Indian Tomato Raita (Tomato/Yogurt Salad)

"Raita" is pronounced as if, "rite-ah." Raita is often served in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal to "cool" the palate and stomach after spicy dishes have been eaten.

 

Make sure to use finely chopped ingredients.

 

Ingredients:

 

1 cup plain yogurt, stirred or whisked so that's it's smooth

1/2 cup finely chopped tomatoes (seeds removed)

1 heaping tablespoon finely chopped onion

1 teaspoon finely chopped green chili (serrano chili pepper is good, or unripened cayenne pepper)

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

2 teaspoons finely chopped mint

1/2 teaspoon salt 

Put the yogurt into a bowl and stir or whisk it so that it's smooth. (Optional) You can preheat a small dry skillet over medium heat and add the ground cumin for just like 10 seconds (shaking the skillet), and remove from the heat and let it cool down before adding it to the other ingredients; or, you can just add the ground cumin to the raita without toasting it. Add all of the ingredients to the bowl and mix everything together well.   

WORD HISTORY:

Tank-This word has an uncertain origin, and there are at least a couple lines of thought on its ancient history, but to me, the best history is the idea that "tank" was a word borrowed by Portuguese, as "tanque," from a language in India in the early 1600s, perhaps from transliterated Gujarati "tankh" (I also found it as "tanki" and "tanku"), with meanings like "cistern, pool, reservoir." Some believe this goes back to Sanskrit^ "tadaga" meaning "pond or lake."^^ Portuguese took the word back to the Iberian Peninsula from India and it passed into Spanish also as "tanque," and into English (circa 1609-10). I don't necessarily dispute the English borrowing, but both the Portuguese and the English were heavily involved in India in those times; so, in theory, English could have borrowed the word right in India, or it could have at least reinforced a borrowing from Portuguese in English. The meaning in English at the time was "a pool used as a water supply," obviously closely tied to the Gujarati meaning of "cistern, pool, reservoir." From this, the meaning "container" developed. Now ... during World War One, "a vehicle of armor with a mounted machine gun moving on caterpillar tracks" was dubbed "a tank" purely for deception purposes, but the name stuck when the British first used "tanks" in action in the autumn of 1916. This meaning was borrowed by Portuguese, proving "what goes around, comes around." The verb form "tank" came from the noun and had the meaning "to put something into a tank," with that meaning seemingly used to give a figurative meaning "to fail, to lose badly, to give up on achieving something;" which came about in the 20th Century, but exactly when, is tough to pin down, although the late 1960's tennis world is a possibility.

 

^ 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, with ancient texts of religious significance to Hindus and Buddhists.   

 

^^ One source says the Sanskrit form "tadaga goes back to Dravidian, but without any way to connect the word to that language family. Dravidian is a family of languages spoken primarily in southern India, but also to some extent in Pakistan and on the island of Sri Lanka.    

Cape Verde Islands Bean & Hominy Stew: Cachupa

Cape Verde is a country made up of several islands (an archipelago) in the Atlantic Ocean, approximately 350 miles off the western coast of Africa. Cape Verde's official language is Portuguese, and the name is "Cabo Verde" in Portuguese. The Portuguese were great explorers and Cape Verde was discovered by the Portuguese in the mid 1400s, and it became a colony of Portugal in the late 1400s, and Cape Verde gained its independence in 1975. The population is nearly a half million, with people of Portuguese ancestry being common, but with some of other European ancestry too, as well as people of Middle Eastern and Sub-Sahara African background. The capital is Praia, and it is located on the island of Santiago, the largest island of the archipelago.

 

"Cachupa" is the national dish of Cape Verde, and as with popular dishes, there are variations, with even a vegetarian style prepared. Most of the variations have to do with the types of meat used, as well as the mix of beans used; and yes, the dish typically includes more than one type of bean. Cape Verdeans generally use dried hominy and dried beans, so the preparation time is naturally longer, but I use canned hominy and canned beans, everything rinsed, to shorten the overall time needed to enjoy this stew, and it is a good one! 

 

Chouriço is traditionally a smoked Portuguese sausage, typically flavored with garlic, red wine and some smoked paprika. While it is akin to Spanish chorizo, it is not really the same, as the Spanish sausage is typically not smoked, but rather it is cured by drying over a period of time and it has more paprika as a seasoning. Neither of these sausages is the same as Mexican chorizo, as the Mexican version is generally fresh and needs to be thoroughly cooked. The Mexican version is the most common chorizo in the U.S. and "likely" also in Canada, although Spanish chorizo can be found in the U.S., but it "may" take a bit of effort. I'm in Cleveland, and the Greater Cleveland area is quite diverse, with people from all over the world. A few years ago, I wanted to do a Spanish recipe* that needs Spanish chorizo, so I went to our West Side Market, but no vendor there had Spanish chorizo, and not only that, one or two of the vendors weren't quite sure what I meant by "Spanish" chorizo, so strong is the influence of Mexican chorizo. If you like trying to find ethnic foods, see if your community has Portuguese chouriço or Spanish chorizo, but if not, you can easily find either online, or you can use some pepperoni, although it won't be the same. "Blood sausage" is commonly called "blood pudding" in Britain, and in Portuguese it is "morcela." Blood sausage is "generally" sold in delis, and again, if you live in an area with a number of people of Portuguese heritage, you'll likely find "morcela," but it can also be found online, and you can substitute other blood sausage, like Spanish (morcilla) or British (blood pudding).           

 

This stew is commonly served with piri piri sauce on the side. Piri piri is Portuguese hot sauce, and it is my understanding that people in Cape Verde do not add the pepper sauce to the dish itself, but rather piri piri is put on the table for each person to season their stew to their own heat level preference.  

 

Ingredients (6 to 8 servings):

 

1 1/2 pounds pork ribs

1 pound chouriço, sliced into about 2/3 to 1 inch pieces

2/3 to 1 pound blood sausage, sliced about 2/3 to 1 inch thick

8 cups water

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 slices bacon, chopped 

2 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon ground black pepper

1 1/4 to 1 1/3 cups chopped onion 

5 cloves garlic, finely chopped or minced

1 cup chopped yam

2 bay leaves

1 tablespoon white wine vinegar (or just white vinegar)

1 teaspoon ground white pepper

1 teaspoon smoked sweet paprika

1 tablespoon tomato paste (or thick ketchup) 

1 can (14.5 to 16 ounces) yellow hominy, rinsed

1 can (14.5 to 16 ounces) butter beans, rinsed

1 can (14.5 to 16 ounces) red kidney beans, rinsed

3 cups chopped kale 

In a pot, add the pork ribs and 8 cups of water, 2 teaspoons salt and 1 teaspoon ground black pepper. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to maintain a steady simmer. Cook until the ribs are tender, remove them to a plate and let them cool down, and then take the meat off the bones. Skim off the foam from the cooking water, then strain the water into another pan or other container (just in case there are any bone or gristle bits), then add it back to the pot. In a skillet, heat the olive oil over medium heat, then add the bacon, followed about 2 minutes later by the onions, followed about 2 minutes later by the garlic. Saute for a few minutes until the onion begins to soften, then add the contents to the pot (oil, bacon grease and all), along with the the chouriço, blood sausage, chopped yams, bay leaves, vinegar, ground white pepper, smoked paprika, tomato paste/ketchup, rinsed hominy, rinsed butter beans and rinsed kidney beans. Bring to a light boil, then reduce the heat to maintain a steady gentle simmer. Use a lid or foil and cover and cook for 45 minutes to one hour, periodically checking the pot and stirring. Remove the lid/cover and add the chopped kale and stir it into the stew. Cook uncovered for another 10 to 15 minutes. Stir well before serving in shallow bowls with some crusty bread and hot sauce on the side. 

