Awara (Tofu)

Recipe collected by Hajara-Yasmin Isa, Summer 2021

Tofu reminds me of evening family time. It brings back memories of when my family and I made trips to my parents’ hometown. I remember the busy life in the mornings as people get ready for work. Alongside the cacophony of merchants on the streets advertising their goods. The day time is very busy as people go from one place to another. As the sun sets the environment grows quiet and the smell of homemade food fills the streets. In the evening we would buy awara, which is tofu in Hausa, and eat together as a family. I thought it was just something we did together, but it turned out to be quite a common practice. When we go to our cousins’ houses their parents too go buy us fine delicacies such as awara. Tofu takes a while to prepare and people in my parents’ hometown make it fresh to sell so it takes the whole day to make. They start the process early in the day and by sun down they have customers lined up ready to purchase. It is most commonly eaten with hot spice as a dip, but you can also eat it plain. To me, awara symbolizes relaxing times with loved ones. During these times, which was mostly during our summer vacations so school is not in session, my siblings and I would watch movies with our cousins, play games, or just sit there and chat. Everytime we return to the US we bring with us a whole lot of different ingredients for making traditional food that are not commonly found here. One day I decided to take the opportunity and make some awara myself. It took me a day and half from start to finish because the soy beans really take a while to soften up. It was a long process but at the end of the day I was happy to serve my family the hot treat. I can remember standing over the table as I watched my family take their first bite waiting to hear their feedback. I felt like I was a contestant on Chopped or MasterChef. It took the majority of the day to complete it but it was a success.

Note: you can lower the quantity of your ingredients for a smaller batch

Ingredients

• 500g grams of soybeans

• 1500ml of water 

• Pepper and hot spice 

• Alum

• Frying oil

Materials

• Fast and durable blender

• Muslin cloth or cheesecloth

• Tofu mold

• Stove and pan

Directions

1. You start with with washing your soybeans

2. Let them soak for 12hr to a day

3. Blend them 

4. Strain out the milk in a pot

5. Add alum to the milk

6. Cook the milk till it starts to coagulate

7. Strain out the water (you can add other ingredients like onions at this step)

8. Put into a tofu mold and continue to strain

9. Fry the tofu

10. And serve

Spring Roll Recipe

Recipe collected by Grace Fick, Summer 2021

Spring rolls are a Laotian/Vietnamese snack or meal that encompasses a lot of natural ingredients. It also signifies the types of food Southeastern Asian communities eat as it is very common to take leftover food and wrap it in anything. Ever since I was a little girl, this has always been one of my favorite foods as not only are they delicious, but I am able to make it alongside my mother. It is one of the dishes that I hope to carry onward for future generations as it connects me with my heritage. 

Ingredients:

Sauce:

• 2 tbsp. Hoisin sauce

• Fresh garlic

• 1 tsp. ground peanuts

Filling:

• 1 package of Vietnamese rice paper

• 1 package of rice noodles

• 1 head of romaine lettuce, chopper vertically

• 1 cucumber, chopped vertically

• 2 cups vertically cut carrots

• Cilantro

• Mint, if available

• Fried egg, cut vertically 

• Optional: pork, shrimp

Directions:

1. Fill a medium-sized bowl of warm water and a clean plate.

2. Gently soak 1 rice paper in the bowl, making sure to fully submerge it in water. Then place the wet rice paper on the plate.

3. Repeat this for every rice paper that you desire to use. Be sure to give space to every rice paper that dries as they will stick to each other if they touch. 

4. Boil the rice noodles for about 15 minutes. 

5. Chop the romaine lettuce, carrots, cucumbers vertically so they can fit into the rice paper when wrapped. 

6. Chop cilantro and/or mint and place aside. 

7. In an oiled saucepan, place an egg on it, being sure not to scramble it. Break the yolk in the middle and gently swirl it.

8. Fry it for about 5 minutes.

9. Remove from heat and cut the fried egg into vertical pieces. 

10. Optional: Cook the pork or shrimp in your desirable way.

11. Lay out all of the chopped/cooked ingredients.

12. Place the rice paper completely flat. Grab a handful of the cooked rice noodles, with small amounts of the vegetables and egg towards  the bottom of the paper, closest to you.

