Tequila Sunset

The "Tequila Sunset" simply seems to have been a follow up to the "Tequila Sunrise"

 

Ingredients (per drink):

 

2 ounces tequila

4 ounces orange juice

1/2 ounce blackberry brandy

orange slice and a maraschino cherry for garnish

ice

tall glass (12 ounces)

Add the tequila and orange juice to the glass, stir to mix. Add the ice and stir again. (I put the the tequila and orange juice in first without ice, because it makes it easier to mix those two ingredients, then add the ice and stir again to help chill the drink.) Now add the blackberry brandy along the edge of the glass and let it begin to settle toward the bottom, DO NOT STIR! Garnish with a slice of orange and a cherry and watch the sun set, while you drink the "Sunset."

WORD HISTORY:

Orange-A common word in modern times, but it has an extensive and somewhat complicated history, as the tree, and more especially the fruit of the tree, spread beyond its original homeland in southern Asia. This word seems to go back to a Dravidian language,^ perhaps to transliterated Malayalam^^ "naranja," which seems to have meant "citrus fruit;" as it was used for both "oranges" and "lemons." This was taken by Sanskrit^^^ as transliterated "naranga," which meant "orange tree," which was borrowed by Persian as transliterated "narang," which was then borrowed by Arabic as transliterated "naranji." This came into Italian from a couple of ways, first, apparently via Venetian dialect "naranza;" likely borrowed as a result of trade, as Venice was a major maritime center with ships from elsewhere, but also with ships and their crews from Venice itself and other parts of Italy which returned from other countries, with the natural importation not only of goods, but of "words!" The Arabic form likely also entered Italian via Sicily, and the Venetians and Sicilians gave Italian "arancia," and yes, no beginning 'n,' and this was taken by Latin as "orenge," with the same form passing to Latin-based Old French, but this then became "orange" by "about" 1100. The Portuguese likely had some role in the development of, or reinforcement of, the word "orange," as Portuguese traders went to Asia, including to China and India, and returned to Portugal which likely helped promote the use of forms of "orange" in Spain and southern France (modern Portuguese uses "laranja," from Arabic, for "orange"). English borrowed the word in the late 1300s from French as the fruit and tree name. It was used for the color in the early part of the 1500s, and it pretty quickly overtook the native "yelwered" which came from Old English "geoluread," (literally yellow-red). 

 

^ Dravidian is a family of languages primarily spoken in southern India, but also to some extent in Pakistan and on the island of Sri Lanka. 

 

^^ Malayalam is one of the Dravidian languages, and it is spoken in southwestern India.

 

^^^ "Sanskrit" is an ancient language from the Indo-Iranian branch of Indo European; thus, it is related to English, although much further down the family tree. It is still in use to some degree, especially in India.  

Great Spices and Herbs of the Indian Subcontinent, Part 1

The people of the Indian subcontinent are not shy about the use of spices in their recipes. More and more, people in other parts of the world are discovering the cooking techniques and flavors of far off lands on a regular basis, instead of just on an occasional visit to a restaurant. Such is true with the foods of the Indian subcontinent, and with the spices and herbs that go into providing those foods with their lively, and often fiery, flavors.   

I once made my own naan bread, but I also saw it made in a real Indian tandoor oven in an Indian restaurant here in Cleveland about 1979 or 1980. The place had Indian food displayed right in the window, but it's been so long ago, I just forget everything. That got me interested in Indian food and history, which then was reinforced by the movie "Gandhi" in the early 1980s.

This is most certainly not an all inclusive list of herbs and spices used on the Indian subcontinent, but it will more than adequately cover a wide swath of recipes from India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, as well as provide good coverage of many recipes of some other countries of southern Asia. I've tried to add other names for many of the spices and herbs, but the Indian subcontinent is home to MANY languages and dialects, literally hundreds of languages and dialects,* and what is called a particular name in one area, may be called by a totally different name in another region, and by still another name a little further from that, so I'm not claiming that the forms I've listed are the definitive terms. 

Asafoetida-also called "Hing"-a light yellow powder (you might also find it in chunks in some specialty stores or shops). It is from a plant related to fennel. It is known for its strong smell, and it is usually sold in jars with a small sealed opening that has to be punctured to sprinkle the contents, then another top on the jar seals off the opening to keep the smell from escaping. Used in a number of vegetarian recipes by first putting just a small amount in hot oil for just a couple of seconds, which totally mellows the smelly spice.

