Best International Street Food - part 1

I am participating in selecting the best street food that I have tasted during my travels.

There are Eight eastern dishes on displayed here http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/10/international-street-food_n_1870623.html

I have not tasted all unfortunately, okay I shall make that in y wish-list.

But the street food that I have tasted are

Arepera...a street food from Mexico, which is a crusty bread made of corn flour and milk and is deep fried, then slit and stuffed with lettuce, tomatoes, onions, cheese and assorted meat or veg patties.

Falafel... , a street food from middle east, on Cairo streets, a sandwich of pita bread stuffed with lettuce, tomatoes, Tahini and deep fried Chickpea and Fava beans balls and served with salad and pickle.

Hotdogs... a street food of America, bread sandwich stuff with sausages, mustard sauce, tomato sauce, fried onions, grated cheese and crispy potato chips

Dosa.. street food of India, wafer thin crape made of rice and lentil and stuffed with cooked vegetable of potato and onion and served with coconut chutney.

I do like all of these but on round one I vote for Arepera.

When in Spain, You Must Eat ‘Churro Chocolaatey’

We live in a better world. There are hardly any secrets left. World Wide Web answers most of our queries from the easy comfort of our home. We have TV, movies, reality shows, visitors that educate us, transporting us to most weird places which we would never dream of going, exposing us to the customs and culture of world beyond our reach.

but....

Many years ago, when there was no Google, no u-tube, no web connection, World was a lonely place. People met only those who lived just few miles away. Adventurous people travelled to new places to explore different regions of the world. When they returned, they brought back stories to share about the different culture, their dressing style and their food habits.

One theory is that once an adventurous Portuguese man travelled to HongKong, Hunger pangs took him for a walk in search of something to eat. He drooled when he followed the smell of frying bread. There was a group of Chinese men sitting in a way-side restaurant, dipping the fried bread in the hot porridge and eating.

Seeing his hungry expressions the Chinese men invited him to share their meal.

"What is this?" he asked holding the crispy fried bread in his hand.

"This is 'You Tiao'" they said.

He loved 'You Tiao' so much that he started visiting this place everyday. 

He thought that it would be nice if he could take back the culinary technique  to Europe so that people in his country could enjoy it too.

But unfortunately, nobody was willing to share the cooking secrets with him.

The Chinese Emperor had made it a crime with capital punishment to share the knowledge with the foreigners. 

Thus although he relished ‘You Tiao’ he could not learn the Chinese skill of ‘pulling’ the dough. 

As a result, when he returned back home, he tried to explain it in the best way to reproduce the same taste.

They modified the dough, introducing a star design through star shaped die.

Thus Churro came to exist in Spain

Churro are often sold by street vendors, who fry them freshly on the street and sell them hot. They are crunchy and are either sprinkled with sugar or served with hot chocolate.

This is the must-have-snack for me when I come to Spain.

A batter of flour, sugar and salt is piped out from large Churrera through a star-shaped nozzle into the pan containing hot oil. This reminded me of the Jalebi hawker on Indian street who pipe out the batter in concentric circles into hot pot of oil. 

 The chef controls the flow of the batter by moderating the valve.

With the help of two steel rods, he controls the flow into spiral motion forming concentric ring.

he stirs it for even frying of the batter on all sides

When they are crisp and browned, he carefully lifts the fritters

Tosses them on a countertop

 cuts them with the scissors into strips

and serves it either with sprinkled sugar granules or with the cup of hot chocolate.

Best time to enjoy this snack is in the cold, winter, early morning, preferably at 5am, if you are awake.....or returning home from late night parties.

Venezuelan Cuisine at Carajita

The other day, I had a guest from another island of the Canaries, Grand Canarias, who refused to have dinner at home because she wanted to have Arepas at the famous Venezuela restaurant called 'Arepera La Carajita'. She said that this is one cuisine which she misses the most in her town and whenever she crosses over to Tenerife, this is one-must-eat-at-this-restaurant for her every visit.

You will hardly miss this restaurant if you are driving from Puerto de la Cruz via La Vera towards north of the island. This restaurant is famous for its Venezuelan cuisine.

During summer, people prefer to sit outdoors, the plastic tables and chairs are placed quite close to each other and one cannot avoid peeping into their plates for the choice of their order. But during winter, people occupy wooden tables inside the tiny room where the walls are artistically decorated with paintings and artwork.

The menu card had varieties of dishes to choose from but it is mainly famous for Cachappa and fried or roasted Arepas.

A Cachappa is a kind of pancake is made from the batter of fresh corn, egg, milk, butter and sugar and it is stuffed with cheese, exotic vegetables or any non-veg filling.

Areperas is like a hamburger but not like bread. Maize dough is prepared and shaped into distinctive flying saucer shape. They can be baked, fried, cooked on a grill or boiled to give a crusty exterior. They are then sliced through the middles to make a pocket which is then stuffed with veg or non-veg filling.

I always like to order ‘Potato Brava’, served with freshly baked bread. Potato Brava is a typical Spanish tapas served in most of the bars. Fried or boiled potatoes are mixed in a freshly prepared tomato sauce. They also serve Brava Salchitas in which case sausages are cut slantwise and cooked in freshly prepared tomato sauce.