* The dish was "Spanish Butter Bean & Chorizo Stew," known in Spanish as "Fabada Asturiana." Here is the link to the recipe: https://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2017/04/spanish-butter-bean-chorizo-stew-fabada.html 

 

WORD HISTORY:     

Yam-This word technically is used incorrectly in English as another name for a sweet potato, a vegetable to which scientists say true yams are not related. I'll skip the technicalities, since "yam" IS used in English for a sweet potato, but the word's origin lies in West Africa from one of the Niger-Congo languages of that region,^ perhaps Fulani, which has "nyami," a word that actually means "to eat," but true yams are a main source of food in some cultures in Africa; thus, a form of the word is applied to "yams." Both the Spanish and Portuguese were involved in the slave trade in West Africa during the 1500/1600s where they borrowed a form of the word; Spanish has "ñame" (pronounced like "nyahmay") and Portuguese has "inhame" (seemingly pronounced both "in-yah-mi" or "in-yah-meh"). "Perhaps" English picked up the word in Jamaica, once a Spanish possession with numerous West African slaves, but taken over by England in the mid 1600s.    
 
^ The Niger-Congo family of languages includes many African languages and dialects, including Zulu, Swahili and Fulani. Niger-Congo is to these languages what Indo European is to English, German, Italian, Hindustani or Persian (and many others).

Portuguese Tomato Rice: Arroz de Tomate

This is a pretty common Portuguese dish. I've seen recipes that use both short-grain or long-grain rice; so, use what you have or prefer. You can use any kind of ripe tomatoes. I used Roma tomatoes, which tend to be smaller, so I use 4 tomatoes, rather than the 3 I have listed in the recipe.  

 

Ingredients (4 to 5 servings):

 

1 cup rice

1 cup chopped onion

2 cloves garlic, minced

3 ripe tomatoes, blanched, peeled, seeded, chopped

1/4 cup cilantro (or parsley), chopped

2 cups vegetable broth or chicken broth

1 teaspoon salt (optional if you use "salty" broth)

3 tablespoons olive oil 

6 or 8 black olives, halved

In a heavy bottom sauce pan, heat the olive oil over medium heat and then saute the onion until it starts to soften, then add the minced garlic. Saute for about another minute or minute and a half. Add the chopped tomatoes and cook a further two minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in the rice, coating the rice well. Now stir in the broth and bring the mixture to a boil. Reduce the heat to low or very low and cover the pan with a lid or foil. Cook until the liquid is just absorbed, remove from the heat and stir in the chopped cilantro (or parsley). Top the individual servings with some black olive halves.  

WORD HISTORY:

Monsoon-This word goes back to transliterated Arabic "wasama," which meant "to mark (something), to give a name, identity or description to something." This produced Arabic "mawsim," meaning "a time of year;" thus also, "a festival or holiday of a time of year;" thus also, "a season (time of year)." Portuguese sailors and explorers borrowed the word in the 1500s as "monção," with the "season" meaning pertaining to "the trade winds in the Indian Ocean." The next step has some uncertainty, as Dutch "seems" to have borrowed the word as "monssoen" from the Portuguese, but as the Dutch also sailed the Indian Ocean in those times, they could have borrowed it from Arabic speaking people in that region, just as the Portuguese had done. English borrowed the word from Dutch, but likely with Portuguese reinforcement, in the latter part of the 1500s. The winds associated with "monsoon" helped ships travel the Indian Ocean, but these winds also brought rains; thus, the meaning in English of "heavy rain," or "rainy season."    

Thai Vegetable Green Curry

 A good curry with lots of vegetables, as well as just a little spiciness to tickle the tongue. Thai or Asian green curry paste is available in supermarkets or Asian markets, and it's not expensive.

Ingredients (about 4 servings):

 

2 tablespoons peanut oil

4 green onions, chopped

1 1/2 inch piece ginger, peeled and finely chopped

2 cloves of garlic, chopped

1 cup chopped red bell pepper

1 cup carrot, peeled and chopped or sliced

1 cup asparagus, cut into 2 inch pieces

1 hot red chili pepper, split or chopped (add another chili if you like more heat)

1 can coconut milk (about 14 ounces)

1 cup vegetable stock

2 tablespoons brown sugar

10 to 12 medium to large basil leaves, torn or chopped

4 tablespoons green curry paste 

1 tablespoon soy sauce

chopped cilantro to garnish (cilantro is also known as fresh coriander)

In a large skillet, heat the peanut oil over medium heat. Saute the chopped green onions, ginger and garlic for about 2 or 3 minutes, then add the carrots, asparagus, red bell pepper and chili pepper; cook for 7 or 8 minutes, then mix in the green curry paste and cook another 2 minutes. Stir in the coconut milk and the vegetable stock, as well as the brown sugar; stir to mix everything. Simmer the mixture for about 10 to 12 minutes (the vegetables should be tender). Stir in the soy sauce and the torn basil leaves. After 2 minutes, remove from the heat. Garnish each serving with chopped cilantro. Serve over rice or with rice on the side.

 

 

WORD HISTORY:

Coco-A separate, but scarce word in its own right, mainly known for its use in the compound "coconut." It is not related to "cocoa," but the two words have long been confused in English; thus resulting in the word "cacao" becoming "cocoa" in English from the influence of "coco." Anyway, the ultimate origin of "coco" is unknown, but it is related to "cocoon," and it goes back to the transliterated Greek noun "kókkos," meaning "seed, kernel, berry." Latin borrowed the word as "coccum," with essentially the same meanings. Portuguese sailing expeditions encountered palm trees and their fruit in the Pacific and Indian Ocean areas and they used the word "coco" for the large shaggy looking, shell-encased fruit of the palm tree. The appearance of the coconut brought the comparison to a skull, with the openings and shaggy exterior looking like a face, although a scary face; thus also, "a bogeyman," and also, "monkey face." Spanish explorers also encountered this palm fruit, and seemingly used the same word for the Spanish terminology, although they picked up the "bogeyman" meaning from Portuguese. English borrowed the word in the mid 1500s likely from both Portuguese and Spanish.        