13. At the left and right ends, fold them in and roll to close up the rice paper. 

14. Repeat this for your desirable amount of spring rolls. 

15. To make the sauce, take Hoisin sauce, ground peanuts and a small amount of garlic and stir in a little bowl.

16. Then serve with fresh spring rolls.

Cilantro & Ceviche Family Recipe

Recipe collected and  written by Leslie Barranco for the Social Justice 101 course, Fall 2020

Ever since I was a little girl, I can distinctly remember when my grandfather would sit me down on our dining table and let me be the first one to try his ceviche before the rest of our family came home from work. My grandfather wasn’t much of a cook but one thing for sure he knew how to make and enjoyed making was ceviche, occasionally on weekends. My grandma has always enjoyed collecting plants in her home and she’s the reason why I also like having plants in my home today. When I was about 10 years old, she decided to make a small garden where she grew mostly herbs and flowers. Cilantro was one of the plants in my grandmother's garden that became abundant, I remember because on Sunday mornings my grandfather would often times go to my grandmother's garden to pick fresh herbs and the aromatic scent of cilantro would fill our kitchen. Although now my grandmother doesn’t garden as much as she used to, my grandfather grew an affinity for herbs and today continues to grow some of his own. He especially loves growing cilantro around the spring and fall because it tends to thrive around cooler weather and he loves putting it in his ceviche for our holiday dinners. I have also grown cilantro of my own which I tend to give to my mom to use for cooking, it’s aroma has become one of my favorite scents. Even though I have eaten cilantro with many dishes over time, I will always cherish it more with my grandfather's ceviche.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups of shrimp, clean and without shell

• 4 tomatoes, finely chopped

• 1⁄2 onion, finely chopped

• 3⁄4 cups of lemon juice

• 1 teaspoon of salt

• 2-3 tablespoons of fresh cilantro,finely chopped

• 1 can of tomato paste/ketchup (optional)

• 3 jalapeno peppers, chopped (optional)

Steps:

1. In a large bowl, place the clean shrimp and finely chopped onion, tomatoes, cilantro, and jalapeño peppers (optional). Combine (don’t mix yet).

2. In a separate bowl, place and mix the lemon juice with salt and tomato paste/ketchup (optional).

3. Add the lemon juice mixture to the shrimp bowl and mix/stir together until satisfied with consistency.

4. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate to allow it to marinate for at least 45 minutes. [Tip: If the shrimp has changed color, it’s ready]

5. Serve and enjoy!
   

Kheer

Recipe collected by Sakina Ghatalah, Fall 2020

Food sharing is a big part of many cultures. When the food being shared comes from one source or platter, it cements a bond as family or friends are being nourished from the same source. It's more collectivistic and you're forced to consider the other people you are sharing the food with, making sure others have enough to eat and that everyone is enjoying the meal. This is one of the things that has been changed by the pandemic. However, we’ve had to adjust. Through all the Eids that have happened in the last few months, there have been lots of containers being passed around and doorbells being rung as my family dropped off kheer for neighbors and they’ve dropped off desserts for us.

Kheer is an indulgent dessert with the primary ingredients consisting of just rice, milk, and sugar. Of course, if you'd like to get fancy with it, there are ways to add complexity to the desert through both aroma and taste. Depending on where you are from, it can be thin and runny, with the rice adding just a hint of texture or it can be thick and chunky. How you break up the rice will make that distinction. My grandma loves a thin kheer, the smooth mixture pours into bowls without a plop and has a slick sheen about it. Thus, despite me liking a chunky kheer, when I made it for the last eid, I made sure to crush the rice finer and add more milk for the desired runny consistency. 

Kheer is a part of celebrating for many eids. We usually make enough so those family members and friends that come to celebrate or wish us can have a chilled bowl, filled to the brim of course and topped with sliced almonds and crushed pistachios. I get so happy when I eat kheer, it's simplicity is addicting and my brain knows that if I’m eating it, it’s gonna be a good day. 

Ingredients:

• ½ cup of rice soaked 

• 4-8 cups of whole milk 

• ½-1 cup of sugar 

• 1 tablespoon of ghee/butter/oil

• 5-8 cardamom pods crushed 

• ¼ cup crushed pistachios and sliced almonds (optional but very good), save some to garnish with as well

Directions: 

1. Soak the rice in water for 20 minutes. Crush a little or a lot depending on the thickness you'd like. 

2. Get a big pot and put the ghee. After it melts, add the crushed cardamom pods. Stir until it becomes aromatic. 

3. Mix in the soaked and drained rice. Stir with the ghee and cardamom pods until everything is well incorporated and aromatic. 