What I love the most in this restaurant is the avocado sauce and red pepper sauce, Initially they would serve sauces free with the meals, but because of its great demand, the restaurant now sell it separately. 

I always believe that if you like something, you should know how to cook.I love the sauces (Mojo) made at this place and as per rule, I learnt to make it too.

Avocado Mojo (Green Sauce)

6 cloves garlic

1 tsp. sea salt

1 green pepper, seeded and finely diced

1 hot green chili

1 Avocado

1/2 bunch fresh parsley, chopped or coriander leaves

2 tsp. wine-vinegar or lime

2 small glasses olive oil

Crush the garlic with the salt. Slowly add in the green pepper, pounding until it’s all completely pulped. Add a tiny piece of the green chili, then add the chopped parsley/coriander leaves, add avocado and keep pounding. Meanwhile vinegar and oil are whisked together till they are frothy and then added to the sauce.

Mild Red Mojo

3 cloves garlic

1 tsp. sea salt

1 red pepper, seeded and finely diced

1 Small hot red chili

1 slice toasted bread, cut into small cubes

1 tsp. sweet paprika

2 tsp. red wine vinegar/lime

2 small glasses olive oil

Method for making red mojo is same as making avocado sauce.

Colorful Vegetarian Briyani

Okay, You might say, where are those beautiful rainbow colors of the briyani?

Briyani is supposed to be colorful with red, green and yellow colored rice, layered one on the top of another with variety of vegetables glimmering through the grains, but No! Thank you! I don’t use food coloring in my cooking, I use colorful vegetables instead, differently-colored-vegetables can also give a colorful effect. And, of course, if you still  insist, I do have an option to use natural food colors like turmeric for yellow, beetroot juice for red color and crushed spinach for green, but that is unnecessary.

Every responsible chef will agree that food coloring is not good for health. I, too, am very much against those bright color dyes used in toffees and ice-creams. Sure, those colored food look very appealing and makes food look brighter, but at what cost?

Food dyes—used in everything from M&Ms to Manischewitz Matzo Balls to Kraft salad dressings—pose risks of cancer, hyperactivity in children, and allergies, and should be banned, according to a new report by the Center for Science in the Public Interest. A top government scientist agrees, and says that food dyes present unnecessary risks to the public.

If your child is hyperactive, or has a behavior problem, blame it on dyes and stop his artificially colored candies immediately.

The food will taste good if it is nutritious and made with interest, color is just a feast for the eyes.

I believe that every vegetable has its own taste and its own cooking point. If we cook all together, there is uneven tenderness in vegetables that is good only if you wish to mash them up to make ‘Pav bhaji’, but if you wish to bite each vegetable and relish them, then its better to cook each one differently, some to cook the proper way, with/without gravy as you wish, some to stir-fry and some to deep fry, its just the matter of understanding what kind of taste would suit your dish.

I agree my Briyani does not look beautiful, but it was so tasty that I was very happy that my family enjoyed it.

It takes me about 2 hours to cook Briyani and I really have to be in a very good mood to cook it for you.

Ingredients:

2 cups Basmati Rice

4 medium size Onions

6 tsps Olive oil

1 tin(200gms) Soya chunks

1 cup Yogurt

3 tsp Garlic

2 tsp Ginger

2 tsp Coriander powder

1 tsp Cumin powder

1 tsp Turmeric powder

1tsp red chili powder

2 Cumin sticks

4 Cardamom

4 Bay leaves

4 Cloves

A pinch of saffron strands

1 medium size Carrot(diced)

1 medium size Capsicum(chopped)

1 large Potato (diced)

1 medium size Eggplant (diced)

2 medium size Tomatoes

1 tbsp chopped Coriander leaves

2 tbsp chopped mixed dry fruits(almonds, cashew nuts, walnuts, raisin)

2 tbsp lime juice

4 tbsp milk

oil for deep frying

Salt to taste

So this is how I make……

Step one: Deep fry 3 medium sized onions (sliced evenly) till dark brown, keep it aside.

Step two: While the onions are frying, start chopping other vegetables, and marinate soya chunks in yogurt, 1tsp garlic, 1tsp ginger, coriander powder, cumin powder, turmeric powder, red chili powder, and salt.

Step three: Par boil the rice (that has been soaked for 30 minutes before parboiling), strain the water, spread it on a big plate and add cumin sticks, crushed cardamom, bay leaves, cloves, saffron strands and 1tsp olive oil

Step four: Fry 1tsp garlic in one teaspoon of olive oil, and stir fry carrots and capsicum, add salt and keep it aside.

Step five: Deep fry potatoes and egg plant

Step six: In a pan, fry one (finely chopped) onion in 2 tsp of olive oil till light brown, add ½ glass of water, cook till onions are tender, add 1tsp garlic and 1tsp ginger, add marinated soya chunks, add tomatoes and cook till oil separates.

Step seven: Grease the pot with 1tsp olive oil, arrange fried onions at the base, cover it with ¾ of spiced rice, add the layer of stir-fried carrot and capsicum, add the layer of cooked soya chunks, add the layer of fried potatoes and egg plant, cover it with remaining rice.

Step eight: Garnish with remaining fried onions, coriander leaves and dry fruits, sprinkle lime juice and milk and I tsp olive oil. Cover with aluminum foil, then with a lid and keep it on low heat for forty-five minutes

Serve with onion raita and potato chips.