Hummus in a Hurry

I was hosting an event for En's birthday and had as much on my plate as I could handle, but when looking at the table, it needed something else. And what is both hearty and easy to make in a flash? Hummus.

I've done I've done the traditional  hummus before, but for some reason it takes me a long time and the consistancy is spotty until you add heaps of oil, and I just can't justify ingesting that much oil in one mouthful. To do the traditional hummus properly, you need to soak the chick peas from dry overnight with a touch of baking soda. This is the only way to produce the right consistency and great flavour. Using canned chick peas can still be done well, and after much tweaking, this version below insures each bite is yummy and smooth while still healthy if you choose to eat the whole tub.

Served with regular Breton crackers. It disappeared after two refills.

Hummus

Chick Peas		750 ml can
Onion		1, medium
Garlic		5 cloves
Olive Oil		1/2 cup
Lemon Zest		1 Lemon
Lemon Juice		1 Lemon
Tahini		4 tbs
Black Pepper		3 tsp (ground)
Smoked Paprika		2 tsp (ground)
Sea Salt		1 tsp (ground)
Water		1/4 cup
Canola Oil		2 tbsp

Garnish

Flat Leaf Parsley		Leaves, chopped

Preparation:

1. Chop onion and mince garlic
2. Heat a pot on medium with canola oil
3. Add onion and stir
4. After a few minutes, add garlic
5. Saute until translucent
6. Move mixture to sides of the pot and in the cleared middle, toast paprika and ground black pepper. Be very careful not to burn them! Pay attention to scent and colour.
7. When toasted, stir mixture together
8. Add chick peas and stir to coat
9. Zest lemon directly into the pot
10. Add Tahini
11. Stir and allow to cook until mixture has softened
12. When mositure has evaporated, add the water to loosen all the flavour on the bottom of the pan and also helps the mixture to soften further. This will give a creamy texture with flavour without watering it down
13. When mixture has heated through and starts to thicken, add olive oil and lemon juice
14. Remove pot from heat
15. Add salt
16. With a stick blender, blitz entire pot until creamy smooth. Add more olive oil (after blitzing) to loosen if necessary. Keep in mind - beating oil emulsifies, so always do this at the end.
17. Refrigerates well for a few days, so good to make in advance if you're pressed for time

Pork Curry

It was a funny thing I realized while speaking to my dear friend Genevieve on the phone. She called and I told her I was cooking. When she asked what I was making, I told her, and I could almost see her cringing up her nose. I realized then that pork curry is not something most Guyanese (or Trini's, for that matter) would ever cook, as most of them stay away from not only beef, but also pork. She said they just cook 'the usual' curries, which were chicken, goat, fish. The usual? By who's standards? And it hit me. These were things my father never had until he married my mother. My mother's family was from 'town' - the city, where there was a congregation of race, religion, and altogether more culturally 'melted' than the rural areas where most others lived. To live in the city was to be more open to what your neighbours were doing and eating. And hence, we eat pork curry. When I told Genny 'come on, you know you can curry anything', she replied 'yes, but not everything curried tastes good!' She's right, but pork is definitely not one of those things. It is so delicious. Here is how to make it.

Image 1: The meat itself gives off much liquid.
This must all cook off before additional ingredients are added.

Image 2: A Maririri pepper - I'm unsure of the proper, English name,
but this is the typical Guyanese pepper used in cooking and pepper sauces.
I added four to this pot.

Image 3: After adding the potato and water - it should just cover the contents.
This shot captures the curry at a rolling boil.

Image 4: The completed curry ready to serve.

Pork Curry

Pork Loins		2, 1" cubes
Potato		Peeled & 1.5" cubes
Onion		2 med onions, chopped
Garlic		6 cloves, minced
Tomato Paste		2 tbsp (heaped)
Maririri Pepper		0-4 (depending on your heat preference)
Curry Powder		6 tbsp
Cumin (parched)		3 tbsp (ground)
Turmeric		1 tbsp (ground)
Sea Salt		1 tsp
Canola Oil		2 tbsp

Preparation:

