Guinea-Bissau Tuna with Avocado: Abacate com Atum

Guinea-Bissau is a country in western Africa. It is ia former colony of Portugal, and indeed, Portuguese is the national language, although there are numerous African languages spoken on a daily basis, as are less formal forms of Portuguese. Guinea-Bissau formally became independent from Portuguese rule in 1974.  

 

Just a reminder: when you use avocados in recipes, you need lemon or lime juice, or vinegar, to keep the avocado from turning dark due to contact with oxygen. So be sure to include the lemon juice in this recipe. Portuguese "Abacate com Atum" simple means "Avocado with Tuna." 

Ingredients:

 

2 soft, but not mushy, avocados, halved and pitted

1 cooked piece of tuna, about 5 ounces (or use canned tuna, drained)

2 medium roma tomatoes, chopped

2/3 teaspoon ground black pepper

3/4 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

2 teaspoons grated lemon peel 

2 to 3 tablespoons heavy cream

1/2 to 1 teaspoon hot sauce (piri piri, if you have it, also called pili pili in many African cultures)

2 tablespoons grated coconut 

4 lemon slices for garnish

I cooked the tuna in a skillet with a little olive oil and just a small amount of salt and pepper (not counted in the amout of salt and pepper in the above recipe). Make sure the tuna is cooked through and then let it cool. Halve and pit the avocados, then carefully (don't damage the shells) scoop out the avocado flesh, chop it, and put it into a bowl (keep the shells). Add the tuna, chopped tomato, black pepper, salt, lemon juice, lemon peel, heavy cream, hot sauce, then mix everything together very well. Fill each avocado shell with the tuna mixture and sprinkle each with some grated coconut. Serve with lemon slices and maybe make the hot sauce available for those who like extra. 

 

WORD HISTORY:

Utensil-This word is closely related to "use," a Latin-derived word borrowed by English via Latin-based French. The ultimate origin of this word, and of its close relative "use," is unknown. It goes back to Latin "uti," which had a wide range of meanings: "to make use of, to gain from (thus also, to benefit, to profit), to enjoy, to consume." This produced Latin "usare," meaning, "to use." The verb's present participle was "utens," and with its inflected ending came the adjective form "utensilis," meaning "useful, having gainful or beneficial purpose, usable," the plural form of which was "utensilia," which was used as a noun meaning, "things for use, useful implements," and this passed into Latin-based Old French as the singular "utensile," meaning "implement, tool" (perhaps influenced heavily by Italian "utensile?") and English borrowed the word in the late 1300s as "utensile/utensyl," which then became "utensil." The meaning more and more was used for household tools and implements; thus, there came to be a great association with implements in a kitchen, but not exclusively so. 

Spicy Mozambican Shrimp: Camarões Pili Pili

Mozambique, this former colony of Portugal, still has Portuguese influence; as for one thing, the Portuguese brought chili peppers from South America to the territories they colonized and that later became the independent country of Mozambique, but the influences have flowed in the other direction too. Compare this Portuguese shrimp recipe,* but in Mozambique they use very large shrimp (prawns). The shrimp for this in Mozambique are usually grilled or broiled, but you can use a skillet. Of course, you can make the shrimp as spicy hot as you choose, and if you don't make ''pili pili sauce," you can use readily available sambal oelek or just use some ground cayenne pepper. Serve over rice.

Ingredients:

1 pound very large or jumbo shrimp, tail intact 

1 to 3 tablespoons pili pili (piri piri) sauce** (you can substitute sambal oelek, or cayenne pepper)

3 garlic cloves, chopped

1/4 cup olive oil or peanut oil

1 tablespoon tomato paste (this is heresy, but you can use thick ketchup, but it won't be the same)

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

You can buy fresh jumbo shrimp and peel the shell off, except for the tail, and then devein the shrimp, or you can buy already cleaned shrimp. Rinse the shrimp and let them drain on paper towels, making sure they are well dried before putting them into the marinade mixture. Meanwhile, in a bowl, add the pili pili sauce or other hot chili seasoning. I hope you'll make the pili pili sauce, and it's very simple to do. Add the chopped garlic, oil, tomato paste/ketchup, lemon juice and ground black pepper. Add the shrimp and make sure all are coated with the pepper sauce mixture. Cover the bowl and refrigerate for a minimum of one hour, but 3 or 4 hours is better (mix the shrimp around a little occasionally). Use a large skillet, and you can just use a paper towel dipped in oil to rub and coat the skillet with oil, then heat the skillet over medium heat. I'm sure the relatively large amount of oil added to the marinade is used to keep the shrimp moist and to prevent burning and sticking, so the 1/4 cup of oil is not a mistake; in fact, I've seen recipes with even more oil. Add the shrimp to the hot skillet and cook them a couple of minutes on both sides until done (do not overcook). Of course, you can also cook the shrimp under your broiler, removing and then turning them to cook them on both sides. Serve with rice and some pili pili sauce on the side. A cold beer can cool the spicy effect on your mouth.