4. Add 4 cups of the milk. Stir until everything is well combined and then leave on medium-high heat so that the milk will start to become foamy. Stir occasionally in between too. 

5. After the milk foams over, mix and lower the heat. Cover the pot and let simmer. Stir mixture occasionally to make sure it's not burning though. 

6. After the rice is cooked it will look very big but separate from the milk. Keep the heat going and mix. If you have a hand blender you can use that or you could just have crushed the rice in the beginning.

7. Let it cook on relatively low heat for the rest of the steps. Then after the milk and rice are both thickened, add more milk. The mixture will thicken after it cools too so adding more milk would not mean it would be runny. Adding 3-4 more cups in intervals will still result in a very thick kheer. After adding each cup of mix, allow it to combine with the rest of the kheer and thicken as well before adding more. You could use any kind of milk here; it doesn't have to be whole milk. 

8. After the mixture is thickened and to the desired consistency, add in the sugar in intervals. 

9. If the sweetness is to your liking, add in some slivered almonds and crushed pistachios and mix in. 

10. Let it cook on low heat for a few minutes. Then turn off heat, check that you like everything, and then it's ready to serve. You can also chill for a couple hours and then serve because Kheer cold is an experience on its own. Garnish with almonds and pistachios if you’d like and that's it!

Barbacoa

Story and Recipe collected Eyzel Torres, Summer 2020

Barbacoa is a traditional Mexican dish usually made from beef or goat and seasoned with a variety of dried chilies. This recipe is my mother’s favorite because it’s simple and it reminds her of her childhood- it’s one of the dishes that her mother used to make during special occasions. My mother’s family owned a bakery when she was growing up in México and the time she didn’t spend at school was spent selling bread. Because of this, her family never taught her how to cook. So when she came to the U.S. at age 16, she did so without ever really spending any time in the kitchen. The way she learned was very non-traditional- it was through watching other people cook or just experimenting in the kitchen. A love for cooking ensued from this experimentation and my mother found a great passion. For her, learning how to prepare this recipe was a way to feel connected to her family and home back in México. 

Today, the act of smelling and eating barbacoa reminds her of those happy childhood memories when she would spend time with her parents and sisters. And every time she cooks this dish, she is happy to share it with her own family and be able to create new memories with us. She also likes to think that when she is gone, her children will remember the times we shared barbacoa together- the same way she remembers her time with her family. Her experience and memories with this dish span generations. This means a lot to me because I have never been to México and yet, I feel a powerful connection to the culture and spirit of my mother’s country through the food we make together- something I believe makes the art of cooking and sharing food very special.

Ingredients

• 5 lbs of chicken or beef

• 6 dried Guajillo peppers

• 10 dried Chile de árbol peppers

• 5 garlic cloves

• 1 medium sized onion

• 5 to 7 dried Bay leaves

• 5 to 7 dried avocado leaves

• 3 tablespoons of chicken broth powder (instead of salt)

Directions

Salsa -

1. Roast the peppers

2. Soak the peppers in water

3. Cut the onion

4. Once the peppers are soft, put them in the blender with the onion and garlic cloves

5. Blend all the ingredients and strain them

Meat - 

1. Preheat the oven to 350° F

2. Season the preferred meat  with the broth powder

3. On a baking dish, place the meat, dried leaves, and salsa in multiple layers

   1. Meat, leaves, salsa, meat, leaves, salsa, etc.

4. Cover the baking dish with foil

5. Place the baking dish in the oven

6. Take out when the  meat is cooked fully*

*The cooking time depends on the type of meat used

• For chicken - about 1 hour

• For beef - about 2 hours

To eat the barbacoa, serve it as tacos with optional cilantro, diced onion, green or red salsa, rice, and beans.

Cholay

Recipe collected and written by Sakina Ghatalah, Fall 2020

“In 1912, there was once a group of people starving and walking through a forest. They eventually found this hard bean that looked like it could be food. After biting into it however, they all broke their teeth and had to go to the dentist. The dentist fixed their teeth and called them a bunch of silly billies, informing them that these beans need to be boiled. After trying that, they hated it because it was so bland but then an angel came down and told them to add it to a curry and there came about cholay, or chickpea curry.” When I asked my mom if she knew the history of cholay, chickpea curry, she first laughed at me, told me this obviously historically incorrect story, then asked me why I thought she would know such a thing. 