1. Wash and trim pork and cut into 1" cubes
2. Pour canola oil into pot on med-high heat
3. Saute onions and garlic until translucent
4. Add tomato paste and stir until mixture is coated and paste begins to sizzle
5. Add curry powder, cumin and turmeric
6. Cook out all moisture until the paste begins to fry
7. Add pork and stir to coat and then leave to brown
8. Juices will release. It will seem like a lot of liquid (see image 1), but rest assured, it will all evaporate. It will take a long time and require occasional stirring, but do not skip this step and do not continue before the meat itself begins to fry after all the liquid has disappeared. Doing so will result in a bland, one note dish. I say this for all curries. Do not skip this step.
9. When the meat has caramelized, add potato and enough just-boiled water to cover and stir (see image 2).
10. When finished stirring, add your whole maririri peppers (see image 3). Partially cover and bring to a boil.
11. Reduce heat to medium, stir, and let cook uncovered for approximately 20-30 minutes.
12. Skim the fat continuously. Most people don't do this, but in our family we cook as healthy as possible and with the constant skimming, up to half a cup of fat can be removed.
13. Reduce heat to low for fifteen minutes and continue skimming fat.
14. Stir. The liquid will have turned to a thickened sauce (see image 4). To thicken sauce further, my mother taught me a trick - smash a few of the potatoes in the pot against the side and stir into the curry. Turn off heat and remain covered until ready to serve over steamed rice.

Magic Wok

Image Courtesy of Google Maps

I know it sounds like a generic chain, but hear me out. This restaurant is my family's go to restaurant for birthday celebrations for years. It is NOT the toned down, fried, made for the meat-and-potatoes-palate kind of food. It's at the other end of the spectrum. There are meats and fungi on the menu that most Canadians wouldn't dream of touching, but they are delicious if you know how to prepare it right. And boy, can they prepare it right here.

That being said, we've never tended to stray from our usual order. We may try a new dish here or there, but the reason we choose the same things is because they are so good, we all have our favourites, and nobody want's to give up what they like. Except for dad and mom. Which means it really is just the three of us who will never compromise. On top of our orders, we all (except for dad) order a dish of steamed rice to go with our food.

And now we have Mark, so I'm sure soon we will have an additional dish added to our repertoire. Maybe our desire to insist it is closer to 'authentic' than 'Americanized' is the reason we refer to the place as '14th line; the location rather than the name.

Magic Wok is located on 14th Ave west of Kennedy in Markham, right beside the Mandir En and I got married in. I'm not sure about lunch, but they open for dinner service at 5.00pm.

Steamed Pickerel with Ginger and Green Onion

From Bottom Clockwise: Chicken Hot Pot, Cantonese Chow Mien,
Black Bean Lobster, Chicken Fried Rice, Baby Bok Choi

Dad's Selection: 
Baby Bok Choi in Garlic. This is a great and healthy side for all the rich meat dishes. Crisp yet delicious, we always finish the entire platter.

Mom's Selection: 
Beef Brisket Hot Plate in Sauce. It spits sauce everywhere from the sizzling hot iron platter and leaves a red ring on the tablecloth around the dish once you lift it. We didn't order it this time because of the XM processing plant bacteria scare, but it suits me fine as Diwali is coming up and I've chosen to fast off of beef for the proceeding month. But it is yummy! I need to remember what sauce we order, but it is covered in a red, almost barbeque consistency, but with far more tang. The meat is so tender and is loaded with onions - wonderful with the steamed rice.

Cher's Selection: 
Lobster in Black Bean Sauce. If she doesn't order it, I will. It's so good. The key to it is to eat it as soon as you can, since cold lobster is gross. They serve all pieces, even if it's just shell, but I have to say, even sucking the sauce off the shell alone is tasty, and I do this, regardless of who may be watching and judging. It's good food. Deal with it. And yes, I crunch up the shells and crack them with my teeth.

My Selection: 
Steamed Pickerel with Ginger and Green Onion. If they don't have fresh pickerel, I'll settle for grouper. The entire fish is steamed and then finished off with some sizzling oil drizzled overtop. Dad has always saved the cheeks for me and Cher, but soon that tradition will change once Alexis is old enough to eat solids!

En's Selection: 
Cantonese Chow Mein. It may sound generic, and my husband prefers the mainstream dishes, but this one I must agree with him, is the best so far. The top is perfectly crispy and the bottom is incredibly saucy. It's mixed, so there is plenty of seafood, greens, water chestnuts, chicken and char siu pork. It is so good it was covered in 'Street Eats', a local show featuring the best dishes around the city.

