Food in books: library cookbooks

Khan, Shubnum- The Djinn Waits a Hundred Years

Gomez, Asha- My two souths: blending the flavors of India into a southern kitchen

Ramírez, Tita- Tell It to Me Singing

Roque, Raquel Rabade- The Cuban Kitchen

In January, I checked out two books that didn't have anything to do with each other, but in both books, the characters cooked a good deal. I was getting out my phone to look up descriptions of the Indian food in The Djinn Waits a Hundred Years, and the Cuban food in Tell It to Me Singing. It all sounded so good, and I found myself thinking about it weeks later, so I got two cookbooks from the library.

Gomez, Asha- My two souths: blending the flavors of India into a southern kitchen

The characters in Djinn came from different cultures within India and didn't always eat the same food; one of the main characters was excited to be able to cook her own food for herself when left alone once. Also, this is a kind of fusion food, but I figured it would be a good introduction since I'm familiar with American southern food. I have had some Indian food, but I don't know how authentic that has been, either. Once in London, I was excited to go to a real Indian restaurant and ordered something that ended up tasting exactly like barbeque chicken. It was good, but not what I expected.

From this book, I tried two things: southern-style pork vindaloo and egg bhurji. Both were very good. I had no idea what to expect from vindaloo, and I ended up loving it. It had garlic, paprika, and vinegar, among other things. When I opened the oven to pull it out, I was nearly knocked back by the smell of garlic and vinegar. (This is not a complaint.) I didn't make the side dishes recommended for it, but had it with potatoes, since I had some in the pantry that needed to be used. I'll definitely make this again, even though I found out that my food processor will spray liquid. I guess I've only ever put dry ingredients in it.

Please excuse the mess. Here is the pork vindaloo with potatoes, and a shot of the book cover, and you can see splatters on the floor from when the food processor sprayed.

The egg bhurji was pretty good and I know it would've been better if I hadn't made adjustments. The first adjustment was cutting it down to a single serving. I also used some dried ingredients (shallots, jalapeno) instead of fresh. But this made it easier, and I don't usually cook much in the mornings. The tomato I had to use was a pretty sad specimen that brought the dish down, but this summer, I'll make this again with a tomato from my parents' garden. I'll make the whole recipe next time, because I think it will reheat well; people usually think I overcook my eggs, anyway. This was good in my easier version; I know that when I make it following the recipe more correctly, it's going to be even better. I'll probably have it for dinner instead of breakfast, with a salad or some vegetable.

Roque, Raquel Rabade- The Cuban Kitchen

There was a mention of pork with lime and garlic in the book Tell It to Me Singing, so I tried that already without a recipe, and it was good, but I wanted to try sofrito. There's more than one mention of that, and it always made me hungry when a character was chopping onions or peppers for it. My Cuban cookbook is an e-book, and I don't know how many pages it is, but it has a ton of recipes and no pictures.

I didn't go through all of it, but I tried two things and learned that their food isn't all that spicy. I'd assumed it would be alot like Mexican food; I hadn't really thought about it. The sofrito had a bay leaf and vinegar in it. It was really good! I tried some of it plain to taste it, then used half the recipe in a black bean soup. I usually just put cumin and cayenne in black bean soup, so this was really different. I loved it, and I have a jar of leftover in the fridge. I'll either make another soup or try it in eggs.

The other recipe I tried was Cuban coffee, and it's only coffee and sugar. But it's really good, and I don't usually put sugar in my coffee. There were more coffee recipes that I'm very curious about, and other drinks and juices, desserts, and a zillion entrees.

I will probably check these books out again, or I might even buy my own copies. There are many more recipes I'd like to try.