The first time she tried cholay was at a Punjabi restaurant because chickpeas are grown in northern India and foods with chickpeas are very popular snacks in most parts of Southeast Asia now. After trying cholay, she wanted to make it herself. She started making it regularly when she realized its versatility, it could be consumed by itself, with rice, bread, or even salad. It’s also incredibly nutritious and that's something my mom is passionate about-- making foods that are good for you taste like they're bad for you. 

Cholay for me is not only a delicious food, it also holds many memories. My mom works in the evenings so when I’d be coming back from school, she would be leaving for work. I used to be exhausted after school and usually stressed because my high school was very much into the whole prepare students for college thing, so I had a lot of homework on most nights. However, I mostly ignored those problems till nighttime. My main goal when I got home was to relax, even if I had to get to work, I gave myself that time. The thing that comforted and relaxed me most however was when my mom left a bowl of cholay out for me. It was on the kitchen counter and the first thing I saw when I entered my house. The bowl would be filled with the curry, and sometimes if she had time, there would even be a garnish of cilantro and onions. I knew she made it before leaving for work because she knew I'd be hungry and that made me feel so loved. When people spend time to prepare and make food, those actions hold sentiments that transcend words. It's a manifestation of love and care you have towards someone, because without that, nobody would willingly spend time doing all that work. Food can be such a beautiful thing. I hope you can enjoy the beauty of cholay today.

Ingredients:

• Half onion 

• 1 Tbsp oil 

• Ginger garlic paste 1 spoon or use fresh ginger and garlic

• Salt 1 spoon 

• Turmeric ¼  spoon 

• Red chilli powder ¾  spoon

• ½  can of tomato or use two cut up tomatoes

• 1 can of chickpeas 

• Chaat masala 1 ½ spoons

Steps:

1. Dice up the half onion. Pour one tablespoon of oil into a pan and heat it up on high. Then when it's sizzling, place the onions in the oil, but be careful because it can be scary. 

2. Keep it on medium heat for 5 minutes and mix to make sure it's not burning. Let it become a nice light brown.

3. Put in the ginger garlic paste and mix, put in the spices and mix, then put in the tomatoes and mix. 

4. Add half a cup of water and let it just soak up all the nice flavors. Then add some lime if you'd like, if you taste it and it's really spicy add some yogurt. Add some yogurt even if it's not too spicy it makes it better. 

5. Then after 5 minutes of letting that mixture boil on medium to low heat, add your drained chickpeas into the celebration. Let it marinate in all the different flavors that compliment each other perfectly. 

6. After 5 minutes of everything cooking together, turn the heat off. For some extra fun, add cilantro and cup up onion and put it on top along with some chaat masala. And there it is, my moms cholay recipe. Have it with some rice, plain, or with roti/pita/tortilla/naan/whatever bread you want. 

Agua de Lima

Story and Recipe collected by Alejandro Gomez , Summer 2020

Usually when I think about making a fresh agua de fruta, I think about using the actual “meat” of the fruit. But something that my dad taught me is that when making agua de lima, you have to use the skin/peel. Now I was like “ what you talkin bout dad”, I was forsure thinking that it was going to be sour. Lima is a mix between an orange and a lime. The smell is very sweet and you can distinguish it from all others. The smell actually comes from the peel. My favorite thing to do when I’m trying to figure out if the fruit is a lemon or a lima is to scratch the peel and smell. A sort of scratch and sniff. So what my dad does is peel the lima and put the pieces of the peel in the blender. Once they are all in there, he adds about a cup of water and then blend it up. Once the peel is well blended, my dad filters it through an aluminum filter. This makes sure that no piece off the peel gets into the water, cause then it would be too sour. Then the left over water that comes from the filter goes into the container that we will be using to hold the agua. Then we add about 4 tablespoons of sugar and about two more cups of water. Then mix until you like it. The water usually has a light green tone to it. Add ice cubes and it's good to go.

