My husband is American, through and through. He is a California native to a California native mother, and then he became an Arkansas transplant. What do California and Arkansas have in common? An absolute love for Mexican food.
I always love it when people ask me what food I ate as a child. I grew up with very few take-away choices available to me. We had KFC which was a once every six months ordeal as it was normally reserved for when my mother was ill or her arms and legs had been amputated and she couldn't cook. Normally she cooked every night. Even if dinner was simple, my mother cooked it from basic ingredients. She never fed us out of a can or out of a box.
I don't ever remember going to Chinese or Japanese restaurants as a young child. I remember them in my teen years. I do remember oil soaked samoosas from the Oriental Plaza in Fordsburg with my mom and sister. As an adult I had money to buy real Indian food at the Royal Bombay restaurant in Bedfordview. We got our first McDonalds in South Africa when I was about 16. So I only got to appreciate the happiness of a Happy Meal when I was a teen and early adult.
So you have to expect that my palate, although perhaps varied in certain aspects, was totally devoid of the South American flavours and tastes, that so influenced my husbands gastronomic love affairs.
A couple years ago if you had asked me what my favourite food was I would have easily replied "Lamb loin chops, small fatty medallions, on a pile of mashed potatoes, petit pois and gravy"... today I am not so sure. I am very confused. More confused than ever.
It is as I transition between the two cultures that I don't know what to keep and what to give up. My accent is destroyed. I made corn bread muffins and they were instant, they came in a BOX. I let my kids dress up for halloween and don't bat an eye lid. I know which 'holidays' you send goody bags out to the rest of the class, and which 'holidays' you just ignore now. I mostly speak Americanese and I can translate for other foreigners.
And now I think that one of my favourite foods would have to be shrimp and steak fajitas with fresh cilantro. I love the soapy spicy flavour, the freshness of the green stalks, so different from boring parsley. But I have to say I love sundried tomato pesto laden pasta as well. So I have certainly increased the scope and range of what I eat and what I feel is normal.
So did I ever eat a taco before I came to America? Let me tell you that actually I did. My mom went through these spits and spurts where she found her cooking and recipes very boring, so she would always come home with something new from the grocery store. One day she came home with these German sprinkle things that you put on sandwiches. Lol. So weird and random but I remember it, because the only thing I can think is she was thinking of us, because SHE would never eat something like that. Lol. I think it was next to the Nutella or something. he he he.
And I think I was about 20 years old, and my mom came home with this "dinner kit" thing. I mean we had never seen a "dinner kit". Later on when my mom went overseas to work, my dad (who could burn water) used to buy the Woolworths cook in sauces and every weekend my brother would be subjected so some type of one pot curry that my dad cooked and was so pleased with. (lying on the floor giggling now).... I guess you had to be there to fully appreciate the humour. Dear God if my sister even thinks of it I am sure a bit of tea would dribble out of her nose. And my dad would hang his head a bit shocked that we would laugh so much. But my dad always had this endearing quality of making mundane things so exciting. So I am always always appreciative of that. But I will have to write down the Bully Beef story one day for you to read....
Okay back to this kit. It was in a yellow box. And it came with these hard taco's... and goop in a sachet and other spice... and now that I am here, I am certain this was an Old El Paso Taco Kit. Because its in a yellow box. And it was REALLY quite expensive. So my mom cooked it. We all tried to eat it. But really it was lost on us. We couldnt palate the cumin and the weirdness of the taco shells. We all thought what in the world is this Mexican food crap?
But fast forward to 2011, the year that I have been in America for 6 years, and I have to tell you Old El Paso really is not what authentic Mexican food tastes like.
Authentic Mexican food is actually very simple, nutritious food, cooked by peasants in large batches, to feed hoards of people. And if you deconstruct the meals into simpler states, Mexican food is almost the same recipe, the same elements, just the presentation or the construction of the meal denotes its 'name'. Like a taco and a burrito are very very similar. Just a taco has a smaller tortilla and a brurrito has a larger tortilla, but their contents could be exactly the same. Just like in Indian food, the preparation of the spice gives it a whole different name. Like fennel seeds whole versus crushed fennel, vs finely powdered fennel etc, vs fennel chopped... you get the picture... confusing unless you have an inside person who has the scoop.
I have to say it has taken me six years for me to be comfortable with, to appreciate, and now the next step, ENJOY and DESIRE Mexican food. Like all I could think about on Sunday was a taco salad from El Campesino in Dawsonville Georgia. And I mean I honestly think a Taco Salad is an American creation out of Mexican ingredients, to appeal for those weight watching people, who like to hide their queso blanco (melted white cheese) under a bed of ice berg lettuce....
There are still a couple things I am weirded out by. Like corn tortillas, made from masa (maize)... Reminds me too much of putu pap. In fact the bag of dry masa is exactly the same as iwisa pap. Then I really like enchiladas verdes but I don't like the corn tortillas. So if I make them with flour then the husband complains that its not authentic. But then I use my disclaimer, I am a British/Irish African cooking Mexican food in Dawsonville Georgia USA, what the heck do I know?
Lol. But I do know I love Frijoles Negros and El Campesino doesnt make Black Beans (who would eat refried beans except a baby or a starving Haitian).
So I made some in my crock pot. Our meal cost about $4 and I have left overs!
Recipe:
1 bag of black beans (washed and soaked)
1 onion chopped
1 teaspoon cumin (ground coriander)
Ham hock (I didnt use this, they were too hairy and nasty looking so I put in four pieces of "Salt Pork" which is like bacon)
Put the soaked beans in your crock pot. Cover with water, add about 2inches of extra water. Throw in the onions and cumin. Let it boil on low all day. It will become thick and like a paste so add more water if you want it more viscous.
How to serve: Serve in a bowl with salt and pepper, a dollop of sour cream, a scattering of spring onions, and some hot sauce.
I also cheated again with the corn bread (I give up on my corn bread seriously). You get these little Jif packets of cornbread mix for 40c and you need 2 packets to make 12 muffins. Grease a cupcake pan (dont use the cupcake cups because it stops the cornbread from going golden brown and crusty on the outside). Mix the Jif (so simple a four year old can do it) and when theyre done, put blobs of butter on top of the muffins so it melts through.
Tada healthy vegetarian low cholesterol, highly nutritional dinner for $4.00 and my Californian /Arkansan husband was silent because he was busy spooning his beans into his mouth. He said it was wonderful.
My British mom turned her oval nostrils up into the air, and even declined a cornbread muffin. Lol.....
ps I have cornbread muffins with my PG Tips tea so take that you scone eaters :)
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