Mark's Selection: 
TBD I guess. Cher and Mark started dating a while back, but he's only started joining us for celebratory meals in the past year. This is his first time at Magic Wok, but he's familiar with the cuisine, so it's just a matter of time.


Other dishes we've had in not-so-regular rotation are Cashew Shrimp, Phoenix's Nest, Chicken Fried Rice, Crab, Chicken Hot Pot, and Chinese Broccoli.

Restaurant Info:
Magic Wok
4331 14th Avenue, Markham Ontario, L3R 0J2
(905) 305-6088
Urban Spoon Review

Leftovers: Turkey Tetrazzini

When I was living at your grandparents, grandma would get creative with leftovers to the point that we never knew we were eating the same Thanksgiving  turkey every day. Something about this dish is so comforting. In the chill of mid-October, after a long day of school, especially if I had orchestra practice, it was one of those dinners that made you so happy to be home.

Since I've made it for both of you, this is the highlight of your Thanksgivings. You like seeing the bird, you like the Thanksgiving meal with family, but what you love eating is Turkey Tetrazzini. In fact, there was once a time when you both finished off the entire pot in two days!

As with most popular pasta dishes, Tetrazzini has an origin story. American, actually, circa 1910 from the Palace Hotel in San Francisco, where Italian opera star, Luisa Tetrazzini was 'a long-time resident' (according to Wikipedia). There are many versions of the dish, but to me, if it's not made with turkey, it's not worth making. Mom never would have made the original full fat version, so hers, while comforting, is also much healthier. 

Immediately after cooking. Also works with chicken.

Turkey Tetrazzini

Cooked Turkey		3 cups, coarsely shredded
Button Mushrooms		2 cups, quartered
Green Peas		1/3 cup
Broad Egg Noodles		1 pkg
Turkey Stock		2 cups
Water		0.5L, boiled
Sour Cream		1/2 cup
All Purpose Flour		4 tbsp
Parmesan Cheese		1/4 cup (freshly grated)
Garlic		5 cloves, minced
Black Pepper		1 tbsp (ground)
Sea Salt		1 tsp
Canola Oil		2 tbsp
Parsley		for garnish

Preparation:

1. Pour canola oil into pot on med-high heat
2. Sauté garlic until translucent
3. Add Button Mushrooms and saute until they brown and reduce in size
4. Add flour and stir until flour is well mixed, translucent, and has begun to barely sizzle
5. Add water slowly and whisk, adding only enough until the sauce has the consistency of thick béchamel 
6. Whisk in turkey stock and black pepper
7. Allow the sauce to comes to a boil
8. Add shredded turkey, green peas to the sauce, stir, and reduce heat to low
9. Prepare egg noodles, cook to slightly underdone, remove from heat (else they will just suck up all the sauce), and set aside until the sauce is finished
10. Here is where you can add the egg noodles directly to the pot of sauce, or, if you prefer, plate the noodles and sauce on the plate - our family prefers the one pot sauced noodles (see picture)
11. Stir in a dollop of sour cream immediately prior to serving, and garnish with parsley (or as you call it, Alistair, leaves)

Avocado Salsa

After Thanksgiving it felt great to have something light and refreshing. You would think this is a guacamole, but I am a guacamole purist, so since this is not strictly a guacamole, I liken it more to an avocado salsa. I also prefer chunky over smooth - this is not a dip or a sauce - guacamole and salsa are fresh and full of colour - let their ingredients be seen and the textures mingle. If I wanted a sauce, I would call this a sauce. I can't stand seeing people (and companies) mangle great ingredients.

The flavours are all very strong on their own, but they marry so well together that no one flavour dominates. You can serve this with tortilla's, but the picture here shows me eating it on a shredded wheat cracker. It's uses are limitless - a condiment for fish tacos would be my first dish to use this with.

No oil - all that creamy sheen is from the avocado and lime juice

I make this every time I have the ingredients on hand.