Ingredients: 

• 3-4 Limas 

• Sugar 

• Water 

• Blender 

• Filter 

Steps: 

1. Peel the lima’s and place the peels in a blender

2. Place a cup of water into the blender with the lima peels

3. Blend until there is no more large pieces of lima left 

4. While that is blending, in the container that you want to store the agua in, place two cups of water with a teaspoon of sugar, mix. 

5. After the lima is blended well, use the aluminum filter to get rid of any pulp that could still be in the mixture.

6. Once it's all filtered out then it should only be liquid, no signs of a peel. 

7. Place the filtered liquid into the container with the sugar water. 

8. Mix well

9. Taste and if needed add more sugar. 

10. Done

Enchiladas Verdes

Story & Recipe Collected by Ana Ruiz, Summer 2017

Growing up in Mexico, eating enchiladas was a luxury because obtaining all of the ingredients could be very expensive. For a time, tomatillos and chicken became very expensive, which forced families to find other ingredients to replace them. Once, my grandmother replaced the tomatillo with tomatoes, which meant red enchiladas. They were good, but nothing compared to the flavor of the green tomatillo sauce. I also remember my mom replacing the chicken with ham and cheese. It wasn't until I was much older that I realized how challenging it must have been to my parents to prepare this dish. Nonetheless, they created new recipes with the food they had available to them.

This dish was particularly special to my brother and I because when we were growing up, our grandmother ( my Mom's mother) would make this dish for us on our birthdays. Although my time in Mexico with my grandmother was short before coming to the United States, she always made sure our birthdays included a special dish. After we arrived to the US, my mom requested this specific recipe from her mother. My grandmother was more than happy to pass it down, but she also taught her how to prepare everything. Every time that my grandmother would visit, my mom would make a very small portion of enchiladas for my grandma to try. After eating it, my mom would receive feedback about it until she perfected the recipe.

Here in the US, eating enchiladas is still a rare occasion. Thankfully, it is no longer because of the economic barriers; however, making them does take a long time. When we eat them now, I still get really excited about it. Especially because I know that this recipe has been passed down from generation to generation. It's really cool to think about all of the people that have prepared the same recipe, yet the recipe is constantly changing. I've often wondered how my enchiladas will look and taste like when I make them, or how my children will carry on this recipe to their children.

Ingredients

Sauce & Chicken

• 10 Tomatillos

• 8 cups of water

• 6 jalapeno peppers or other hot peppers of your choice

• 8 Garlics

• Half an onion

• Oregano

• Garlic powder

• Salt

• Chicken broth cubes

• 2lbs of chicken breast

Enchilada

• 3 Dozen Tortillas

Garnish

• Shredded Cheese

• Sour Cream

• Lettuce or Kale

• Sliced radishes

• Sliced Avocado

Step by Step

1. Wash all of your vegetables (tomatillo, onion, garlic, hot peppers, lettuce and/or kale). Also,  make sure you wash your chicken.

2. Place 10  tomatillos in a pot with hot water and wait until the water boils.

   1. Using another pot, place some onion, 4 garlics, and 5 cups of water. While the pot warms up, massage the chicken with oregano, garlic powder and salt. Place the chicken in the pot and let it boil.

3. After the tomatillos boil, place the tomatillos, half an onion, 4 garlics, 6 hot peppers and 1 cup of water in the blender until you have a thick paste. Taste a paste. If it's too spicy, add some sugar to the paste.

4. Place some vegetable oil in a pan, and wait until the oil is hot. Then, slowly place the paste in the pan and fry it.

5. Once the sauce is fried, allow the sauce to simmer at low heat. If the sauce is too thick, add some chicken broth or water.

6. While the sauce simmers, take your chicken out of your pot and shred all of it.

7. Start heating up some tortillas, and when they are warm, separate all of the tortillas.

8. Place the tortillas in the simmering sauce and flips them over once so the tortillas soaks up the tomatillo sauce.

9. Take the tortilla out, place some chicken on it and start rolling them into tacos.

10. Repeat until you have your desired number of enchiladas.

11. Then place whatever garnish you want on your enchiladas, and enjoy your enchiladas!

Vegan Banana Bread

Story and Recipe collected by Alex Smith, Summer 2017

I grew up with a typical “American” diet: white bread, milk, eggs; the works. I never
really understood vegetarian diets or vegan lifestyles. However, as I began to become a chubby
kid leading up to junior high, I became determined to find a diet that would help me. I would
later find out that if I made a bigger change to my overall lifestyle, then I could better the
environment as well as my own body.