* Link to the recipe for Portuguese-style shrimp: https://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2016/12/portuguese-style-spicy-shrimp-camaroes.html

 

** For the easy recipe to make "pili pili" sauce (also called "piri piri" sauce), here is the link to the recipe:  https://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2020/09/african-hot-pepper-sauce-pili-pili-piri.html

 

 

WORD HISTORY:

Visor-This word is closely related to "vision," "video" and "visa," all words of Latin derivation borrowed by English ("vision" borrowed via Latin-based French), and it is also distantly related to "wit," a word from the Germanic roots of English. "Visor" goes back to Indo European "weid/uyd," which had the notion "to see, to know from seeing." This gave Latin "videre," a verb meaning, "to see, to look at," and its participle form gave Latin the noun "visus," meaning, "a sight, a vision, an appearance, the process of seeing or looking." This gave Old French "vis," which meant "appearance;" thus also, "face" (one's appearance").^ This gave Old French "visiere" (modern French "visière"), meaning, "a protective part of a helmet that can be opened and closed" (German borrowed the word as "Visier" for the protective helmet part). The French dialect that developed in England among descendants of the Normans had "viser," and English borrowed the word in the first part of the 1300s.   

 

^ The same notion is present in German "Gesicht," which is literally "sight" (notice the close relationship of German "sicht" and English "sight"); that is, "that which is seen;" as in the expression, "He was a sight for sore eyes;" thus, it became the word for "face." English borrowed "face" (it's a Latin-based word), and it replaced English "ansien" ("that which is seen;" thus, "appearance, face;" the "sien" part now modern "seen").   

African Hot Pepper Sauce: Pili Pili (Piri Piri)

The territories that came to form Mozambique were visited by Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama in 1498, with increasing Portuguese influence in the area as the decades and centuries passed, and with chili peppers being one of the influences contributed by the Portuguese to parts of African cuisine, including in Mozambique, which became independent of Portugal in the mid 1970s.* The Portuguese and the Spanish had gotten chili peppers in the New World, but it was the Portuguese and their developing vast system of international trade and colonial possessions that is credited with spreading the use of chili peppers to quite a number of places around the world. 

  

"Pili pili" hot pepper sauce is used in a number of African countries and recipes vary from just a few ingredients to additions like carrot, tomato, sweet red pepper and onion. The name is pronounced as if, "peely peely," and it comes from the Swahili term for "pepper," and it is also known as "piri-piri" and "peri-peri." The Portuguese version, often written as "piripiri" in Portugal, is a common part of Portuguese cuisine, both as a part of recipes and more commonly as a condiment to season and to add "heat" to already prepared foods. The Portuguese also use chili peppers to make a type of "hot chili paste." 

 

You can use dried chilies if you don't have fresh chilies. The recipe below yields multiple servings; that is, servings in the sense of relatively small amounts being used for burgers or other sandwiches, or to add to recipes for some heat and flavor. Store the sauce in a glass container (the sauce can react with containers made from other materials) with a lid and place it in the refrigerator, where it should keep 2 to 3 weeks. 

Ingredients:

 

4 very hot chilies (like habaneros, scotch bonnets or African or Thai bird's eye chilies)

4 less hot red chilies (like Fresno chilies or cayenne peppers)

2 large cloves of garlic

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

2 tablespoons olive oil 

1/4 teaspoon salt

3 or 4 tablespoons water

 

Wear kitchen gloves when working with chili peppers. Use a blender or food processor. Remove the stems from the chilies, slit the chilies open and remove the seeds, although I generally leave a few seeds remain from the medium hot chilies. Process all of the ingredients, except the water, until smooth. Heat in a non reactive sauce pan or skillet over low heat for just a couple of minutes. The sauce will likely be very thick, so add a tablespoon of water and mix it in well, then see if you need to add another tablespoon of water or more to reach a good consistency. Transfer to a container and store unused portion in the refrigerator. The sauce will keep for 2 to 3 weeks in the refrigerator. Many African pili pili sauces are not particularly watery or runny; that is, they aren't much like Tabasco sauce or most other American type hot sauces, but rather a little thicker. 

* The capital of Mozambique is "Maputo," but it formerly was called "Lourenço Marques," named after a Portuguese explorer. The official language of Mozambique is Portuguese, but several African languages, including Swahili, are spoken in various parts of the country.

WORD HISTORY:

Constant-This is a prefixed word, with the "stant'' part being related to quite a number of words (or parts of words) like "stand," a word from the Germanic roots of English, also the "-stan" part of countries or regions like "Pakistan," with this suffix going back through Persian to Indo Iranian, to the verb "stay" (halt, remain), a word of Latin derivation borrowed by English via French. The "con-" prefix is a common Latin prefix (also as "com-") with the general meaning "with, together." The main part of the word goes back to Indo European "sta," which meant "to stand." This gave Latin "stare" (not to be confused with the English word of the same spelling), which meant "to stand, to remain in place." The two parts gave Latin "constare," meaning, "to stand with, to stand together." The participle form, "constans," and its accusative case form, gave Latin the adjective "constantem," meaning, "to stand together, to stand firm, to remain in place, unchanging." Latin-based Old French took the word as "constant," and English borrowed the word latter part of the 1300s from French, but with likely reinforcement from Latin.