Dined a Spanish Cuisine at Olympic Village at Barcelona

When in Spain, eat what Spanish eat, no?

The fun part of travelling around the world is to taste the local cuisine. During my last visit to Bangkok, my family and I headed straight from the airport to a restaurant to take our first bite of fried rice. Even the guests who visit me in Mumbai go crazy on batatawada, pani-puri, ragda pattis. I don’t blame them, they crave for the local food and they would go wild if there was no fear of bad stomach.

There are many countries where we have to develop a taste for that particular cuisine. When I went to Spain for the first time, I found the food very bland. There was no spice or chilies in the food. Many times I would carry a chilies sauce in my purse when I went out to eat. But gradually I developed a taste for it and now when I visit Spain, I do try some local cuisine.

On my last visit to Spain, I stopped by Barcelona for four days. My hosts took me out for lunch to try a typical Spanish cuisine. Twenty years ago, Barcelona was the host for Olympic games. An Olympic village with apartments and restaurants were developed at the seaside. Here was the venue for rows of restaurants serving all kinds of cuisine. The place was well lighted and there was much activity till late evening.

It was raining and the weather was chilly. As soon as we entered the restaurant, we were surrounded with the warmth and the happy atmosphere. Tourist and business people occupied the large round tables that were evenly spaced out. Transparent plastic curtains enclosed the area to keep out the rain. On the backside, behind the transparent curtain were the bar and the kitchen.

The service was quick and the waiter was alert. The olives and freshly baked bread coated with garlic and tomato appeared on the tables before even we could decide on the menu. The order would be the mixture of vegetarian and non-vegetarian.

To start with, I opted for Sangria, a fruit cocktail mixed with red wine with a bit of bubbly soda. Unfortunately, during the meal, with many more variety of food appearing at our table, I accidently dropped off my glass of Sangria and was not able to enjoy this after few sips.

But the rest of the meal was quite enjoyable.

I stretched my fork to pick up Jamón Ibérico de Bellota. This ham, (cured for more than 36 months, I was told,) is from free-range pigs that roam oak forests (called dehesas), and eat only acorns during this last period. The exercise and diet have a significant impact on the flavor of the meat. Salty and crisp, it tasted best went combined with freshly baked toast.

Gambas a la ajillo, the shrimps stir-fried with garlic in olive oil were tender and sweetish in taste.

Calamars a la Romania, the ring shaped squids, coated with egg flour batter and deep-fried. These were crispy and tender.

 I had never tasted Chiperones, which is actually small deep fried fishes, “have this, you will like the crispy, crunchy taste” said my BIL, but we were served baby octopus instead, I liked that as well.

When the Paella arrived I was taken by surprise. Now I had never known the existence of black rice. This is the specialty of Valencia and the black color is from black squid ink that is used during preparation. The rice was salty, crisp and well grilled filled with assorted seafood and chicken.

For the vegetarians, there was goat cheese salad, vegetarian paella and vegetable pinchitos, (the grilled chunks of cucumber, white gourd, brinjal and tomatoes).

Spanish meal is never complete till it ends with liquor and dessert. I was too full to order anything. However the liquor is good for digestion and the tiny glasses were too attractive to give a miss. We finished it with the piece of cake coated with cinnamon and powder sugar.

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.