My family is known to have big meals of many hearty foods. My mother, specifically, is
known for her love of baking. She developed her own recipes, but my personal favorite is her
banana bread recipe. My mother’s original recipe included animal-based sources such as milk
chocolate, milk, and butter. Yes, I loved her baking as it was not only something she developed
herself, but also something she worked on all the time to get better at; her hobby.

As I began to work on my diet, I moved from my meat-based diet on to a vegetarian diet.
I was focused on losing weight first, but then I took a look at some food documentaries. One
specific documentary stood out: Cowspiracy. It was a film showing the how dairy farms make
the biggest impacts on the environment, and how moving to a vegan diet can help sustainability
and move away from the deforestation that dairy farms carried out. I knew switching over to a
vegan lifestyle would not only be beneficial for me, but also the environment as a whole. I took
many foods I once had eaten out of my diet, but I was determined to keep one of my favorite
foods in it, which was my mom’s banana bread. She looked for a way to remove eggs and butter
out of it, and the solution was using over-ripened bananas. These are the bananas that start to
turn black on the outside and are usually considered rotten and are thrown away. Though, the
fruit is still edible, albeit soft and extremely sweet. They could be used in place of eggs and oil.
So, instead of throwing them away, my mom found a way to use them up. Along with that, I was
able to connect back to my family’s enjoyment of baking through this newly-made vegan recipe
my mom adapted. In this way, I was able to be part of my family’s pastime as well as keep my
vegan lifestyle, and for that reason this recipe is important to me.

Ingredients:
4 ripe bananas
2⁄3 cup of sugar
4 tablespoons of water
1 teaspoon of vanilla
2 cups of flour
1 teaspoon of baking powder
1⁄2 teaspoon of salt
Optional ingredients:
1 teaspoon of cinnamon
1⁄2 bag of vegan chocolate chips (example: EnjoyLife)

Directions:
-Preheat oven to 350°F and grease 8x4’’ loaf pan
-Mash bananas in a large bowl
-Add sugar, vanilla, and water to bananas and mix well
-In a medium bowl, mix flour, salt, and baking powder (also cinnamon if desired)
-Pour flour mixture into banana mixture and mix well (add chocolate chips now if desired)
-Pour batter into loaf pan
-Bake for 45-55 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean

Tamales Rojos

Story and Recipe collected by Giovanni Garcia, Summer 2017

There is nothing in this world that I cherish more than spending time with family. And not just my immediate family like my parents and siblings, but also my cousins, my aunts/uncles, and grandparents. One of the few times I get to see them all at one time and place, is the Christmas season. Because so many of my cousins are going off to college, finding work, and now, even starting their families of their own, I do not get to see them as often as before, so moments like these mean more to me than ever before. One tradition my family has, as well as many other Mexican families, is the making of tamales to eat on Christmas Eve/Day. The process begins with one of my aunts/uncles volunteering their home to be used for the preparation of the tamales, which alternates every year. This is followed by the gathering of ingredients a few days in advance (which I have attached below). And it’s not just one person’s responsibility to bring the ingredients, every family is in charge of getting a couple of things, making the process more of a group effort. And finally, we all gather on the 23rd of December to actually make the tamales. The aunts/uncles are usually the first ones up and prepare a couple of main ingredients at the house before the grandchildren get there. Basically, the parents get the complicated stuff done, and we help them with the more basic tasks including the spreading of the masa onto the corn husks, filling the tamales with meat/vegetables/etc, and any other directions we receive. The process is really stressful, especially for the adults. But at the end of the day, which is usually late at night, we have made hundreds of tamales. Some fond memories I have include anything relating to my grandmother, and particularly the year my uncle brought a mixing attachment to his construction drill. Before he had brought this, we used to mix the maza by hand, so when he brought the attachment not only were we all amazed, but the preparation process became much faster.

Ingredients (100 tamales):

-       Maza (dough) (5 lbs.)

-       Mantequa (lard) (1lb)

-       Chile quajillo (3lbs)

-       Salt (to the taste)

-       Corn husks (100)

-       Pork (5 lbs.)