Creamy Brazilian Cornmeal Cake: Bolo de Fubá

Brazil is the largest Portuguese speaking country or region in the world. The basic recipe for this cake was given to me by my friend Gustavo of Brazil, whom you can just call "G." Over the years I have helped him with his language, which has left him as one of the few people to speak "Klingon." The problem is, I was helping him with English! Hahahaha  The Brazilian name for the cake is "Bolo de Fubá," in Portuguese, and it is common throughout Brazil, although with many recipe variations, some of which do not include cheese. Those without cheese are very much like American cornbread, although the Brazilian form tends to have more liquid and more sweetener (some use sweetened condensed milk). I read some articles about the cake, including one from a Brazilian cookbook I have, and most note that this cake is often served at breakfast or later in the day, on both occasions with a cup or two of coffee. I also found different pans/dishes used for the cake, and I chose a round pie/cake dish (10 inches x 2 inches), and G uses a round cake pan (Hm, I wonder what 'cake pan' is in Klingon?). I used Pecorino Romano cheese, although Parmesan cheese is traditional. G used a blender/food processor to mix his cake batter, but I just used a hand mixer. The thing is, the batter will be runny, but that is okay; it's supposed to be that way. When poured into the baking pan and put into the oven, the milk and the melting cheese will form a layer of creaminess on the cake (see top 2 photos, below). You do need to keep track of the time or set a timer for this cake, as you can't insert a toothpick to see if it's done, because of the creamy layer. Preheat the oven to 350 F and bake the cake for about 50 to 55 minutes. Since this was the first time I made this cake, I baked it 55 minutes, although slightly less would likely have been fine. The top should be nice and golden brown (see photos, below). I would have just put G's recipe here, but I figured none of you know Klingon. Hahaha  Actually, his English is very good, no thanks to me! But if anybody wants to pretend to learn English while actually learning Klingon, I'm your guy! 

Ingredients:
3 eggs
1/4 cup butter
2 1/2 cups of milk
1 1/2 cups of sugar
1 cup of yellow cornmeal
3 tablespoons flour
3/4 cup grated Parmesan or Romano cheese (I LOVE Pecorino Romano)
1 1/2 tablespoon baking powder

In a blender or a bowl, add all the ingredients (except the baking powder). Mix in the blender or use a hand mixer to mix the ingredients together very well. Add the baking powder and mix it in with a spoon. The batter will have a pretty liquid consistency. Preheat your oven to 350 F and let your cake bake for 45 to 50 minutes or until the cake has a "golden" surface. Let the cake cool down about 30 minutes before slicing.

WORD HISTORY:
Jaguar-This word for "a large cat of prey of the Americas, especially in parts of South America." It goes back to Tupi, also called Tupian, a language family of some of the indigenous peoples of South America, particularly in Brazil. The early 1500s saw the Portuguese colonize Brazil and they took the transliterated Tupi word "yaguara/jaguara," which seemingly meant "a large meat eating animal," and therefore also used for the big cat, which was rendered as "jaguar" in Portuguese (also as yaguareté and jaguareté). English borrowed the word from Portuguese as "jaguar" around 1600. It was used as the name for a British automotive company and their line of luxury and sports cars beginning in 1935, later often shortened by the public to the trendy sounding "Jag."    

Costa Rican Table Sauce: Salsa Lizano

This is a common brown to reddish brown sauce in Costa Rica and it's made at home by some, but it is also commercially produced and sold in bottles. It is sprinkled onto various foods and it is also used in recipes, especially in Costa Rican style rice and beans, called "Gallo Pinto" (I'll be doing this soon). It is not very spicy hot, although I like to add a hot dried red chili to the recipe for a little "zip."

The ingredients will be processed/blended, so how you chop them is not all that important.

Ingredients:

3 Guajillo or Ancho (dried Poblano) chilies, seeded and stems removed
(optional) 1 dried hot red chili 
1/4 cup onion, chopped
1/2 cup carrot, peeled and chopped
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon white vinegar
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon molasses
1 cup water to cook the chilies, then used in the sauce
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 heaping teaspoon ground black pepper
2 teaspoons salt

Simmer the chilies in a cup of water for 6 or 8 minutes. Add the chilies and water to a blender or processor. Add the other ingredients and blend or process until smooth

WORD HISTORY:
Peon-This word is related to "pedestrian," a Latin derived word borrowed by English, and it is distantly related, through Indo European, to "foot," a word from the Germanic roots of English. It goes back to Indo European "ped/pod," which meant "foot, lower part of the leg." This gave Latin "pes," meaning "foot," with the accusative case being "pedem," and the dative being "pedi," and all plural cases beginning with "ped." This produced Latin "pedonem" meaning, "one who goes on foot," which in the Middle Ages took on the specific meaning, "foot soldier." This gave Portuguese "peon," which later became "peão," with the "foot soldier" meaning. The Portuguese and the English established themselves in India, and in the 1600s, English borrowed the word from Portuguese, but in India, and it meant (specific to India), "a native Indian member of law enforcement," but also "foot soldier" and "one who delivers messages on foot." Meanwhile, Spanish had "peon" from the same Latin source as Portuguese, but it had taken the meaning, "worker." By the first half of the 1800s, American English had picked up the meaning "farm worker working off a debt to a landowner" from Mexican Spanish, and this became the prime meaning in American English, with further development into, "low status worker" (from the idea of working low level jobs to pay debt). This became the main meaning in English.   

Portuguese Pork & Clams: Carne de Porco à Alentejana

This wonderful representative of Portuguese cuisine is really not hard to make, although it is not typically a dish to be made if you are in a hurry, as it "should" marinate for a number of hours before cooking. In her book, "Portuguese Homestyle Cooking," Ana Patuleia Ortins writes that the name of the dish implies its origin was in Alentejo, but that some believe it actually originated in the Algarve region, which is the southernmost region of mainland Portugal; and thus, bordering on the Atlantic Ocean, which makes seafood plentiful and a large part of the regional cuisine. Alentejo is just above the Algarve region, but Ana Patuleia Ortins does not give her opinion as to where this dish started. There are a number of variations to this dish and crisply fried diced potatoes are a common accompaniment, with some even adding potatoes to the dish itself. Traditionally it is made with lard, but some have switched over to making it with olive oil, so I compromised and made it with olive oil and some rendered pork fat. 

Ingredients:

1 to 1 1/4 pound pork, cut into bite size pieces
about 15 to 18 small fresh clams, shells cleaned.
3 to 4 cloves garlic, sliced
2 tablespoons olive oil (not extra virgin)
1 tablespoon rendered pork fat or lard
1/2 to 2/3 cup white wine
2 teaspoons sweet paprika (Spanish sweet paprika, if you have it; it's smoky)
1 large tomato, chopped
3 tablespoons piri piri Portuguese chili sauce (you can substitute Tabasco or Franks pepper sauce)*  
2/3 teaspoon white pepper (or black pepper)
1/2 teaspoon salt (later can add more to taste, if desired)

In a large bowl, add the pork pieces, sliced garlic, paprika, chili sauce, white pepper and salt. Cover and refrigerate for a minimum of 3 or 4 hours, although 8 to 10 hours is better, if possible. In a large skillet over medium heat, add the olive oil and pork fat or lard. Add the ingredients from the bowl and saute the pork, stirring and turning the pork pieces to lightly brown them. Add the chopped tomato pieces and white wine, reduce the heat to low and cover the skillet with a lid or aluminum foil; cook, stirring and turning the meat occasionally, until the pork is tender. Add the clams and cover the skillet again. Check after about 5 or 6 minutes. The clams should have opened; if not, give them another minute or two, and tap lightly on any that haven't opened, if they still do not open, then discard them. Serve with extra chili sauce on the side.  