Black Peppercorns-also called "Kali Mirch," peppercorns are commonly used in many countries, so they are readily available. The popularity of cooking shows on American television in the last couple of decades has made the use of pepper mills to grind peppercorns much more common than they had been, although I'm sure the already ground black pepper in cans still sells very well. Grinding your own pepper makes the pepper fresh and more flavorful and you can make the grind as you want it, from coarse to fine. Peppercorns are also used whole, at times, in certain recipes in various cultures. 

Black Salt-also called "Kala Namak," is a type of salt with a sulfur smell. I have black salt from Hawaii, and it is in small granules, which are truly black in color. I also have a package of black salt from India, and it is mainly powdered, but with some small pieces of the salt left in. It is sort of a light purple or pink color.

Cardamom- also called "Elaichi," can be bought in brown or light green to grayish colored pods that contain seeds that are used to flavor a variety of dishes, among which are sweet dishes and baked goods, including such outside of the Indian subcontinent. Some recipes call for whole cardamom pods to be used and the pods are cracked or smashed first, as this allows the flavor of the seeds inside the pods to season the cooking food (the pods themselves are not eaten). Cardamom is also sold in ground form, which has a gray color. The ground form is readily available in supermarkets and spice shops, while the whole pods are available in Indian/Pakistani shops, and likely some spice shops. The seeds are also sold, but I have never bought cardamom that way.

Chaat Masala is a ground spice mixture, and thus its ingredients vary. Readily available in Indian/Pakistani shops, and in some spice shops.

Chilies-both fresh and dried. You'll see a number of recipes call for "green chilies," and green jalapeño or serrano chilies are fine. Other recipes will call for red chilies, and fresh cayenne chilies are great in this role. Often too, recipes call for dried red chilies, and you want to get dried chilies that give heat and flavor. A number of months ago I bought a bag of dried red chilies, but they turned out to be useless, as the chilies had neither heat nor much flavor. The best thing is that once you find a good dried chili product, stick with it, but unless you fix food with chilies on virtually a daily basis, or unless you regularly fix food for a 10,000 person military base nearby, you're not going to be buying dried chilies every other week. If you go to an Indian/Pakistani grocery store, I suggest you buy the dried chilies there, and give Kashmiri dried chilies a try from there too. They are a deep red color, with moderate heat. Some recipes may say to soak the dried chilies in water, while others may say to put the chilies into hot oil for a minute or so, before adding other ingredients and proceeding with the recipe.

Chili powder (of the Indian subcontinent)-This is not the chili powder used to make Texas or Southwestern chili, but rather it is ground red chilies, like what we call "Cayenne pepper," or "ground red pepper." It is hot, and it's supposed to be. Cayenne pepper is, of course, readily available in just about any store, and you may well already have some on hand in your kitchen cabinet. 

Cilantro-also known as "coriander" or "green coriander," or "Hara dhaniya," is an herb readily available in supermarkets or produce stores. Also common in Mexican and other Latino cooking in the U.S., where the name "cilantro" is most often used. 

Cinnamon-also called "Darchini," is typically used in curled cinnamon stick form on the Indian subcontinent, although the ground form is much more common in the U.S. Further, cinnamon comes from a few variety of trees, and there are differences in how strong the taste is. What is termed "true cinnamon," or "Ceylon cinnamon" is touted as the best variety health wise, but it is also much more expensive. Typically the cheaper cinnamon, called "Cassia" is what you get in supermarkets or grocery stores, and it is no less "true cinnamon" than the Ceylon type, except by name. Readily available in any store that sells spices, but the Ceylon cinnamon will more likely be found in good spice or health food stores, or in Indian/Pakistani grocery shops. 

Cloves, also known as "Laung," are another spice often used on the Indian subcontinent in whole form, although the ground form is readily available. Cloves are actually the powerfully flavorful and aromatic bud of a tropical tree flower. The taste of cloves can overwhelm a dish if you aren't careful, so use sparingly in either the whole form or the ground form. Readily available in just about any store that sells spices.

Coconut milk-This is the product of coconut flesh and water, not the coconut water from the coconut itself. It is used in sweet dishes. It is easily found in cans in many stores, including Latino shops and Indian/Pakistani shops. 

Coriander-also known as "Dhaniya," is often used in the seed form on the Indian subcontinent, where it is first roasted briefly and then ground for use, but it is also commonly sold already ground, which can be roasted right before use. Many supermarkets should have at least the ground form, and spice stores and Indian/Pakistani shops will almost certainly have the seed form also.

