Corti Brothers Newsletter for Spring 2001    Page 2  

Please note!   Many of our past newsletter items came from a very limited stock and are no longer available.  Please check our products page or contact us for availability.

GOAN CUISINE: the original fusion cooking

Goa, located on the western coast of India, was the first western outpost in India, and belonged to Portugal from 1510 to 1961. A very special cuisine developed there, based both on native tastes and those of Renaissance Portugal. Thus happened the world's first fusion cooking. It was here that the chile pepper, among other things from the New World, was introduced to the Indian sub-continent.

However, GOAN CUISINE is not just the cooking of part of India, but also a wonderful line of condiments made by a Goan family living in Australia. Last year, in Perth, Western Australia, I read in the local paper about a Goan family producing Goan condiments and curry pastes. All the products were made with Australian produce in the Goan tradition using century old family recipes. Curious, I went to visit the immaculate little plant and was received by Henry Assumption, one of the owners. Together with his wife and daughter and son in law, Valentine D'Souza, they produce several dozen different products. I found them to be delicious and enchanting. Not only are they very traditional in flavor and style, they are also hand crafted with exacting care, then left to ripen for maximum flavor before selling.

Corti Brothers has imported almost all of the GOAN CUISINE products, and they are terrific. For those customers familiar with Indian cooking, some will be familiar, others unique. There is eggplant kasaundi, tomato kasaundi, pineapple achar, cucumber achar, carrot mescut, mango mescut, chilli and lime sambal, jackfruit and lime sambal, eggplant and capsicum pickle, lime pickle, green chilli jam, spicy mango chutney, mango and lime chutney, vindalho curry paste and jeerem meerem paste -- 15 different flavors and textures, all delicious and all fuseable with western cooking. We would be pleased to send copies of recipes and suggestions for using all of the GOAN CUISINE products.
Some descriptions:

KASAUNDI: pronounced either ka-soon-di or ka-sound-i; not strictly a Goan pickle; it is found in the coastal cuisines of India. Its flavor base is the mustard seed, either whole or crushed. Tomato kasaundi is made from fresh red and orange skinned tomatoes, cooked with garlic, ginger and hot oil roasted mustard seed. It has a robust savory bite, balanced between sweet and sour. The eggplant kasaundi, made from handcut eggplant, has a smokey/meaty scent, and is cooked with tomatoes, vinegar, and sugar, with a dominant fenugreek tone.

ACHAR: from Persian or Arabic, in Indian cooking, a "pickle." The pineapple achar is made from fresh high acid, high fiber Queensland pineapple chunks cooked with curry leaf, mustard seed, cumin, ajwan, and chile. The cucumber achar is made from crisp Persian cucumbers, diced and cooked with curry leaf, ginger, garlic, and vinegar. It is lightly spicy with cucumber crunch.

MESCUT: a traditional Goan pickle, normally made from green mango. Mescut derives from the translation of "cuti," made up of small pieces. Carrot mescut is a brunoise of fresh carrot, almost crunchy; the mango mescut has the crispness and pepperiness of green mangoes with a hint of mustard seed. Either is perfect with cold meats and roasts.

SAMBAL: a term of Malay-Javan origin, now meaning a side dish of fruits or vegetables made hot with chile. The lime used is a Persian lime locally grown, and salted for two years separately before being combined with the chile and cooked. Jackfruit, a pulpy, chewy fruit pod, is cooked with a syrup of preserved lime, sugar, vinegar, and spices. It is sweet, fruity, lime-y in taste.

PICKLE: not at all like what we know as the preserved cucumber. Here, slices of eggplant are cooked with slices of bell pepper (capsicum), garlic and ginger. Lime pickle is made from salted Persian limes, cooked with spices and chile. Lime pickle is India's most popular pickle (apart from mango) and usually associated with the cooking of Gujarat, neighboring Goa.

Green Chilli Jam: Green chile cooked in a spicy sugar syrup with garlic and cumin. This jam is balanced between hot, sweet, and sour.

CHUTNEY: from the Hindi "chatni," meaning to chew or bite. The ingredients are finely chopped and sweetened with some form of sugar or raisins. Spicy mango chutney is made from fresh, peeled and hand cut West Australian mangoes, cooked with fresh ginger, garlic and raisins. The mango lime chutney is made from fresh mangoes and preserved limes with fresh ginger. It is a sweet, fruity chutney with a tart finish. The mango pieces are still visibile.

VINDALHO: (also vindaloo) this is the most widely known dish of Goan cooking, a true Luso-Indian combination. The name may originate with the combination of garlic and vinegar or wine marinade (vinho d'alhos) which is still popular in Portugal for cooking meat, especially pork.

JEEREM MEEREM: pronounced as "jeeray meeray," meaning cumin (jeerem) and pepper (meerem). This is probably the oldest curry of India since it predates the importation of chile by the Portuguese. Here heat is provided by black pepper. This is a green curry paste. Fresh herbs such as cilantro, kafir lime, and mint can be added to it.

PACIFICA INFUSED AVOCADO OIL

Avocado oil is another one of the "good" oils, rich in Beta-Sitosterol, which inhibits cholesterol absorption. The oil has a gentle, delicate, avocado smell and flavor which is quite attractive. When made properly, from fresh ripe fruit, as the Pacifica base oil is, the oil is quite fine for table and cooking use. Corti Brothers will have some bottled very soon. Elegantly packaged and with dramatic flavor, you will have to taste PACIFICA INFUSED OILS to believe them. Recipe sheets are available for the asking.

SIERRA NEVADA BIERSCHNAPS, a new distillate made only in California

The Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. is probably one of this country's foremost microbreweries. Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, once available only in northern California, is now one of the ale standards in microbrews. The company has now come out with a new product which is unique and very tasty. It is an 80 proof distillate of the Sierra Nevada Pale Ale called SIERRA NEVADA BIERSCHNAPS. Schnaps is the German word for a "nip" or drink and by extension, a distillate.

Taking a page from the production of bourbon, scotch, vodka, and gin, Bierschnaps has been copper pot distilled from Sierra Nevada Pale Ale. The other distillates all begin with a kind of "beer," produced from grain, distilled, then aged or not. Distilling an already hopped ale is unique since the character of both the barley malt and the aromatic hops comes through into the distillate.

SIERRA NEVADA BIERSCHNAPS has an aromatic, fruity scent reminiscent of an eau de vie. It is soft, with a light, elegant body and finishes with a slight herbal flavor from hops that is delicate and very attractive. It makes an outstanding Martini. Served cold, in tiny glasses, as is German schnaps, with a Sierra Nevada Pale Ale chaser and some smoked sausage, it would be a delicious beginning for a meal.

 1  << Page 2 >>  3    4 

<< Back to Top