* Long ago Portuguese explorers led to Portugal's involvement in parts of Africa, such as in what are modern Angola and Mozambique, for example. This brought about their attachment to a small African chili pepper commonly called "piri piri," which they then used to make a hot pepper sauce bearing the same name. It is a common condiment in Portuguese homes and restaurants, and also used as an ingredient in some Portuguese recipes. It is "similar" to Tabasco sauce or Frank's Red Hot Sauce. It is available in "some" parts of the United States where Portuguese immigrants established communities.    

I put the fried diced potatoes on the left side of the plate, but some serve the port and clams on top of the potatoes.

WORD HISTORY:  

Cuspidor-The main part of this word is distantly related to "spew" and to "spit," both words from the Germanic roots of English. It goes back to Indo European "spyu," which meant "to spit, to discharge fluid from the mouth." This gave Latin "spuere," which meant, "to spit." The first part of "cuspidor" goes back to Indo European "kom," which had the notion "by, with, near, beside." This gave Latin "com," and its variant form, "con," both meaning, "together, with," which were common prefixes, and at times used as prefixes of emphasis (intensification). Together the two parts gave Latin "conspuere," meaning, "to spit, to spit at or upon." This passed into Latin-based Portuguese as "cuspir," meaning, "to spit," and this produced the Portuguese noun "cuspideira," meaning, "a container for spitting;" thus, "a spittoon." This was borrowed by English in the 1700s, although it seems to have taken until the late 1700s to become more firmly established. 

Chinese Cucumber Salad

This dish is also at times called, "(Chinese) Smashed Cucumber Salad." Like most popular dishes, the recipe for this cucumber salad can vary a little.

Ingredients:

2 English (aka seedless) cucumbers
3 garlic cloves, chopped
3 tablespoons rice vinegar
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
1/2 to 1 teaspoon fresh hot red chili pepper, finely chopped* 
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1 teaspoon salt

Wash the cucumbers very well and dry them. Cut the ends from the cucumbers and then very loosely wrap the cucumbers in plastic wrap, but do not peel them. Use a kitchen mallet or a heavy skillet and hit the cucumbers until they are split (now you see why the salad is often called "smashed cucumber salad"). Remove the cucumbers and slice them lengthwise a couple of times, then cut those long pieces into pieces of about 1/2 inch or so. Put the pieces into a strainer and add the salt and sugar. Put the strainer over a bowl and let the cucumbers drain for about 30 minutes. In the meantime, mix the other ingredients together well. Add the drained cucumber pieces to the mixture and stir well, making sure all of the cucumber pieces are coated. You can serve the salad immediately or refrigerate it for about an hour.

* Instead of fresh chili pepper, you can also use chili pepper flakes or sambol oelek chili sauce (Sambal Oelek is an Indonesian chunky hot chili pepper sauce. It should be easily found in the Asian section, or in the hot sauce section, of supermarkets). If you don't like any heat, just use some red or yellow bell pepper.

WORD HISTORY:
China-This word's history is a bit uncertain, although it "seems" to go back to the "Qin" dynasty, which ruled in China during and around 220 B.C., although the word "might" predate that time. This then was taken by Sanskrit as "cinah," and "cinas," as the name for the people of the area of China; thus, this would also be the direct ancient source of "Chinese" in English and other European languages. This "likely" became part of Hindi, as transliterated "cin" (long "i"), and this was picked up by the Portuguese as "China," as they explored, traded and set up outposts in the Indian subcontinent. The Portuguese took the word back to Europe, where it was taken by English in the first half of the 1500s. The 1600s saw the term "china" used for porcelain dishware in English, as these were originally brought in from China. 

Mexican Breakfast: Chilaquiles

Chilaquiles (pronounced as if, "chee-lah-key-lays") is a common dish in Mexico, especially for breakfast. It can be made with red sauce or green sauce. I've streamlined the process here "a little," as traditionally, Mexicans have used tortillas and chicken leftover from the day before to make this dish. The tortillas were cut into wedges or pieces and then fried until crisp. Store bought tortilla chips cut down on the time needed. You can find cotija cheese in many supermarkets, cheese shops, or most certainly in Latino shops, but you can easily substitute feta cheese. Further, Mexican Crema is commonly used, but again, if you can't find it, the mixture I've listed is a quick and easy substitute.

30 tortilla chip triangles (white or yellow)
2 1/2 tablespoons olive oil 
1 1/2 cups enchilada sauce, red or green, homemade* or store bought
1/2 cup crumbled Mexican cotija cheese or feta cheese
1/4 cup Mexican Crema **

Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Put the tortilla chips in the skillet and spread them out. Add the enchilada sauce and bring to a simmer then reduce the heat to low. Let tortilla chips soften slightly, remove from heat. Place on serving dishes and add crumbled cheese, then spoon some Mexican Crema over each serving. Serve with fried egg(s), sliced avocado sprinkled with a little lime juice, shredded chicken or bite sized pieces of chicken, or refried beans. 

* For homemade red enchilada sauce:  http://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2017/05/red-enchilada-sauce.html

** To make a quick "version" of Mexican Crema, 3/4 cup sour cream thinned with 5 tablespoons of buttermilk and with 1 1/2 teaspoons salt stirred in.

Click to enlarge photo... Chilaquiles with chicken and refried beans

WORD HISTORY:
Corral-This word, distantly related to "car," "carriage" and "course," all of Latin derivation, and borrowed by English, goes back to Indo European "kers," which had the notion of "to run, move swiftly." This gave Latin the verb "currere," meaning, "to run," which produced the noun "currus," which meant, "chariot." Hey, when you've got a chariot, you've got to have a place to park it, and that was a Latin "currale," meaning, "an area for keeping a chariot." This gave Spanish and Portuguese "curral/corral," and it later simply meant, "enclosure, usually for cattle." The word was borrowed by English from Spanish in the late 1500s, with "perhaps" later reinforcement from Dutch/Afrikaans "kraal," in southern Africa, a word Dutch borrowed from Portuguese "curral/corral," as both the Portuguese and the Dutch were involved in southern Africa before heavy British involvement there. "Kraal" meant "a fenced in area for animals."      

Yogurt Drinks of the Indian Subcontinent, Part 4 of 4

Here are two more sweet lassis, including the very popular "mango lassi." 

Mango Lassi-This is a very popular sweet lassi, also called a "smoothie" in restaurants or specialty beverage shops in the U.S. There are also commercially bottled versions of mango lassi. How many brands are there? I have no idea, as I "tend" to prefer freshly made foods, but I did buy a bottled mango lassi recently at a South Asian shop. I guess it was maybe ten ounces, but it was far too sweet for me.

Ingredients for 4 servings or 2 large servings:

1 cup plain thick yogurt
1 teaspoon to 1 tablespoon or more honey (see below)
1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/4 cup milk
2/3 cup mango (fresh chopped or canned)
ice cubes

If you want to use fresh mangoes, you need well ripened mangoes. In this case too, you will likely want to add more honey, probably at least 1 tablespoon, but that's a matter of personal taste. Lately, I must admit that I've cheated... I mean, I've chosen a streamlined way; that is, canned mangoes, which usually come in a sweet syrup. If you use canned mangoes, you can reduce the amount of honey, but instead, use a little of the syrup, according to how sweet you want the lassi. You can add a little sprinkle of ground cardamom on top. Put all ingredients in a blender and blend for about 30 to 45 seconds, or until smooth.

