It has now been 3 weeks since arriving back in Honduras, and the time is flying by! This past week was spent investigating and writing grants, planning, and connecting ¨new talent¨ to the organization. Generally, most of my free time these days has been spent connecting with friends and family in the states and beginning to think about ¨next steps¨ after my time here = Exciting! All of this ¨researching¨ has left my pretty glued to the computer, and so I was really excited at the prospect of an evening away from the computer, cooking with friends!
A close friend had recently sent me a photo of an Indian stew he had made that looked incredible. Having grown up in Southwest India, we got to talking about similarities between culture, climate, and foods, and I have been amazed to learn that so many facets of my experiences in Honduras are similar to what he experienced in India. When I saw the stew, I couldn´t help but think... 1) YUM! and 2) I wonder if we could make this??? So the quest began for two Estado Unidenses and a Honduran to make a traditional Indian dish!
The first step was to gather all of the ingredients. If you are unfamiliar with Indian cooking (which I do NOT claim to be an expert on), many of the dishes are known for their rich and complex flavors, created by use of a variety of fresh and dried herbs. After looking up a few ingredients in Spanish (Lesson 1: Turmeric is curuman in Spanish, but better known as azafran...), it was off to the market we went!
Our first stop was a corner vegetable stand, where we got all of our fresh ingredients: tomatoes, onions, carrots etc. Cheque!
Then it was to my favorite corner store, where we picked up any dry materials we didn´t have on hand. I figured Cardamom would be easy to find as Honduras is a large producer and exporter, but apparently the harvest is over as we were told to go to China... what?? Bueno... the truth is, we are looking for the spice to make a dish from India... this elicited a ¨Porque?? You don´t like beans and rice? ¨ and then an interested smile and blush from Ruth, the pulperia owner. After checking around, we learned it was true... we would have been better off going to China for our cardamom, or Choluteca at least...
After getting all of our ingredients, it was home to cook! While Benicia is an amazing cook, she decided to sit this one out and cheer from the sidelines. She had been excited to try the dish since I mentioned it the week before, but after seeing all of the ingredients, particularly the cinnamon and cloves, asked ¨So what is this ´Indian food´ all about?¨
I smiled and said, just wait! As we cooked, the stew started to smell wonderful, and the next question Benicia asked was, ¨Is it ready yet?¨
If the amount of stew left in the pot is any indication, our ¨extranjero efforts¨ at making my friend´s dish went fairly well, the pot standing empty at the end of the night! Being far away from family and friends can be difficult, but little things like sharing a recipe seem to bridge the miles and are a great opportunity to share different cultures! Our stew was accompanied by tortillas and Imperial, a local beer, making our dinner an international fusion :)
Buen Provecho!
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