Cumin, also known as "Zeera" or "Jeera," is a highly common spice in recipes on the Indian subcontinent, where the whole seeds are roasted and then ground, although the already ground form is also used, and it too can be roasted briefly before use. The seeds look very much like its relative, caraway seed. It is also common in some Latino cooking, especially Mexican. It is readily available in ground form in just about any store that sells spices, but the seeds are easily found in Indian/Pakistani grocers and well stocked spice shops.

Curry leaves-also known as "curry patha," are often used fresh on the Indian subcontinent, where the tree commonly grows. They may be fried briefly in oil and then ground, or chopped and added to recipes. I use leaves that are already ground, which are available in spice stores and Indian/Pakistani grocers. The fresh leaves do not keep well, and while I've never bought the frozen leaves, I've read mixed reviews about them. Finding either fresh or frozen could prove to be a challenge in many countries.

Curry powders-These are spice mixtures with a variety of ingredients (there is no ONE recipe for curry powder), often mixed together for commercial sale, as people on the Indian subcontinent generally add each of the spices to dishes according to their own recipes. It is "my understanding," that curry powder was developed for sale in Britain when much of the Indian Subcontinent was a British colony, as this made it easier to combine spices into mixtures for sale, than to try to transport and sell the individual spices in Britain 200 to 300 years ago. This mixing of spices into "curry powder" has lasted right up to the present, and you can easily find curry powder in supermarkets, spice shops and Indian/Pakistani grocers, often with various brand names, varied ingredients and varied "heat" levels. 

* The main languages of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh are Hindi, Urdu and Bengali, respectively. They are all from Indo European and are, thus, related to English, although further down the family tree. Some other languages, primarily in India, but also to some extent from the island of Sri Lanka, are from the Dravidian family of languages. English is often used in governmental matters and in higher education; however, English is not universally spoken on the Indian subcontinent. 

From top left, clockwise: Cinnamon (Cassia), cloves, black peppercorns (click to enlarge)

From top left, clockwise: fresh green and red chilies, dried red chilies, Kashmiri dried chilies

Jar of asafoetida.

WORD HISTORY:
Fetid-The ultimate origin of this word, related to the second part of "asafoetida/asafetida," is uncertain. It goes back to Latin "fetere," which meant "to stink, to smell badly." This produced the adjective "fetidus," meaning, "stinking, foul smelling." This was borrowed by English circa 1400. 

Red Pepper Relish: Serbian & Croatian Ajvar/Ljutenica

Ajvar, essentially pronounced as if "eye-var," and "ljutenica," pronounced as if, "loot-en-eetsa," are types of relish often used as condiments in Serbia, Croatia and in other parts of the Balkans. Recipes vary somewhat by region, but "ljutenica" is the spicy hot version of the relish in most areas. So you can make it mild or spicy hot, as you wish. It is used on sandwiches and burgers, as well as just spread onto slices of bread. When I was a kid, Serbia was often written as, "Servia," and Serbian was often written as, "Servian," but those variant spellings ceased decades ago; at least, to my knowledge. 

2 pounds roasted sweet red bell peppers, or store bought roasted peppers
1 small to medium roasted eggplant (aubergine), about 1/2 to 3/4 pound
1 medium ripe tomato, roughly chopped 
3 tablespoons olive oil
6 cloves garlic
1 tablespoon hot (or mild) Hungarian paprika
1 hot chili pepper 
2 tablespoon white vinegar
1 teaspoon salt
1/2  teaspoon black pepper
pinch or two of sugar

To roast the peppers and eggplant: heat the oven to 450 F. While the oven is heating up, wash and cut the peppers and eggplant in half. Remove the stems and seeds from the peppers. You can rub a little olive oil onto each, if you wish. Place the vegetables cut side down on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or aluminum foil. Roast for about 25 to 30 minutes, until the skin on the peppers begins to blacken in spots (the eggplant skin will get a wrinkled look to it). Let the peppers cool a bit, then peel off the skin. You can scoop out the eggplant and toss the skin away, along with the pepper skins.
   