Turmeric Lassi

Ingredients per large serving:

2/3 cup plain thick yogurt
1 banana (chilled, lightly frozen)
2/3 cup cold water
3 teaspoons ground turmeric
1 teaspoon chopped ginger
2 tablespoons honey
couple of ice cubes

The banana should be peeled and put into the freezer for about 10-12 minutes. Put all ingredients, including ice cubes, into a blender and blend for about 45 to 60 seconds, or until the banana and ice cubes are broken up and mixed in. You can sprinkle a little turmeric on top, as I've done in the photo.

WORD HISTORY: 
Mango-The ultimate origin of this word is uncertain, although it goes back to Tamil, a Dravidian language of southern Asia, especially from parts of India, Sri Lanka, Malaysia and Singapore. The transliterated Tamil form, "mankay" (like, "main-kay"), meaning, "fruit of the mango tree."This was borrowed into Malay, a language of the Austronesian language family (which includes Tagalog/Filipino, one of the major languages of the Philippines), as "mangga," meaning, "mango." This was then borrowed by Portuguese^ as "manga," and English borrowed the word from Portuguese in the late 1500s, although its use became more common somewhat later, as the English planted mango trees in some of their tropical possessions in the New World.

^ The Portuguese were great explorers long ago, a fact sometimes forgotten, and they controlled East Timor, then called "Portuguese Timor," from the 1500s until 1975. It then became part of Indonesia, before gaining independence in 2002.  

Kung Pao Shrimp, WOW!

This common dish, which originated in the Szechuan/Sichuan province of China, has some variations, with the biggest variation being in the main ingredient, which is usually chicken. I'm not quite certain, but the use of shrimp "may" be a development by Chinese-Americans in the restaurant business?  

Ingredients:

1 pound large shrimp, peeled and deveined
1 tablespoon thinly sliced fresh ginger
1/2 cup green pepper, cut into bite size pieces
1/2 cup red bell pepper, cut into bite size pieces
5 dried red chilies, stems removed
1 teaspoon Sichuan peppercorns 
1/2 teaspoon salt (optional, the sauce, below, will have soy sauce, which has salt)
2 to 3 tablespoons canola oil
2 tablespoons roughly chopped cashews or peanuts
4 green onions, chopped, including part of the green

Sauce:
4 tablespoons soy sauce
3 tablespoons orange juice
2 teaspoons cornstarch + 3 tablespoons water
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1 teaspoon rice vinegar
1 teaspoon sugar

In a small sauce pan, over medium heat, add the soy sauce, orange juice, sesame oil, rice vinegar, sugar; simmer about 1 minute. Mix the water and cornstarch well, then gradually stir it into the sauce, maintaining the heat so that the sauce bubbles, until the sauce thickens, set aside. If you have a wok, put on the Aerosmith song, "Wok This Way" (okay, I know it's "Walk this Way"); otherwise, use a skillet, heat the canola oil over medium high heat. Add the ginger, the chilies and the peppercorns, cook for about 30 seconds, constantly stirring (stir fry). Add the two types of bell pepper and two of the chopped green onions, cook 1 minute, always stirring. Add the shrimp, cook until about cooked through, then stir in the sauce and cashews/peanuts, taking care to distribute and coat and all of the shrimp. Don't overcook the shrimp, or they will get tough, even rubbery. Serve with the other 2 chopped green onions on top. 

WORD HISTORY:
Cashew-This word for a popular type of nut goes back to Tupi ^ "akaju," the name for the tree producing cashews. The Portuguese picked up the word, as "acaju" (modern Portuguese "caju"), as they explored and settled in Brazil during the 1500s, with the tree name also transferring to the nut. English borrowed the word, circa 1600, without the seemingly unstressed beginning "a," but the word came into more general usage about a hundred years later.   

^ Tupi is a family of South American Indian languages, many located in central and western Brazil and Bolivia, but also in some parts of a few other countries, as well.  

Venezuelan Creole Pavilion

Pabellón Criollo Venezolano is the name of this dish in Spanish, the national language of Venezuela. Venezuela was once a colony of Spain. As you will see, there are really several recipes that when done, are then put together to form an entire dinner. The main components show the racial mix in  Venezuela's racial population, with the brown/reddish brown stew, the white rice and the black beans. None of the recipes is hard to do, but the meat just takes time to cook. I checked more than 20 recipes for this dish, many by people at least claiming to be Venezuelan, and there were generally only slight variations, often about tomatoes in the stew part of the dish, with some calling for tomato paste, others calling for tomato sauce and still others using chopped tomatoes. At the other end, a recipe or two did not use ANY tomatoes, in ANY form. Also most recipes used red bell pepper, but a few used green bell pepper, so I liked the idea of using both; thus, my version. For the rice, you can certainly leave out the garlic, but many, not all, of the recipes I saw used garlic in some quantity in the rice, that's why I added it. Almost all of the recipes showed plantains, but there were a couple that did not note their use as an accompaniment. Buen provecho, my friends! 

Ingredients:

To cook the meat:
1 pound of flank steak, cut into three pieces or more, so as to fit into the pot you will use
water + 1 heaping tablespoon beef soup base (also called, "bullion," by some)
1/2 large onion, chopped
1/2 teaspoon salt (the soup base has lots of salt)
1/2 teaspoon black pepper

While Venezuelans boil/simmer the meat, I prefer to bake things in such cases. So, you can cook the meat on top of the stove, or in the oven. Cut the steak into 2 or 3 parts, so it will fit easily into a pot. Add some water to the pot and mix in the soup base. Add the meat and half of a large chopped onion, the salt and pepper, then add more water to just cover the meat. If cooking on the stove, heat to boiling over high heat, then cover and reduce heat so that the meat gently simmers. Simmer until the meat is very tender, likely 90 minutes or more. For using the oven, cover and bake at 300 F for one hour, then reduce heat to 275 F. Bake until meat is very tender (I let it bake for 2 3/4 hours, total. Let the meat cool. Use a couple of forks or just use your fingers to pull/tear the meat apart into strands.

For the stew, after the meat is cooked:
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 large onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, chopped
1/2 large red bell pepper, chopped
1/2 large green pepper, chopped
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
4 tablespoons tomato sauce
4 tablespoons broth from the cooked flank steak
shredded steak

 Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the other half of the large chopped onion, half of the chopped red bell pepper, half of the chopped green bell pepper, saute for a couple of minutes, then add 4 cloves of chopped garlic. Saute a further couple of minutes. Add the cumin, Worcestershire sauce and mix in well. Now add the shredded steak along with the broth and tomato sauce; mix well, then over low heat, cook until the liquid is reduced, stir the meat mixture occasionally.  

