Indian Green Chutney

"Green Chutney" is not something you will mistake for "red." It is VERY green. The peoples of the Indian subcontinent make chutneys from all sorts of things, and they serve them as a spread or dip along side their wonderful flatbreads, samosas (fried or baked dough filled with assorted vegetables or meat), or other foods. There are variations to green chutney recipes, and I did articles on "Coriander Chutney"* (coriander is better known as "cilantro" in much of North and South America) and "Mint Chutney,** both of which certainly fall into the category of "green chutneys."

 

Ingredients:

 

1 cup fresh coriander/cilantro (no big stems or stalks)

1/3 cup fresh mint leaves

1 or 2 green chilies, like serrano or jalapeno (stems removed)

2 garlic cloves

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1 inch piece peeled ginger

3/4 teaspoon ground cumin

1/2 teaspoon salt

(optional) 1/2 teaspoon sugar

few drops of water, IF NEEDED to thin the chutney

 

Put all ingredients, except water, into a blender/food processor. Process the ingredients until smooth, adding a few drops of water if needed to thin out the chutney, but not so that it's watery. 

 

 

* This is the link to the recipe for "Coriander Chutney": https://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2018/10/indian-coriander-chutney.html

 

 ** This is the link to the recipe for "Mint Chutney": https://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2017/07/indian-mint-chutney.html

WORD HISTORY:

Casual-This adjective is related to "case" (the noun form with the meaning "state or condition of something," also, "an event or happening," as in, "in this case, we mean this word"), a word of Latin derivation borrowed by English via French, and to "chance," another Latin word borrowed by English via French. "Casual" goes back to Indo Europian "kad/khad," which meant, "to fall." This gave Latin "cadere," meaning, "to fall, to sink, to perish, to die, to befall, to fall to or upon;" that is, "to occur, to happen." One of its participle base forms was "cas-," which served as the basis of the noun "casus," meaning more literally, "a falling down(ward)," but often used more figuratively to mean, "a mishap, a chance happening," as well as, "a grammatical case," as in "dative case." This then produced the Latin adjective "casualis," meaning, "(in reference to something) by chance, by opportunity," which passed to Latin-based French as "casuel," and this then was borrowed by English in the late 1300s with the same "by chance" meaning; thus also, "unpredictable." By the second half of the 1800s, the notion of "unpredictable" developed the use of "casual" for people who were "careless or undependable in their actions, work or attitude." Its use for clothing developed in the very late 1800s. (Note: "Casual" is a very close relative of "casualty," and I'll be posting its history soon.)

Indian Coriander Chutney

This chutney, known as (transliterated) "dhania/dhaniye chatni," can be easily made in a blender or food processor. Because of this, it is not really necessary to mince or chop the ingredients in some uniform way. Such "green" chutneys are a common part of the food culture of the Indian Subcontinent,* and they are used in a number of ways, including as an accompaniment for the wonderful and various flatbreads of the subcontinent.  

Ingredients:

1 cup fresh coriander (cilantro)
1 green chili pepper (jalapeño or serrano, you can seed it, or leave the seeds for heat), halved
1 1/2 inch piece fresh ginger, peeled
1 large garlic clove
2/3 teaspoon ground cumin
2 teaspoons lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon black salt or regular salt**
1 tablespoon water (optional)
1/4 teaspoon sugar

Put all ingredients, except water into a blender. Blend until everything is well chopped, then, if you want to loosen the chutney a little, add water to thin the chutney, blend briefly.

* I also did "Mint Chutney," and the recipe is available at this link: https://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2017/07/indian-mint-chutney.html

** Indian black salt, which tends to be more pink or purplish in color, has a sulfur (British English: sulphur) content. It is fairly commonly used in the cooking of the Indian subcontinent. Indian black salt is available in "some" supermarkets, "some" herb and spice shops, Asian shops or Indian/Pakistani product shops, as well as online, but it is becoming more available in many markets and supermarkets. Hawaiian black salt has charcoal mixed in. Both Hawaiian and Indian black salts are believed by some to have health benefits.