Put all ingredients into a food processor or blender and process until still a little chunky, although some make it into a smooth paste. Often used in the Balkans on burgers there called "pljeskavice." For that recipe, here is the link: http://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2017/07/pljeskavica-serbian-burgers.html

WORD HISTORY: 
Aubergine-There is some slight uncertainty about the history of this word, and its ultimate origin is not known, although a Dravidian language may be the source. ^ It goes back to transliterated Sanskrit "vatigagama," ^^ which meant "eggplant." This gave Persian "badingan/badengan," which was borrowed by Arabic ^^^ as transliterated "al-badinjan," and with the continued meaning "eggplant." Large parts of the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal) were conquered by the Arabic speaking Moors, from northwestern Africa, and this brought the word to the various languages/dialects of Iberia in sometimes slightly different forms. French borrowed the word as "alberge/albergen(?), "perhaps" from a form in Catalan, which then became "aubergine," and English borrowed the word in the very late 1700s, and it finally overtook the word "eggplant" in England and Britain, although "eggplant" remained as the main word, and still does, in the United States and, I believe, in Canada, although "aubergine" is likely used by French speaking Canadians. I dare say that quite a number of Americans would be at a loss if someone told them, "We just bought a nice aubergine." German, a close relative of English, used "eierpflanze" (egg/eggs plant), before borrowing "aubergine" from French in just the past century, although some southern dialects use "Melanzani," a borrowing from nearby Italian. The idea behind the naming of the produce as "eggplant" comes from the oval shaped white eggplant looking like eggs, and the name carried over to the purple color produce too.   

^ Dravidian is a language family of southern Asia, principally with languages spoken in the south of India. English belongs to the Indo European family of languages, and then the Germanic branch of Indo European.
  
^^ Sanskrit is an ancient language from the Indo-Iranian branch of Indo European; thus, it is related to English, although much further down the family tree. It is still in use to some degree, especially in India.

^^^ Arabic is from the Semitic languages, the most common of which are Arabic, Amharic, Hebrew and Tigrinya. Arabic and Hebrew are commonly known in much of Europe and North America, but Amharic is spoken in a large part of Ethiopia. Tigrinya is also spoken in parts of Ethiopia and Eritrea, another East African nation. 

Bengali Potatoes & Black Pepper

This is a simple dish with the spiciness of the pepper. It is from Bengal, a region which lies in the northeastern part of the Indian subcontinent. The Bengal region is both in India and Bangladesh. Dhaka is the largest city of the region, and it is also the capital of Bangladesh. The second largest regional city is Kolkata, still known to many by its English rendering, "Calcutta," a city which lies in India. While I put in my own ingredient amounts, this recipe is from "Indian Cooking," by Madhur Jaffrey, North American edition, 2003, Barron's, NY.

4 or 5 medium white potatoes boiled in their skins, then chilled, then peeled and cut into small chunks
1/4 cup canola oil or vegetable oil
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons coarsely ground black pepper
1 to 2 tablespoons chopped cilantro 

In a large, heavy bottomed skillet, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the potatoes and fry therm for a minute or two. Add the salt and stir to mix. Reduce the heat to medium low, cover the potatoes and cook for 4 to 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the pepper and stir to mix. Cook for another 2 minutes uncovered, then add the cilantro, stirring once more.

WORD HISTORY:
Cot -This word for a "small, light weight, easily transportable bed," and, "a hammock-style bed, originally used on ships in officer's quarters," "seems" to have a non Indo European origin, possibly from a Dravidian source in southern India, such as "katil/kattil," with the meaning, "small bed." This gave Hindi the transliterated form, "khat," with the same general meaning. Hindi is an Indo European language from the Indo-Iranian branch of Indo European. English borrowed the word in the first half of the 1600s, as a result of the growing involvement of England in India.    

Homemade Tartar Sauce

From what I've read over the years, tartar sauce is a French sauce developed from an eastern Mediterranean sauce based upon "tahini," a sauce or paste made from ground sesame seeds and oil. Tartar sauce is a common accompaniment to seafood, but it is also used as a dip for vegetables and French fries, or as a spread for sandwiches. 

Ingredients

1 cup mayonnaise (reduced fat is fine)
3 teaspoons finely chopped sweet gherkins
1 tablespoon finely chopped mild dill pickle
2 tablespoons onion, finely chopped (red or white)
1 tablespoon chopped capers
juice of half a lemon
1 tablespoon grainy brown mustard
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1/2 teaspoon ground white or black pepper
1 tablespoon sugar (more if still too tart)
1 teaspoon curry powder
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

Mix the sugar with the Worcestershire sauce and lemon juice to dissolve it. Mix all ingredients in a bowl, cover and chill for at least an hour. 

WORD HISTORY:
Curry-English has other words of this spelling, but this is the one meaning, "spice mixture." It was borrowed into English in the late 1600s from the Tamil language of southern India and its word "kari." The word is also used as a verb to mean, "prepare food with a curry sauce," although it is more commonly used to describe a dish made with sauce using curry powder, and then referred to as, "curried," as in "curried lamb" or "curried vegetables." Tamil is one of the languages of the Dravidian family of languages, a separate language family from Indo European, the family to which English belongs.