Avocado Salsa

Avocado		3, cubed
Tomato		5 med, chopped
Red Onion		1/2 head, minced
Garlic		2 tbsp, minced
Lime Zest		1 stalk, finely sliced
Lime Juice		5 whole peppers
Thai Chili		1/4 cup
Cilantro		1/2 cup
Black Pepper		2 tbsp (ground)
Sea Salt		4 tbsp (1/6 pkg)

Preparation:

1. In a jar, add avocado cubes, diced tomato, garlic, lime zest, lime juice, chili paste, black pepper, sea salt.
2. Cap the jar and shake vigorously.
3. Let the jar stand while you prepare the cilantro. Once it has dried and been chopped, add it to the jar. It will seem as though it will not fit, but once it is coated with the salsa it will mix well. Adding it to an unmixed jar will hinder this process.
4. Shake to coat all leaves. Open and stir up from the bottom if it needs some help to get going.
5. Serve immediately, but the longer it steeps, the more flavour develops. Can be stored in the fridge for a little over a week (lime and salt are great preservatives).

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is usually at Roose's home, my mother's sister, and all of my mother's siblings, her cousin, and my nani attend. But this year my cousin Stephanie has moved and not been in her new house for more thank a week, and to get the first visit out of the way, we'll be having Thanksgiving there on Sunday. On top of that, mom wanted us to come by on Saturday, since Cheryl will not be able to make Sunday dinner. This will be a more intimate, immediate family, now that En and I are out west and Cher officially has Mark in her life.

As if that wouldn't turkey us out enough, Monday En and I will be hosting his immediate family for 'take-out fake-out Chinese' dinner. Menu selection did not fall to me, obviously. I will insist we eat in the dining room. We need some tradition and civility for this holiday meal.

There have been the odd years where Thanksgiving has been held at my parent's home. Some years it would be just the four of us, some it would be the entire clan. This is the first year it's us with significant others, but the food remains the same. Here is the yummy menu I typically expect from mom, with the exception of one year, where we each had a Cornish hen stuffed with apricots and walnuts. Yum.

MOM'S THANKSGIVING MENU

Aparatif

Cognac

...and something Gin for me!

H'ors Douvres

Orange Cream Cheese Pinwheels

Mini Meat Tarts

Main

White Wine Whole Turkey

Gravy

Scalloped or Mashed Potatoes

Rice

Dessert

 Baked Something (Always Changes)

Fruit

If I had one word to describe Thanksgiving in the Persaud/Thakurdin/Sukhdeo/Brazinski family, it would be convivial. Not as much liquor as you would think. More food than you could shake a stick at. An odd and discombobulated menu that stems from our multiculturalism. While some would be confused, it works for us. Here is an almost unfailing sample menu.

THAKURDIN THANKSGIVING MENU

Aparatif

Grey Goose Vodka

Johnny Black

Virgin Punch

H'ors Douvres

Baigani, Palourie & Aluball with Tamarind Sour

Cream Cheese Crab Salsa Dip with Tortillas

Salted Plantain Chips (thick-long cut)

Main

 Lasagna (beef)

Turkey

Gravy

Roast Ham

Curry Chicken or Goat

Rice

Roti

Garden Salad

Dessert

Chocolate Cake

Almond Cake

Psuedo Cheesecake

Pone

Custard

Fruit

This is how things went down this year.

The Spread (clockwise from bottom): corn on cob, macaroni casarole, mash potatoes, green beans, sweet potato, sausage, bok choi and centre is turkey

Fresh Strawberries

Pineapple Upside Down Individual Cakes
with Vanilla Ice Cream

On Saturday night I wanted to visit mom and dad, so mom had a dinner for us wish Cher, since she wouldn't be able to join to greater family dinner. Right off the bat there was h'ors d;ouvres; mutton rolls, samosas, hummus and pita, onion dip and triscuts. For dinner, there was turkey, gravy, mash potato, sweet potato, bok choi, sausages, macaroni casserole, and broccoli salad. For dessert, she served individual pineapple upside down cakes with vanilla ice cream. It was wonderful as always spending time at mom's. I was so tired I had to take a nap after dinner. Okay, I admit, there was some itis going on as well, but for the most part, sleeping three hours a night for a couple nights will do that to you. To see Alexis so comfortable with everyone just warms my heart so much. It always feels like home.

The yummy salads I missed :(

Dinner - The table extends beyond that top right plate

Dessert: check out that cheesecake!

