I love food from different countries! I’m not saying I love every dish from every country, but there are a lot of dishes from many countries that I always enjoyed greatly when I have the chance to eat them. I have shared that I came from a multicultural family and my mother cooked dishes from a various, places around the world and encouraged us to be open minded as we grew up.
Exposure to the variety of tastes from different cuisines enhances one’s cooking and inspires greater creativity in the kitchen. And you get to eat some really, great food! I am not suggesting finding a recipe you have never had, but rather encouraging you to try cook the dishes you experience and think it would be great if I can make this for my friends or just to be able to make it when you want. Do not allow finding the ingredients you need to be an obstacle: that part of the journey alone can open wonderful, new horizons.
In August of 1996 we relocated to the Dallas area. I had no idea where to find the ingredients I needed to make some of my favorite Chinese, Indian and Thai dishes. When we out to eat, we generally found ourselves leaning towards restaurants from these cuisines. Keep in mind the resources available on the internet 25 years ago were miniscule compared to what you can find today. I would ask where they go get their ingredients. I also kept my eye out for international markets we drove around.
One day when we were shopping for a house, we passed a strip mall. Low and behold I found a Vietnamese market close to where we were living. I went back there and found an entire store filled with many of the ingredients I needed and others I had wanted to try. I cannot tell you how relieved and excited I was at finding this gem!
Today, with the aid of the internet, it is so much easier to find what you are looking for. Even if you live in a remote place with little to offer in the way of international cuisine, there are many sites that can send the ingredients to your doorstep. This may not be the most economical way of getting what you need, but it is a resource to overcome a hurdle you may find. Personally, I have been able to find multiple recipes for dishes I want to make, several new stores for ingredients that have opened since we moved here.
All this is great but how does it help me? I will give you a few examples. From Indian and middle eastern cooking, I have modified my chili and shawarma recipes to include cinnamon. When I want to liven up my tuna salad, I add a pinch or two of curry powder. If you enjoy lentil soup, add a teaspoon or two of turmeric: it adds a fruity, earthiness to the soup. From Thai and Mexican dishes, I often substitute limes for lemons, especially in marinades. They give a less acidic and sweeter tone to the dish.
When a group of us prepared turkey soup one year, my brother in law’s mother added soy sauce instead of salt. It added a modest umami that melded wonderfully with the turkey. I experimented with this idea, first by adding it to chicken soup. Then, from my experience preparing Thai food, I tried using Fish Sauce instead of Soy Sauce, first to the turkey soup and then to the chicken soup. You get the umami but a bit less of the Soy earthiness that allows the other components of the soup to shine more.
Another example I can share is using cinnamon in chili. In Indian cuisine, you often find that recipes call for both cumin and cinnamon. Mexican cuisine also calls for cumin quiet frequently. It has an earthy smokiness. I decided to try it in my chili, which is a skyline style, meaning it has tomatoes and beans in it. Many of the Indian dishes call for cumin and cinnamon also use some form of tomato in the recipe, so I figured why not?
The other ingredient I add when I want a more mole effect is chocolate, which a neighbor suggested. When I said, “Excuse me?” she explained that Mexican moles have chocolate in them, and this adds that dimension to the chili. Don’t go throwing your Hershey’s bar into the chili! The route you want to take is adding some unsweetened, baking chocolate with the other ingredient for stewing phase of the chili. When people ask what makes my chili different, I tell them cinnamon and chocolate.
As you delve into a cuisine, you become more familiar with the culture in general. You won’t become a scholar of Italian art or an academic of Vietnamese history overnight, but it does provide insights to the people who live in far away places. It may also inspire you to learn more about the culture, which, in turn may help in your presentation of a dish.
While you are enjoying the experience of experiencing one culture you may feel compelled to learn about another and its cuisine. Or you may become enamored by the one you are investigating and study that culture and the nuances of the cuisine more deeply.
As you broaden your scope, you may find yourself analyzing the subtle differences in similar cuisines. The other day it dawned on me what the distinguishing differences between Chinese and Thai cuisines is. While there are several, I realized that Thai dishes do not call for a thickening agent, such as corn starch. They use more hot peppers, lime and citrus than Chinese. The Thai weather is much hotter and humid, so it makes sense that the sauces are lighter and thinner.
The next place I am giving serious thought to exploring is Nepal. We accidentally stumbled into a Nepalese restaurant in NYC and wow is all I can say. My brother-in law wanted to go into a Greek restaurant, his favorite, but the wait was well over an hour. The Nepalese restaurant was two doors down with immediate seating. By the time we finished dinner, he was ecstatic that we stumbled onto this gold mine of flavors.
Personally, I have found a great deal of satisfaction in my efforts to explore cuisines from various countries. It has been fulfilling on many levels. Not only do I think it has improved my cooking, but it has made me more appreciative and open to the wonderful diversity of the world we live in. I hope you will find new treasures as you travel pathways to other parts of the world!
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