For the black beans:
2  15 ounce cans black beans, partially drained (drain off half of the liquid in each can)
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
1/2 large red bell pepper, chopped
1/2 large green bell pepper, chopped
4 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 tablespoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt

Heat the olive oil in a pan over medium heat. Add the onion, the chopped red and green pepper and saute a couple of minutes, reduce heat to low and then add the chopped garlic and saute until the onion and peppers are softened. Add the black beans and part of their liquid, the oregano and salt and pepper, stir well. Cook over low heat for about 12 to 15 minutes, stirring frequently, to prevent sticking.    
 
For the rice:
1 cup white rice
2 cloves of garlic, roughly chopped
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 cups of water

Follow the instructions provided by the brand of rice you buy, but otherwise, generally, bring the water to a boil, then add the ingredients and stir gently, only once. Reduce the heat so that the liquid just barely simmers. Put the lid on the pan and let the rice cook 20 minutes without removing the lid. 

For the plantains:
2 ripe plantains
1 cup olive oil
salt

Peel and thinly slice the plantains. Add enough oil for an inch or 2 in a heavy duty skillet; cast iron is good for this, but not a necessity. Heat the oil, but it should not be smoking hot. Fry the chips in batches, removing them to paper towels to drain them as you go. Add salt to taste.

WORD HISTORY:
Creole-This word, distantly related to "create" and to the "crease" parts of "increase" and "decrease,"^  goes back to Proto-Indo-European "kreh/kerh (“to grow, become bigger”). This gave Latin "creare," which meant, "to make, to produce, to create." This then gave Latin "criar," which meant, "to rear or to raise or to bring up young (that is, to help them grow up)." This then produced "cria," meaning, "a person brought up in one's home, or in a particular region or area." This gave Portuguese "crioulo," which meant, "European or African person born in Brazil" (then a colony of Portugal), which differentiated the Portuguese born in Brazil from those native to Portugal. Spanish either borrowed the term from Portuguese or developed its own version from the Latin, but I'm not certain on this. The Spanish ("criollo") and Portuguese seem both to have influenced French, which had "creole," with likely reinforcement by Latin itself. With Portuguese, Spanish and French all Latin-based languages, with many similar words, it is difficult to separate out all of this. English borrowed the word in the early 1600s, from French. The meaning of the word varies from area to area, as in American English, the word came to mean "person of French ancestry in Louisiana," circa 1800, or perhaps a little before, but in British English it generally now refers to a person of African descent from (that is, born in) the West Indies, and further, it can refer to the mixed language of these people of the West Indies or of Louisiana. 

^ "Create," "increase" and "decrease" are not original English words, but rather, they were borrowed into English. 

Portuguese-Style Beef Pot Roast/Stew (Alcatra)

This very easily prepared Portuguese recipe, called "Alcatra" ("rump steak") in Portuguese, is from the Azores (Portuguese: Açores, see Word History below), more particularly from the island of Terceira, one of the nine islands in the Atlantic that form the Azores, which lie more than 800 miles from mainland Portugal. The Azores compose a part of the Portuguese Republic. I read over a number of recipes for this dish and some called for white wine, some for red wine and some had either. I used white wine, because I already had a bottle! The next time, I will use red wine. All but one recipe used either chuck roast or rump roast, which was then cut into chunks, but the one used already cut stewing meat, and that's what I chose to use also. From what I read, rice is often served with this dish, although a couple of recipes served it with potatoes cooked with the meat, including one that kept the skins on. The dish is traditionally cooked in a clay pot in Portugal. As I've noted many times before, I'm a mashed potatoes guy, so that's what I had with this beef dish.  

Ingredients:

4 pounds beef stewing meat chunks
5 strips thick sliced bacon, cut into smaller pieces (you can trim some of the fat off, if you'd like)
2 large onions, sliced
5 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tablespoon olive oil (not extra virgin)
2 bay leaves
1 teaspoon ground cloves
10 black peppercorns
2 teaspoons salt
3 1/2 cups white (or red) wine
2 tablespoons butter
water, as needed (or enough to cover, see below)

Heat oven to 375 F. Use the olive oil to coat the bottom of the pan or ovenproof dish you will be using. Add the pieces of beef, bacon, onion and garlic. Mix things around, so that the bacon, onion and garlic mix in with the beef. Add the bay leaves, the ground cloves, the peppercorns and the salt, then pour in the wine, and add water to make sure the beef is covered. Float the butter on top. Cover and bake for one hour fifteen minutes, then reduce heat to 325 F, bake until meat is tender, likely "at least" another 90 minutes, but well worth the wait, even if it takes two more hours. You can take the lid off for the last half hour or so of cooking, if you'd like, even if the meat is no longer covered in liquid. 

WORD HISTORY:
Azores-This word for the Portuguese islands in the Atlantic, the first part of which is distantly related to "edge," with the second part distantly related to "feather,'' with a closer relationship to "pen" (writing implement), goes back to Indo European "ak," which had the notion of "sharp, pointed." This gave Latin "acies," meaning, "point, edge," which provided a form for the first part of Latin "accipiter," which meant "hawk." The second part of "accipiter" goes back to Indo European "pethr/pethn," which meant "feather." This gave Italic "petn," meaning "feather, wing feather," and this provided Latin with the "piter" part of "accipiter." This gave Portuguese "açor," meaning, "hawk, goshawk" (a more specific type of bird of prey, literally, "goosehawk"). The plural in Portuguese, "açores," came to be applied to the islands in the 1500s, "supposedly" because the birds were often seen there. This was borrowed by English with the spelling "Azores."   

What's In A Name: Ferdinand, Ruth

Ferdinand-This name originated in Germanic as a compound, but the first part is hard to pin down. It "might" be related to English "fare." * The Old Germanic ancestor of "fare" meant, "to go, to travel." It "might" also mean "peace" (brought by strong defense against force of arms; thus, "protector, guarantor"), and this would make it related to English "frith" (or "friþ," as it was once written), a word overtaken by the borrowing of the word "peace," a word derived from Latin. The second part of the name goes back to Old Germanic "nanthiz," which meant, "a venture, a risk," which then gave Old English "neðan" (=nethan), a verb meaning, "to be daring, to be bold." Thus the name "Ferdinand" "could" mean "daring or bold traveler," or "bold protector." Germanic tribes entered Iberia and the name caught on there initially as "Ferdinando," later usually contracted to "Fernando." Several kings in Spanish history have been named "Fernando," and in Portuguese history, Ferdinand (Fernão) Magellan, the explorer, is famous. World War I was ignited by the assassination of Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand (the spelling in German and English are the same). Not a terribly common name in English, except for men of German heritage, and Fernando is more common among American men with heritage from Spanish speaking countries, or with heritage from Portuguese speaking countries, especially Portugal or Brazil, which is the largest Portuguese speaking country. 
 