WORD HISTORY: 
Brim (also Berm, see note below)-English has, or has had, more than one word of this, or similar, spelling, so here is what I've found. Old English once had "brymm," which meant, "surf of the sea;" thus also, "sea." There was also "brim," which meant, "edge of the sea, the seashore," but also, as with the "brymm" spelling, it meant "surf." The "brim" spelling and meaning of "edge of the sea" "could" have been from the notion of, "where the surf crashes to shore," and later the meaning seems to have broadened from "edge of the sea," to the more general "edge of any body of water," and then, to the even broader "rim or edge of something."^ These words "seem" to trace back to Indo European "bhrem," which had the meaning of, "whir, buzz, boom, hum, to make noise." This gave Old Germanic "bremmanan," meaning, "to rage, to roar, to make loud sounds;" thus the tie to the above forms, with these meanings providing the basis of "surf," from 'crashing' or 'booming' waves. The Old Germanic form also gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "bremman," with the same meaning as its Germanic parent. German has "brummen" ("to make deep sound with the voice, to hum, to growl"), and it was once spelled "breman" (meaning, "to roar, to bellow, to yell"), and it also produced German "brimmen" ("to roar, to make deep, dull sounds"), Dutch has "brommen" ("to hum, to grumble"). Old English also had the noun "brimsa," which meant, "horsefly," "perhaps" from the idea, "buzzing insect?" German has "Breme" (once spelled, "Bremse"), which also means "horsefly" (the female bites animals and humans to get blood). The "brymm" and "brim" spellings mentioned further above have a relative in Icelandic "brim" ("surf").

^ This form has relatives in the name of the German city of "Bremen," which is located on the bank (edge) of the Weser River, also related is "Bräm(e)," now only in German dialect (edge, border area), Swedish "bräm" (edge), Danish "bræmme' (edge, rim), and Dutch "berm" ("paved or grassy path or elevated embankment to the side of roads, highways or canals"), which has the "r" and vowel reversed. The Dutch form was borrowed by French as "berme," and this was borrowed by English in the first half of the 1700s.    

Chimichurri Sauce

"Chimichurri" is a kind of uncooked sauce in Argentina, typically used as an accompaniment for grilled or roasted meat, and at times, used as a marinade for meat. There are all kinds of variations to "chimichurri," although most have to do with the amounts of the basic ingredients, but there are also some variations in the actual ingredients. For instance, not all Argentinians use chili pepper, so if you don't like heat, just leave it out, or just add a pinch of dried chili flakes. The same is true about recipe variations in Uruguay, where chimichurri is also popular, as is beef.

Ingredients:

4 cloves of garlic
3 tablespoons chopped onion (white or red onion, or scallion)
1 red chili pepper, seeded
1 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup cilantro
1/2 cup parsley (Italian parsley is good for this)
2 tablespoons fresh oregano
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
2 tablespoon lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon black pepper

Put all ingredients into a food processor and pulse until the garlic, onion, chili pepper and herbs are well chopped and blended together. Best if covered and refrigerated for a couple of hours before using.

Roasted beef ribs with chimichurri sauce

WORD HISTORY:
Spit-English has two main words (each with a verb and noun form) of this spelling, but they are from different sources. This is the word meaning, "rod or stick used for roasting meat." The verb form of this word is not commonly used in modern times. The word is somewhat distantly related to "spike." It goes back to the Indo European root "spei,' which meant, "sharp end, pointed." This gave Old Germanic "spitoz," meaning, "sharp rod for skewering meat to be roasted." This gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "spitu," with the same meaning. This then became "spyte/spytte," before the modern form. Forms in other Germanic languages: German has "Spieß/Spiess," ^ Low German Saxon has "Spitt," Dutch "spit," Danish "spytte," Norwegian "spidd" (dialectal?), Icelandic "spýta," Swedish "spett."

^ Modern spelling forms in German has made "Spieß" the proper spelling, except in Switzerland and Liechtenstein, where "Spiess" was made proper.