Basturma

By RosarioVanTulpe [Public domain], from Wikimedia Commons

Today, for lunch, I finally tried a basturma sandwich. Basturma is an Armenian cured meat that reminded me a lot of Spanish cured hams, except that it's intensely flavored with spices like paprika, garlic, salt, and fenugreek. Doing some research, I found out that basturma is found all over what used to be the Ottoman Empire and can also be called pastirma. Apparently pastirma has the same etymological roots as pastrami but the two meats are worlds apart, since pastirmas are not cooked. Armenians make basturmas out of beef or lamb, but it can also be made from goat or camel.  I liked it, but a little goes a long way.

There's a great article about the basturma and what it means to Armenians by Nigol Bezjian. Just click here.

The Story Of Three Peppers

Every time a recipe calls for green bell peppers, I groan.  Because, these days, cultivated green bell peppers are pretty horrible:  rubbery, tasteless, old, and expensive.  Almost $3 a pound?  You've got to be kidding.  Most of the time, I just leave the peppers out.  But there are some recipes you really need a pepper for, like sloppy Joes.  So, what does a girl do?  How about replacing bell peppers with Anaheims or pasillas, my brain suggested as I browsed the produce section of an upscale chain supermarket with half-rotten vegetables.

The thing is, Anaheims and pasillas are almost half the price.  And they give really good flavor.  My only caveat is that if you use pasillas, make sure you fry them for at least ten minutes on low heat, because they're a bit tough.  Pasillas, which are actually poblanos, are usually roasted, so they need a bit more extra care if you're going to use them like bell peppers (apparently, US stores always mislabel fresh poblanos as pasillas).

Corn Pancakes á la Bindae Duk

One of my favorite things to eat is a type of pancake made with mung beans called bindae duk. But the problem with making this at home is that you need mung beans, which you have to soak for several hours and then grind. So I don't make it very often. But then one day, I was at a Korean restaurant in London and they served a kind of pancake made with cornmeal that was very much like bindae duk. I thought that was brilliant: a quick, easy way to make bindae duk using a very common ingredient. In addition, they'd added baking powder which made the pancakes fluffy and light. I really liked that. Of course, pancakes made with corn aren't the same as pancakes made with mung beans, but when you have a craving, they're awfully close, and so wonderfully hearty and delicious. Here's my version of it.

Corn Pancakes á la Bindae Duk

About a cup of very roughly ground cornmeal
About a 1/4 cup of flour
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon of baking powder
1 egg

Add water to the cornmeal, just enough to barely cover. Let soak for two to three hours. Add flour, salt, baking powder and egg. The batter should be fairly thick, but still runny, so if it's too thick, add more water. If too thin, add more flour.

Heat a skillet. Add oil. Wait until the skillet is fairly hot. Then fry up pancakes — the size is up to you.

There's also a dipping sauce, but it's fairly simple: soy sauce and vinegar, the proportion up to you.

Eating these pancakes with just the dipping sauce is pretty satisfying, but it's so much more fun if you add things like kimchee, green onions, bacon, etc to the pancakes. Just remember that you're going to have to fry up these ingredients beforehand, especially bacon. That's fairly easy. Just fry the ingredients in the skillet until they're mostly cooked and then scoop some batter right on top. Just be careful when you flip the pancakes over.