It's a blog for foodies around the world. Here you can read about recipes , new ideas and old techniques. You don't have to be a gourmet, just someone who really LOVES food and drink!!!!
The New York Times Wednesday Food section recently listed it's favorite Philly eateries.
Here's the question of the week - what's yours? Was it a place from childhood? A great place you ate in on a vacation?Or the restaurant around the corner? Let us know.
New York and it's boroughs have always been food trend setters. Whatever comes from the city spreads first to the suburbs and then the rest of the world. This is true with fuchka - a Bengal street food that everyone can't get enough of to snack on.
International contributor and sports writer (!) Andrew Keh wrote about this in the main section of today's New York Times. Fuchka pronounced fooch ka, (sort of like the plant and the color) is a tasty Bengali street food. It's closest cousin could be pani pura and gol gappa.. Both are filled with potatoes , yellow peas, onion and cilantro. Chili flavoring gives them their kick. The mix is stuffed into semi opeend semolina shells and then deepf fired. A splash of tamerind sauce gives them their tangy sweetness. Shaved hard boiled egg slivers decorate it. There are recipes on the web if you want to try making them at home.
The idea of brining this to America is Naeem Khandaker who brought the idea from his native Khulna in southern Bangladesh. He saw that bengalis were not selling thier recipes but Indian recipes or Bengali foods under different names. This would not do for him. H eopened Tong in 2018 and within a few weeks had a steady stream of customers. Soon there were more food carts selling the delicious treat, ripping off his recipe. Althought Mr. Khandakar has opned up more food carts in the boroughs and even a restaurant in Jamaica Queens. There are fierce rivalries which even result in calling in the cops. Yet the food unifies the growning Bengali population here in New York
Hopefully there will be fuchka trucks and restaurants throught the metro area. This treat is too tasty to be kept to one neighborhood. The world should know about these.
What makes us feel truly at home? Is it familiar sights from our childhood? The smell of hebs grwoing int eh family garden? Or the tastes of our vountry and heritage. For some it's all three. Mostly though it's the cooking that welcomes us back.
Regular contributor and chef Yewande Komolafe pondered this as she wrote about going home in today New Yorks Times Wednesday Food section. The article is take from her cookbook "My Everyday Lagos; NIgerian Cooking At Home and in the Diaspora" (Ten Speed Press 2023). She is from Lagos , Nigeria, the country's capital, her parents home is in the countryside. Nigerians are rediscovering and questioning their pre colonial past. Some do it in activism, Some in the arts. Chef Komolafe explores her Nigerian heritage through her cooking which is art itself. She gives three recipes which are a blend of her life in America and family ones. Anyone - Nigerian or not can make these and taste centuries of cooking and spicing. Keep in mind that if you buy the cookbook, she cautions against being burdens by the notion of authenticity.The bukas or relaxed Nigerian based restaurants thoughout the world have their own verion of these dishes. The home chef should too.
Chef Komolafe includes a shakshura type of breakfast dish - jammy tomato breakfast eggs. it may not have the exact flavor of shashuka but it is fragrant with oregano, chives mint and basil. Tomatos , onions and Scotch bonnet peppers are sauted with oil and smashed red peppers.It's garnished with sunnyside up eggs. Another recipe included is her mother's iwuk idesi or one por rice with chicken .Again Scotch bonnet peppers are used here in a pepper paste along with whole crayfish or dried shrimp. This is added to a braised chicken along withginger garlic and chicken stock. Long grained rice is cooked with it for a flavorful bite. She also has akara, tasty bean fritters. These are made with ewa olyin or black eyed peas soaked and peeled. {although you cna use bean powder. There's also garlic cloves , onions and Scotch bonnets again for fire and bite.These can be fried in red palm oil and if that can;t be found use peanut oil. The mix should resemble whipped hummus before it's fried into crispy fritters.
OUr heritage and our cooking shaping. None is more evident in Chef KOmolafe's recipes. Like herself they are traditional but also reinvented for a table outside Nigeria.
The variety of vegan products seem to ve expanding on a daily basis. There are new and tasty items that are so quick to heat up and eat. They're becoming ubiquituous in kitchens all over/
One of my new favorites is Nasoya's plant based steak. I bought the Korean barbecue flavor. This was a quick five minute cook in my air fryer. The strips were like the real thing and with the barbecie flavor downright delicious.
Chao cheese which has a great selection now has a yummy queso dish that perfect for tortilla chips.
For dessert? Siete Vegan Mexican cookies which are healthier takes on classic Mexican baking.
Vegan cooking is becoming easier and easier. There's a whole host of new products out there that are quick to make and easy to eat. Try them for a simple and fast dinner.
This weelend is going ot be the weekend for Halloween parties. Instead of playing bartender and missing the party why not roll with the punches? Put out fancy bowls of alcoholic and non alcoholic ones. Your guests will get a big kick out of them as they're served ina spooky cup.
Start with a fun punch bowl/ Target has large witch's cauldrons which would be perfect for any kind of punch. They also sell a large clear pumpkin too.If you can;t find onen use your soup pot and soup ladle to pour out cups. You can also use one of your soup tureens (or buy one at an antique store) along with using the ladle that comes with it. Large ice buckets also work well too. What about the punch itself? A perfect spooky holiday sip is a blood red sangria. Start with a sweet red or rose and add the fruit fi the season such as apples and pears. Orange and leon slices give ti a fresh tartness. You could increase the punch's potency by stirring in half a cup of a fruit brandy. Even though this sounds vile, sewer water punch is actually quite tasty - and kicky.It;s Dr Pepper mixed with vanilla flavored vodka and orange juice. Serve this potion in a clear bowl so they can see the "brown water." You can add gummy works if you want to (or Tootsie rolls to really amp up the "ewwwwww" factor.)
What about those little ones? Try a non alcoholic punch with fun flavors for those tiny trick or treaters. Again serve it in a witch's cauldron or giant pumpkin. Since the main color fo the holiday is orange then think of a bright citrus punch. Combine orange soda (use an intensely flavored one like Fanta for the best taste) Add orange sherbert for more tang and a cup of pineapple juice for a refreshing zing. If you find this too sweet, then sub in the soda with an orange flavored seltzer. This cuts down on the sugariness and even makes it more palatable for any adults attending. Another squeal inducing sip is the witch's brew punch. It's first mixing ginger ale with pineapple and lemon juices. The last is added to keep from making th e drink too sweet,.Lime sherbet is added to give it that green color. Now for the special effects. You can put dry ice in a handmade trough wrought from tin foil around the cauldron. This will give it the effect of a smoking pot. You DO NOT want to put this ice in the punch. It's extremely dangerous to do so. Another special and safer effect is just put a ring of battery operated votice lights around the base of the cauldon.
A good Halloween punch will add - what else - punch to any party. It's a tasty cup, perfect with those party bites and mucnies. Brew up a cauldron for your holiday drinking.
Today is Samuel Taylor Coleridge's birthday.Unfortunatelt there's no cream tea and freshly baked scones to celebrate.As much as he probably loved them- he would have loved this brownie
Happy birthday to all those writers and poets out there! May your special day be as weet as this came
What was the best bread you ever ate? Wednesday's New York Times Food section featured Genevieve Ko's foccacio recipe.
Here's the question of the week have you ever baked a loaf that made you swoon? What was it? Why was it so good?
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