Ruth-From a Hebrew name which was derived from the transliterated Hebrew word "reut/re'ut," which meant "friend, companion." The name is, of course, well known from the Book of Ruth in the Old Testament of the Bible. "Ruth" was not a very common name among people connected to Christianity until the Reformation and thereafter. The popularity of the "Baby Ruth" candy bar, developed by an American candy company in the early 1920s,* could only have given a boost to the name, as the company "claimed" the candy was named after the daughter of former president Grover Cleveland. Ruth Cleveland had been well known to the public during her father's presidency, which was unfortunately reinforced by her early death from diphtheria, when she was only 12, a few years after Grover Cleveland left office. "Perhaps" some good marketing by the candy maker helped the sales of "Baby Ruths," as the candy bar also was thought by many to be named for baseball player, Babe Ruth, who was becoming ever more famous when the candy bar came onto the market. The candy proved to be a "home run" in sales, "perhaps" boosted by the association with both Babe Ruth and Ruth Cleveland. I must admit, when I was a kid, I thought the candy bar was named for Babe Ruth, and to my recollection, I never heard about the former president's daughter until decades later. 


I consulted the following, so for more information on any of the names see, "A World Of Baby Names" by Teresa Norman, published by Perigee/Penguin Group, New York, 2003. Also, "BabyNamesPedia."

* For the history of "fare," here is the link: http://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2008/10/taxing-question.html

WORD HISTORY:
Soap-This word, related to "sieve," "seep" and "sift," goes back to Indo European "seip," which had the notion, "to flow through, to drip, to trickle." This gave its Old Germanic offspring "saipon," which meant, "plant or tree resin," also "soap." This gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "sape," meaning, "reddish or reddish brown resin or salve, soap." This then became "sope," before the modern version. The other Germanic languages have: German "Seife," Low German Saxon "Seep," West Frisian "sjippe," Dutch "zeep," Danish "sæbe," Norwegian and Swedish "såpe," Icelandic "sápe." Long ago, Latin borrowed a form from Germanic, giving the Latin-based languages forms of the word too.  

English Beans

I have simplified this recipe by using canned (already cooked) beans, but you could certainly use dried navy beans, soaking or partially cooking them before proceeding with the recipe. In England and much of Britain, beans are served as part of breakfast, and very much so for an "English Breakfast," * although not exclusively so, and serving beans on toast is popular. There are many recipes for English beans, but I've seen perhaps as many as 20 recipes, and with one exception, the one common thing was, no meat was included. In the United States, it is rare to see beans fixed without meat, usually bacon, salt pork or ham, and even the commercial canned versions have meat, although you may need to use a magnifying glass to find it. In Britain, to save time, Heinz canned beans are highly common. These are not the same as the Heinz versions in the U.S., but rather a meatless, mixed sweet and tangy, tomato-y dish, which sell quite well throughout Britain, and "seem" to be sort of a standard by which breakfast beans are judged by many there. When I've had the Heinz variety, ** I've only seen the tomato sauce, no bits of onion or any other ingredient, and while I read where one person mentioned vinegar in the Heinz version, the ingredient list does not mention it, nor is there really any taste of vinegar; at least, not that I could tell. Anyway, this is my version of "English beans," with very tomato-y sauce.

Ingredients:

1 15 ounce can navy beans
1 15 ounce can tomato sauce
2 heaping tablespoons of finely chopped onion
1 clove garlic, minced
1 to 2 teaspoons canola oil
2 sprigs fresh thyme
1 teaspoon blackstrap molasses
2 tablespoons brown sugar (I use dark brown sugar, you may need more or less sugar, depending upon the tartness of the tomato sauce you use)

In a medium sauce pan, heat the oil and then saute the onion over medium low heat. After about one minute, add the garlic, cooking the two ingredients until softened. Add the tomato sauce, the thyme, and the blackstrap molasses, stirring to mix everything. Let the sauce simmer lightly for about 20 minutes or more, putting the lid on askew, to keep the sauce from spattering all over your stove, but also allowing the sauce to cook down somewhat. Taste the sauce to see how tangy it is, then add the brown sugar accordingly, stirring well. Let the sauce reduce to thicken it, before adding the beans. After adding the beans, let everything simmer an additional 10 to 15 minutes. The sauce should be well thickened and somewhat sweetened, but not too sweet. It should have a slight tang.

* This is the link to my "English Breakfast" article:  http://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2016/09/an-english-breakfast.html 

** You can often find them in supermarkets nowadays, in the international section, and they have a different label (sort of blue-green? aqua? and the Heinz logo) and the can will have, "Product of the United Kingdom," somewhere on it.    

I put my English beans on toast

WORD HISTORY:
Molasses-This word for, "the syrupy product made from refining sugar," and distantly related to the "mil" part of the word "mildew," goes back to Indo European "melit/melid," which meant "honey." This gave its Latin offspring, "mel," with the same meaning, but also the more general, "sweetness." This then gave Latin, "mellaceus," which meant, "sweet like honey." This gave the Latin-based languages in the Iberian Peninsula forms like, Spanish "melaza," Catalan "melassa," and Galician and Portuguese "melaço," all of which were applied to the refined sugar product originally made in the West Indies from sugar cane there and used to make rum. English borrowed the word from Portuguese probably in the mid 1500s, although the word did not become more common until the late 1500s.

Tea Time

Expanded a bit on 12-27-2015 and photo added, as well as a little editing on 8-19-21

Tea drinking apparently goes back at least 4500 to 5000 years in China. It wasn't until the mid 1500s that western Europeans came into contact with tea, as the Portuguese settled in Macao (also "Macau") in southeastern China, which remained as a Portuguese colony until 1999! Then Dutch traders established themselves in southeastern Asia in Indonesia in the early 1600s, which later became the Dutch colony "the Dutch East Indies." The mid 1600s brought the marriage of England's King Charles II to a Portuguese princess, who made tea drinking a prominent feature among the nobility. The price of tea in those times was prohibitive for the spread of the drink to those not in the upper classes, but increased trade and involvement in India brought more tea, and lower prices, and sugar, into England. It wasn't long before the British began to sweeten their tea with sugar from the New World and tea drinking became popular with the general population, making tea the national drink. The ancestral homeland of the English (the Anglo-Saxons) is northern Germany, and their close relatives, the Saxons and the Frisians, still inhabit the area. The similar climate to Britain along the North Sea coast of Germany, and the availability of tea from Dutch importers, made tea a popular drink with the Frisian and Saxon population of the area, where tea is still the regional beverage. In the East Frisian part of northern Germany, rock candy is used to sweeten their tea, with some cream carefully layered a bit below the surface. The idea is to provide three distinct tastes: the bitter black tea at the top, the tea/cream mixture in the middle, and then the addition of the sweetness of the melting rock candy near the bottom. The East Frisians are known for their pickiness for black tea and their brands are considered topnotch.

Russians have had a strong attachment to tea going back to the 1600s, although its high price initially limited its availability to the upper classes. Russians traded directly with the Chinese by overland route, organized in caravans. It was quite a trip and "supposedly" the tea acquired a smoky flavor from being near the campfires during its long journey,* a characteristic still common in the most popular form of black tea in Russia, although the flavoring is now added. It is the national beverage of Russia, although vodka drinkers may question that... hic! Hey, I'm a tea drinker, honest!