-       Onion (1 – medium sized)

-       Garlic (2 clubs)

-       Cumin (2 teaspoons)

Steps:

Leaves:

1. Put the 100 leaves to soak in a bucket(s) of water. They should be submerged in water for at least 3 hours before using them  

Salsa:

1. Cut the chiles open and remove the seeds from inside

2. Fill a 8 quart pot ¾ of the way

3. Boil the water

4. Add the chiles

5. Cook the chiles for about 10 minutes

6. Take the pot off the stove and let it simmer on the side

Pork

1. Cut the pork into small pieces, each about the size of a gumball

2. Put the pork into a very large pot that can fit all the pieces

3. Add two of water

4. Cut the onion into a couple of pieces (4-6) and add them to the pot

5. Also add salt (about a teaspoon), sprinkle this across the meat, reaching as much as possible

6. Leave this to cook for about an hour and a half, if it takes a little longer or less, that is okay

Back to salsa:

1. Put as many chiles as you can fit into a blender (With 3lbs should take around 4 times), have a strainer and a clean pot on the side

2. Add half a tablespoon of the powdered cumin, and also half a club of garlic each time you fill the blender with chiles (this is assuming you use the blender 4 times, in total you should use 2 clubs of garlic and 2 tablespoons of cumin)

3. Blend these ingredients.

4. Dump the blended chiles into a strainer with a pot underneath and use a spoon to move the salsa around in the strainer/filter the good parts into the pot

5. Put this pot on a stove with medium heat

6. Add one and a half teaspoons of salt to the pot of salsa

7. Leave this pot until the salsa starts boiling, might take around 30-45 minutes to cook

8. Stir the salsa every 5 mins, and take a spoon and taste it, check if it needs more salt, if so, add little amounts until it fits your need

9. Once the salsa is done cooking, put it on the side and let it cool

Mixing of Dough:

1. In a large pot, add the corn dough and lard. Also add about 1 and a half tablespoons (more or less) of salt.

2. Add 2 cups of warm water and start mixing the dough and lard. (if you find it difficult to mix, add more water)

3. Mix until it has the texture of playdough

Making of tamales:

1. Put the leaves into a strainer to let loose water drain out

2. Now, spread the dough mixture onto the softest side of the corn husks, make sure to leave about two inches from the narrowest part of the husk, you will be folding this

3. The layer of dough should be relatively thin but should cover the surface

4. Now, add about 2 tablespoons of salsa to the middle of the husk, on top of the dough layer

5. Then add 1-3 pieces of pork on top of the salsa, not too many so you are able to fold the husk

6. Now, fold one side of the leave over, then the other so that the ingredients are covered, then grab the bottom part of the husk (the part you did not add dough to) and fold it over.

7. Before adding the tamal into the steamer, add water to the steamer until it reaches the indicated mark, which will be about 2-3 inches from the bottom

8. Add the covering plate (which will have holes)

9. Now Place the prepared tamal into the steamer pot

10. Repeat this until you use 95 of the corn husks.

11. Try to place the tamales in a circle, and in neat, ordered layers

12. Once you are finished adding tamales, using the remaining 5 leaves to cover the top

13. Now put the steamer on the stove and boil it for two hours.

14. About every 25-30 mins add more water, as you will probably run out

15. DONE

Maamoul

Story and Recipe collected by Nour Ghalyoun, Summer 2017

I can remember every morning I’ve awoken to maamoul being made. The smell of the timr, fasataq halabia, and mazahr – dates, pistachios, and rose water: the smells that I’ve associated with Eid, the Muslim holiday following the holy month of Ramadan. Mama would stay up late the night before making the dough, making sure that every Eid we would wake up to the traditional cookie, one that tied us back to our roots. We never ate it outside of Eid, and the one year we did, it was because mama made way too many cookies and we were eating them for the following weeks.

It was always my mother making the cookies because she wants them perfect, but she would always cave and let us help, whether that was pressing them into the mold or helping roll out the dough before stuffing them to the brim with the filling. They were always made with love, with care, with all the loyalty ties to country and culture. Growing up in America rather than Syria - my mother’s homeland – this was one of the few ties to the middle east that I understood with perfect clarity, one that none of us disputed about.

Some special things I learned about for the making of maamoul are the mahlab and the cookie mold. Mahlab is a spice made from the inner kernel of cherry pits, and the cookie mold is usually made from wood, with a long handle at the end. This information has been passed down from my mother from her mother, dating back as fat as anyone can remember.