Sunday Dinner at Steph's new house was wonderful and I didn't over eat like I did the night before. There was turkey, gravy, mash potatoes, pasta salad and mango salad, rice, dhal pourri, chicken curry, mutton curry, phalourri, potato ball with mango sour, spring rolls and lumpia, veggies and dip, crab dip. For dessert, there was pumpkin pie, cheesecake, some cookie dough cake, pone, custard, and a few other things I'm sure. I didn't eat much  (I missed to mango salad!) because Alexis was upset with her food. I had to cut up and mash her green beans and sweet potato there, so it was way too chunky. It took four of us to feed her! That's okay; I didn't want to overdo it anyways. It was simply nice to see my family and chat with them all, but also was wonderful seeing my cousin's new home. Food was simply a bonus. Aunt Mala made the Cheesecake. which was the only dessert I indulged in. And damn, she said she twice baked it, and damn, was it ever good.

Chowing Down

Beautiful Table Set by Kayla

Monday Lunch was here at our house. The Teopiz family got together here sans Jeverlynn, since she was horribly sick. We really missed her. The menu for the Teopiz clan is never really home made.  They ordered from China China Palace to augment the few things we made. I made a ton of lumpia, cut up some guava and longuns, and ma brought a fruit tray, lumpia, steamed rice, fried plantain and a big black forest cake. The meal was Shrimp in Lobster Sauce, Ma Po Tofu, Seafood Cantonese Chow Mien, Beef in Black Bean Sauce, Pad Thai, Fried Calamari and Fried Chicken Wings.  I set the dining room table, and for the first time in what must be years, his family sat in a home at a table, together, and ate a holiday meal. I was so happy. It felt right. After dinner and coffee, the guys retired to the basement and we stayed in the kitchen to feed Alexis.

Red Thai Curry Beef

Quick shot of my bowl

It was another rainy day and I wanted to make something hearty. I didn't want anything tomato based. I wanted something saucy. And I didn't really know what I was going to make until I took the meat out of the fridge. And even then, I had an idea of what I was going to make, but not exactly how I was going to make it.

This is not exactly a textbook Thai Red Curry, but it borrows the flavours that make this dish work. I made some substitutions based on what I had on hand (read: what I could use in a pinch instead of searching while my daughter grows increasingly impatient) and the results turned out so yummy with a great texture, that honestly, there isn't a thing I would change.

Shot of the pot right before we dished in.

Red Thai Beef Curry

Stewing Beef		1 lb
Onions		5 med, chopped
Garlic		1/2 head, minced
Ginger		2 tbsp, minced
Lemongrass		1 stalk, finely sliced
Thai Chillis		5 whole peppers
Non-Fat Sour Cream		1/4 cup
Non-Fat Yoghurt		1/2 cup
Crab Paste		2 tbsp (ground)
Tamarind Paste		4 tbsp (1/6 pkg)
Tomato Paste		2 tbsp
Fish Sauce		1/4 cup
Khaffir Lime Leaves		5 leaves
Curry Powder		2 tbsp
Coriander		1 tsp (ground)
Black Pepper		1 tbsp (optional)
Canola Oil		4 tbsp

Preparation:

1. Wash beef and cut into 1" cubes
2. Pour canola oil into pot on med-high heat
3. Saute onions and garlic until translucent
4. Add ginger and lemongrass and saute until barely beginning to brown
5. Add tomato paste, crab paste, curry powder and coriander
6. Cook out all moisture until the paste begins to fry
7. Add beef and stir to coat and then leave to brown
8. Juices will release. It will seem like a lot of liquid, but rest assured, it will all evaporate. It will take a long time and require occasional stirring, but do not skip this step and do not continue before the meat itself begins to fry after all the liquid has disappeared. Doing so will result in a bland, one note dish. This is the step that separates the 'holy-crap-this-is-amazing' from 'it's-nice'.
9. When the meat has caramelized, add lime leafs, chillies and enough just-boiled water to cover and stir.
10. In a separate bowl, add tamarind paste and pour enough boiling water over to cover. Use a fork to quickly and vigorously mash the paste until all the pulp has been removed from the seeds and the skins. If you use 'sweet-tamarind', you will get a crappy taste. What you're looking for here is the intense sour of tamarind paste. Do not substitute this. Once you've mashed the paste, your water will become a pulp. Strain this through a fine meshed sieve directly into the pot.
11. Add fish sauce to the pot.
12. Stir and let boil for ten minutes.
13. Add yogurt and sour cream and stir to completely incorporate. The yogurt may appear a little grainy - that's okay. It will completely dissolve by the time the dish has finished cooking.
14. Reduce heat to low and cover for fifteen minutes. Turn off heat and remain covered until ready to serve over steamed rice.