I never knew I could like liver until I had paté! Fantastic stuff, especially if you have the right combination of spices and a touch of lime or something sour. This recipe uses the wonderful combination of onions, garlic and ginger that I love so much from Burmese and other Asian dishes. Mix and match spices to find your own favorite combinations, and don’t be afraid to use a heavy hand when flavoring it up!

• 1 lb liver
• 1 large onion, sliced
• 1/2 head garlic, pounded
• 2 inches ginger, pounded
• fat for frying (lard, olive oil, butter etc)
• 1 teaspoon turmeric
• 2 Tablespoons ground coriander
• 1/2 – 1 c butter, soft
• 1 – 2 limes juice
• salt and pepper to taste

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I am about to make another batch of this delicious mustard. I was surprised to find that I haven’t posted this recipe yet as it is one of my favorites. The cream cheese helps to preserve the pungency of the mustard, making a delicious condiment which is also a probiotic if made with home-made cream cheese as shown in this quick video.

Amounts are variable and according to personal taste. Warning! I like my mustard so pungent it clears out my sinuses with every taste, so you may want to start with less ground mustard and add more tasting it to decide how you like it as you go.

• 1T – 2T ground mustard (I like to use Colemans)
• 1/2 c (or more) home-made cream cheese
• 1 small handful dates (soaked in hot water and mashed)
• 1/2 t turmeric
• 1t ground coriander seeds
• 1/2 t ground cloves
• 1t ground fenugreek seeds
• 1t apple cider vinegar
• salt

Method: Put the mustard powder in little water and mix it around, let it sit about 5 minutes. Boil some water and pour over dates, cover and let sit about 5 minutes, then mash them up to a puree.

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Now here is a great alternative for cranberry sauce for Thanksgiving, especially if you like the flavors of Asia this is modeled on Sally Fallon’s raisin chutney recipe in Nourishing Traditions.

• 1 lb (500g) fresh dates (pitted)
• 1 lb (500g) fresh cranberries
• 1 t red chili flakes
• 1/2 head garlic, crushed
• 2 T coriander seeds
• 1 T cumin seeds
• 1 T anise seeds
• 1 T fenugreek seeds
• 5 black peppercorns
• 2 inches ginger, grated
• 2 t sea salt
• 1/4 c whey
• 1/2 c water

Method: Cook cranberries with water until soft. Add dates and mash. Peel and pound ginger and garlic in a morter and pestle. Place the spices in a pan and dry roast until the aroma rises from the pan. Process until well ground.

Mix the date and cranberries with the spices, ginger and garlic, add the salt and whey. Place in jars, pour in enough whey to cover the top of the chutney. Let stand about 2 days in a warm spot in your kitchen. Transfer to fridge and eat within 2 months.

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The first time I visited Burma/Myanmar was in December of 1995. We stayed in the YMCA in downtown Yangon (formerly Rangoon) and were harassed by bed-bugs all night. I remember the streets being particularly gray at that time, except for the bright blue, tiny little taxi’s that were the only vehicles tearing around the roads. This little trucks seem like little blue ladybugs and can still be seen today, packed into the traffic filled streets.

Since then I have had the opportunity to get to know the markets of Rangoon. Most tourists don’t stay long in Yangon, the more mystical tourist destinations are Bagan, Inle Lake or even Kyaiktiyo — the Famous Golden Rock Pagoda, and most tours follow a highly scheduled ten day whirlwind dash to these favorite sites.

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My favorite market in Yangon is the Indian Spice market which is on 26th St and Anawratha, and there I love to buy thick honey-rich sandalwood oil, turmeric, fragrant sandalwood beads, freshly ground whole wheat flour and blocks of beeswax. An old friend hangs around his buddies spice stall, and always is excited to see me. (pictured)

More information here.

Click here for a slideshow of some remote farmer’s markets in Myanmar.

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Refreshing recipe for Fenugreek and Fennel Salad

Fenugreek: (Trigonella foenum-graecum) called methi in the Ayurvedic tradition, has been a trusted friend of mankind for a long time, perhaps even before crops were cultivated. It is widely used in Ayurvedic medicine and cooking, which dates back at least 4,000 years. The Ayurvedic philosophy of life comes down to us from the mysterious but sophisticated culture that flourished in the Indus valley and worshiped the Mother goddess. Fenugreek is especially renowned, in this tradition, as a warming digestive herb and galatagog.

An interesting property of fenugreek is it’s affinity for certain wild yeasts, which are beneficial to the digestive tract as well as being useful in the fermenting process of making traditional dosas or idlis, by attracting wild yeasts to the batter. Fenugreek is a great adaptogen, and its supportive function in the intestine cleans out impacted matter in the mucous membranes while adding a protective gum of it’s own to the walls of the intestine. The mucilagins in fenugreek (galactomannans) stimulate production of fluids, which also flush allergens from the respiratory tract, making it useful for treating bronchitis and congestion. It also reduces fevers and relieves inflammation. These gentle properties of both the seed, sprouts and the greens of fenugreek, are vital for modern urban dwellers. In fact, according to the Ayurvedic tradition, these properties also help with arthritis by cleaning out toxins accumulating in the fluids around the joints.