This dish originates from ancient Egypt, dating back all the way to Pharaonic Era, documented with temple carvings and paintings. This dish migrated all over the Middle East. How it came to represent Ramadan is less certain. Some say that fasting is hard, but at its core, you can reap the sweet religious rewards – the same as a maamoul: hard on the outside, sweet and sugary on the inside.

Steps

(everything can also be done to taste)

Part 1

1. First, make the dough. In a bowl, mix

   1. -        1 cup of semolina

   2. -        1 ¼ cups of flour

   3. -        2 teaspoons of mahlab

   4. -        4 spoons of sugar

   5. -        2 sticks of butter

   6. -        1 teaspoon of rose water

2. Next make the filling. Use

   1. -        1 pound of pistachio

   2. -        4 spoons of sugar

   3. -        1 spoon of olive oil

   4. -        1 teaspoon of Rose water

Mix the dough and the filling well.

Part 2

1. Mold the dough into a ball

2. Concave part of the ball to put the filling in

3. Close the opening, and press the ball into the cookie mold

4. Press enough to fill the mold with the raw cookie

5. Take the cookie mold and whack it down on the table, dislodging the cookie (don’t break any tables / plates in the making)

6. Once you have enough cookies, lay them out on a sheet

7. Bake for 15 minutes at 250°

Nigerian Stew

Story and Recipe collected by Onyedikachi Ebiringah, Summer 2017

Love is a Warm Meal

In 1993 my mother left her husband and three children behind in Nigeria in hopes for a better life in America. Alone but determined my mother fought for the next two years to bring her family to the states. Eventually they would come in 1995 and my mother would become pregnant with me. The following year when I was born my mother’s mother arrived to help take care of the kids. My grandmother had many children and grandchildren back in Nigeria, and I am sure she never meant for her stay in America to be as permanent, but she would spend the majority of the next 18 years of her life here. Over the next few years my grandmother would be by my side at almost every waking moment, playing the role of mother and father. I would do everything with my grandmother and as I got older my grandmother began to keep a garden in our backyard.  I remember as a child following her into the garden and wandering around with curiosity. She grew various types of greens and vegetables that she would often cook with or give away to neighbors. My grandma would always cook me whatever Nigerian food I wanted. Even if everyone else was eating one dish she would make me whatever I felt like eating. One of my favorite dishes was rice and stew. It is a simple white rice dish topped with a tomato paste, and it serves as one of the staple dishes of Nigerian cuisine. My grandma would often use the tomatoes from her garden, and no one could ever come close cooking as well as her. When I was a child I often took my grandmothers cooking for granted but now that I am older I understand that true value of all the love and effort she put into every meal. My grandmother’s heart often ached for the grandchildren and children she couldn’t see back home in Nigeria, but she still loved me as much as she possibly could. Now whenever I eat rice and stew I know the tomatoes will never be as fresh, the rice will never be as white, and the dish will never have as much love as it could have had my grandmother made it.

You don’t have to put the stew on white rice you can put it on anything that think it might taste well on!

Ingredients

3.2kg (7lbs) fresh Plum Tomatoes

400g (14oz) tinned tomato paste

Vegetable Oil: a generous quantity

2 onions

Before you cook Tomato Stew

Phase 2

1. Wash and blend the fresh plum tomatoes.

2. Remember to remove the seeds unless you are sure your blender can grind them very well.

3. Cut the onions into small pieces.

4. Pour the fresh tomato blend into a pot and cook at high heat till almost all the water has dried. Cook till the water in the tomato puree have dried as much as possible.

5. Add the vegetable oil, the chopped onions and the thick tomato puree that you mixed in step 2 above. Stir very well.

6. Fry at very low heat and stir at short intervals till the oil has completely separated from the tomato puree. A well fried tomato puree will also have streaks of oil, unlike when you first added the oil and it was a smooth mix of the tomato puree and oil.

7. Taste the fried tomato puree to make sure that the raw tomato taste is gone. With time and experience, you can even tell that the tomato puree is well fried from the aroma alone. If you are happy with the taste and you are sure that all the water has dried as much as possible, pour out the excess vegetable oil, then add the well fried tomato stew to your cooking. If you are not using it immediately, leave to cool down, dish in containers and store in the freezer.