of central New York in a modest one-level country house, my family was surrounded on all sides by acres of cornfields and dairy farms. Tucked away in our family albums are pictures of me (and of my three sisters) tearing the husk off an ear of corn before I’d even learned to walk. Dinners in our home usually consisted of very simple middle-class American food: a cut of chicken or beef, potatoes served one of ten ways, and some fresh farm produce served with plenty of butter.

In the summers, as a child, it was a daily ritual for me to go out to the raspberry bushes in my back yard and pick as many berries as I pleased. Moving to an urban area has changed my perspective quite a bit. Now I go to Whole Foods and spend five dollars to get a handful of the same berries. I often find myself nostalgic for the quality, inexpensive staples that were always in our home.

In the autumn, if you drive for a half a mile out of my hometown in any direction you’ll find a roadside stand with bags of crisp apples and jugs of tangy cider. The orange maples that cover every curve of hill and valley in Madison County during this time of year are often decorated with tin sap buckets. My dad used to (and still does) fix us the richest french toast, dripping in pure maple syrup from these very trees. It wasn’t until I was a teenager that I tasted the thick, corn-syrupy goo that is Mrs. Butterworth’s, and realized how lucky we were to grow up with fresh food right at our fingertips.

Most people have a certain dish that is significant to them in some way. My blog will explore the relationship that people have with the food they grow, cook and eat and will share the recipes that accompany their stories.

Personally I enjoy cooking a little bit of everything. I’m always trying to branch out and experiment with new recipes, but there is something beautifully simplistic about country cooking: the smell of bacon on a Saturday morning, apples baking with cinnamon in the oven, or a dab of butter, melting in the pan.

My first recipe, maple apple crisp, is a recipe that resembles my country roots. Enjoy!


Maple Apple Crisp

Ingredients

5 Granny Smith apples - peeled, cored, and sliced
3/4 cup maple syrup
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter, softened

Directions

1) Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
2) Toss apples with maple syrup and place in an 8x8 inch baking dish. Mix flour, oats, sugar, cinnamon and salt in a separate bowl. Cut in butter until mixture is crumbly. Sprinkle mixture evenly over apples.
3) Bake for 35 minutes, until topping is golden brown.
4) Top with Breyer’s vanilla ice cream.