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Published in the column A Flirtation With Herbs in Healthy Options Magazine, New Zealand, April 2009

I was away for much of the summer, helping my sister with her newest addition to the family. As a result, my balcony garden didn’t do so well. My spaghetti squash died, my nasturtiums were killed in an aphid infestation, my calendula was ravaged by fungus and the coriander bolted. I managed to harvest about twelve tiny, incredibly delicious tomatoes, but my bumper crop was coriander seeds. Even so, there wasn’t enough to cover even a weeks worth of cooking (I love coriander), but it was fun hanging out with those clusters of gleaming green balls bouncing on the breeze in the sun amongst a delicate backdrop of frilly coriander leaves and lacy white flowers. I have a couple seeds in my mouth as I write this and the flavor is much fuller than any store-bought coriander seed I have ever tried. I have been adding them to homemade kimchi and bread. I now think of the coriander seeds as what they technically are: nutrient powerhouses and flavor-packed fruits (Fructus coriandri) not simply a dry spice.

Coriander is one of the first herbs I knew of, my mother used to grow it with dill, sweet corn and peas, occasionally a pig would get into the yard and us kids would go tearing out of the house to chase it out, squealing and snorting in terror, before it dug up our garden. My parents were missionaries, so we grew up in a village in Papua New Guinea that had lots of pigs. We later went to boarding school in Penang, where everyone seemed to eat coriander/cilantro on everything.

I was therefore quite surprised to find there are people who find the smell and flavor of coriander revolting. I remember the discovery well. I was working at Mudbrick Vineyard, out at Waiheke Island, our Sous Chef at the time was from England. He was revamping the menu and we were making a tomato, lemon-grass and coriander broth for green-lipped mussels. As I started to load in the coriander he said, “Go easy on the coriander, most people can’t stand it.” I couldn’t believe my ears, from my perspective this confirmed my preconception that the British palate was dull and unadventurous. I secretly added more when he wasn’t looking.

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I remember the first time I had a chance to get to know wild fennel. It was growing tall and wild behind an empty lot I walked through every day on my way to work at an Italian restaurant in the Viaduct harbour in Auckland, New Zealand. It’s funny to look back on that period in my life and realize that I have a clearer memory of the walk to work than the job itself. This is simply because those fennel plants were so delighted to have me walk through them every day. I inhaled in their aromatic sunshine on the way to work in the morning and felt supported by their feathery touch on my way home at night, exhausted. Fennel also grows tall and vibrant on the hills of Wellington, where I lost myself in fragrant forests of fennel and laid on my back looking up at the golden umbels and the busy orgasmic humming of the bees collecting the fennel nectar.

Fennel (Foeniculum vulgare) is not native to New Zealand, Canada, the US or many of the places it grows so exuberantly. It naturalizes easily (especially if native plants are first cleared to create fields) and has followed European colonizers all over the world. Every part of the plant is used as food and medicine. Whenever fennel is introduced to a culture sooner or later it ends up being used for support and balance, especially for digestion and nerves.

The first time I remember eating the crisp fennel bulb, also known as the Florence bulb, (different than wild fennel, which doesn’t produce a large root) was while cooking in Auckland during America’s Cup 2002. We served a refreshing side salad of freshly sliced fennel, vine-ripened tomatoes, olive oil, fresh basil, fresh lemon juice, black pepper and salt. The salad was simple but really hit the spot, unlike the crazy kitchen it was prepared in. The head chef had a heart attack just as opening night dinner kicked off, spilling a bucket of tomato sauce everywhere as he collapsed coming out of the chiller. He might have avoided such an event if he had been an avid fennel salad eater.

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I developed a deep respect for turmeric the last time I was in Myanmar (Burma). Not paying close attention to where I was putting my feet, I had stumbled on a hole in the sidewalk while walking the streets of Yangon and sprained my ankle. Several Burmese friends advised me to paste my ankle with turmeric and water and wrap it up. It quickly reduced the inflammation and I was soon tripping down the streets again.

I began asking everyone I met about turmeric and marveled at the multitude of ailments that it is used for. Everyone agreed that turmeric was a good friend of women — for young women wishing to improve their complexion, regulate their menstruation and give them that virginal glow — but it was especially important for women right after childbirth.

An enthusiastic and romantic young man told me how he had lovingly hand pounded the fresh dried root, mixed it with pure forest honey from the Shan States, rolled it into pellets and dried it in the sun for his wife in preparation for the arrival of his baby. Burmese women take these turmeric and honey pellets orally every day and paint their bodies with the paste of turmeric and water for about 40 days following childbirth. The turmeric is said to heat their bodies and cause them to sweat, purifying their blood and improving their circulation, making them fresh and new-born themselves, while at the same time protecting them physically, emotionally and spiritually during a sacred and vulnerable time.

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I found this handwritten recipe in one of the many second hand community cook-books I search through for old-fashioned traditional recipes.

• Whole oranges
• Whole cloves
• Powdered orris root
• Ground cinnamon

Method: Select firm oranges. Stick cloves into orange skin, until rind is all covered. Roll orange in equal parts orris and cinnamon. Pat in as much powder as orange will take.

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