Chai is a spiced black tea (sometimes green tea) and is my favorite. Chai typically has a lot of milk and sugar, and you can most certainly get it in any Indian or Pakistani restaurant in the U.S. or elsewhere. I make my own, pretty much every day, although I'm sure some Indians might not approve of my recipe or technique, although from what I'm told, there are considerable variations, even in India. Generally chai is black tea in about a 50-50 milk/water mixture, but I use far less milk (I use evaporated milk). When I've bought chai at Indian restaurants, it has always been very sweet, and I make it somewhat less so. I use fresh grated ginger, some ground cardamom, a bit of ground cloves (and often some ground allspice, too), a small bit of mace (or nutmeg), and some ground cinnamon. Some Indians or Pakistanis use black pepper in chai, too, and others use fennel seed. After letting the spices steep for awhile, you can strain the tea into your cup. You can buy tea bags already with a spice mixture in them, but I've never been very impressed with the result. You can also put the ingredients into a pan and gently boil the mixture. In this case, I tend to use a cinnamon stick, rather than ground cinnamon, as well as whole cloves and crushed cardamom seeds. I prefer to add the milk after the cooking is done, but you can cook it right along with the tea. Note: A while back, I also started using black pepper in chai, sometimes ground or sometimes whole crushed peppercorns. It gives the chai that added "zip."  

* It seems a bit of a stretch to me that tea packed for such a trip would acquire the smoky flavor this way. I wonder if at some point some open tea was exposed to the campfire smoke, the users liked it, and they then chose to repeat the process?

 

WORD HISTORY:
Tea-This word comes from a Sino-Tibetan word, "sla/tsla," which likely meant "leaf." Sino-Tibetan is a large language family in Asia and Southeast Asia which is the ancient ancestor of the Chinese dialects, like Mandarin and Cantonese, as well as southeastern Asian languages like Burmese and others. Sino-Tibetan is to these modern Asian languages what Indo European is to English, German, Italian, Russian, etc. Min Nan, a dialect of Sino-Tibetan had "te." Malay, an unrelated language from the Austronesian language family^  in southeastern Asia, borrowed the word from Min Nan as "teh." The Dutch East India Company was a private company granted Asian trade rights by the Dutch government in the early 1600s. The Dutch picked up the word from Malay "teh," rendered in Dutch as "thee," which they then brought back to western Europe, along with a lot of the product itself. English borrowed the word in the mid 1600s as both "tee" and "tea," before finally settling on the latter. Many other European languages borrowed the word from Dutch, for example, German has "Tee" (pronounced "tay"), West Frisian has "tee," French has "thé." Interestingly, the Portuguese had established themselves in southeastern China, at Macao, in the mid 1500s. The Chinese dialect in Macao pronounced their form of Sino-Tibetan "sla/tsla" as "cha." The Portuguese took the term as "chá," which they have retained to this day as their word for "tea." This same Chinese term spread elsewhere, providing forms to Russian and Persian, and from Persian to Hindi and other languages/dialects in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. English borrowed the word, likely from Hindi, as "chai," a term now used more specifically for "sweetened spiced tea." It is pronounced "ch," as in Charles, and "eye."    

^ Hawaiian is from the Austronesian language family, too.

Will We Be Dominated By The Predators?

I updated this article on July 25, 2014 by adding a "Word History," and an appropriate one at that.

The African buffalo of the African Savannah* is an interesting animal. It averages around 1600 lbs, but some can weigh as much as about 2000 lbs. African buffalo are known for their unpredictable temperament; where one time, an approaching lion or lions may cause a panic, stampeding the herd; yet on another occasion, the herd may stand its ground, or even attack the lions. There are claims that African buffalo kill more humans on the African continent on average than either lions or crocodiles. Whether the claim is true or not, there are plenty of documented cases each year of human deaths caused by buffalo.

A while back, an amazing video appeared showing a confrontation in Africa. You may well have seen this footage, as I believe it was shown on all of the major news outlets, and, if you frequent "YouTube," it was like the #1 video for quite a while, if I remember correctly. What the video shows is a herd of African buffalo strung out and moving along next to a river. A buffalo calf is not far from the forefront. A group of four or five lions is just ahead of the herd. At first, it seems that the lions are disinterested, but then they go into hunting mode. African buffalo do not see well, but they do have a tremendous sense of smell, so I would assume that the lions were downwind of the buffalo, as at first they seem to approach the lions without realizing their presence. Then when the lead buffalo sees the crouching lions, it turns and runs, causing the other buffalo to turn and run, too. A couple of the lions are able to grab hold of the calf at the river's edge, but both the prey and the lions tumble into the river. The other lions then approach to help drag what appears to be their next dinner out of the water. Just then, a crocodile grabs at the calf, which is still very much alive. A veritable tug-of-war takes place, with the lions finally winning and dragging the buffalo calf to the shoreline. If all of this action isn't enough, the buffalo herd, now recovered from any panic and seeing what is going on, begins moving toward the lions. Many animal specialists say there's nothing like one angry African buffalo, and this is a whole herd of them. One of the lions tries to strike at the buffalo in an apparent attempt to frighten the herd. One of the buffalo goes right after the lioness, hurling her well into the air and then chasing her along the river. The buffalo almost surround the lions, and eventually the lions flee for THEIR very lives, and the buffalo calf trots back to the herd, ready to live another day and probably singing, "Hold that lion, hold that lion."

To me, many American business people and wealthy investors are predators. We, the "un rich," outnumber them many times over. As long as we turn tail and run, they just keep pursuing and "feasting" on us. If we allow this to continue, they're going to destroy us. Just like the buffalo in the video, if we cooperate and finally turn on these ruthless, greedy egomaniacs, we CAN turn the tide and restore some balance to our income structure, and the wealthy, I'm sure, will still be "the wealthy." It won't be easy, as they'll do everything in their power to divide us. That is the secret to their success, dividing us. Don't let them get away with it anymore! Put aside petty grievances and focus on the REAL problem, and believe me, income disparity is the REAL problem. Many, but not all, wealthy Americans are against such things as government help on health care or foreclosures, when it is for most Americans, but they seek government bailouts for themselves when they've overreached on bad loans, investments and mortgages.

* There are closely related, but somewhat smaller, in weight, varieties of this buffalo, that generally live in the more forested areas of Africa, and what is believed to be another related variety that can actually be domesticated in Asia (usually called "water buffalo"). What are called "buffalo" in America are actually classified as "bison."

Here is the link to the "YouTube" video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LU8DDYz68kM

WORD HISTORY:
Buffalo-This word "seems" to go back to Indo European "gwous," which seems to have been applied to a variety of animals, more especially to "ox-like" animals. This gave its Greek offspring "bous," and then the derived "boubalos," which meant "large antelope, ox." Latin borrowed the word as "bubalus," which meant "ox," and which later became "bufalus." Portuguese, a Latin-based language, developed its own form of the word as, "bufalo," which they used for the large ox-like animal of Africa.^ English borrowed the word from Portuguese in the mid to late 16th century. The word came to be applied to the North American animal, which generally roamed the plains of the (now) United States and Canada, but technically, science classifies that animal as "bison," a related species. The verb form, meaning, "scare, put on alert, intimidate," was derived from the noun, likely from the idea of how "buffalo" can panic.

^ The Portuguese were very involved in world exploration in the 15th and 16th centuries, which brought them into contact with various cultures and animals far removed from Portugal.