I joined Indian-American cookbook author Anupy Singla to talk about the fusion of Latin and Asian food on NPR‘s Tell Me More, with host Celeste Headlee. I also gave them a taste of the Asian influence on Mexican cuisine with my Green Beans with Peanuts and Chile de Arbol. If you missed us on the radio, listen in right here…
For the recipe, click here.
Before she died, my maternal grandmother, whom we called Lali (remember I’ve told you about her before?) gave me Gloria Miller’s Thousand Recipe Chinese Cookbook. She was fascinated with Chinese cookery. She was also very good at it. What she loved the most were the stir-fry dishes: fast, tasty and healthy.
So, she bought herself a wok.
I couldn’t begin to count how many wok-made dishes I ate at her house during those long summers I visited her and my grandfather, after they moved to the Californian desert.
After she passed away, that wok found its way into my kitchen. I’ve cherished it. I’ve prized it. I haven’t used it! I’ve dragged it through so many house moves that I’ve also managed to lose its cord. It’s an electric wok. It’s real pretty, too. It’s hers. And in my mind, it is inseparable from her Miller’s cookbook, so I didn’t try to cook “her” Chinese dishes for years. And here and there, I’ve looked for that cord…
Fast-forward many, many years. You know I am on a continuous mission to find fascinating topics to teach for my culinary program at the Mexican Cultural Institute in Washington, DC. As we planned this year’s classes, the topic came up: Asian Influence in Mexican cooking.
As a former Mexican policy analyst, I am very familiar with the history of the 250 year-long Acapulco-Manila trading route, which connected China and Mexico early on. How tasty would it be to build a menu that showcased the influence of Asian populations in Mexico, and the beautiful fusions of their cuisines and ours?
The Chinese and the Filipinos were the first ones to come to Mexico, through that Acapulco-Manila trading route, which was the result of the Spaniards’ thirst for more than gold, for more than silver; it was their thirst to find what they called the “Spice Islands.” Find them, they did, in Manila.
For 250 years, huge Spanish-built Manila Galleon ships (known in Mexico as Naos de China) were the means of an incredibly rich exchange that forever changed the culture and cooking of Mexico and Asia. Through trips that lasted for more than six months and carried more than 600 people, in came silk, porcelain, exotic fruits and herbs, huge amounts of spices and new ways of preserving ingredients and cooking techniques; out went tomatoes, zucchini, corn, chiles, avocados, beans, Mexican herbs and many culinary traditions.
Like many in the Chinese populations in Mexico, my grandmother was an immigrant. She moved to Mexico City from her native Austria, by boat as well, and in her kitchen, became fluent in bridging Austrian and Mexican food. Much in the same way that Chinese immigrants, have built bridges between their cuisine and Mexican food – adapting dishes to use ingredients from the nearest market (jícama instead of watercress, anyone?) and to please the tastes of their Mexican neighbors (chile peppers, please…). It seems to me that it was an understanding and solidarity amongst immigrants that inspired my grandmother’s great appreciation for Chinese cooking.
Well, not only was my grandmother fascinated with Chinese cooking, but a gazillion other Mexicans are, too. We visit Chinese restaurants and cafes, which are proliferated in Mexico City’s Barrio Chino (Chinatown) but even more in the state of Baja California. They tend to have the red lamps and paper dragons and optional chopsticks (thankfully, because as to this day, I haven’t learned to use them…embarrassing, I know) and they have coffee, if you would rather drink it, instead of tea.
This recipe for Green Beans with Cacahautes and Chile de Arbol is one of its highlights. Thanks to Miller’s basics, I could brush up on my stir-frying technique, so the dish turns out just like my grandmother liked her stir fries: tender, crunchy, fresh and full of flavor.
I added a double peanut layer, by using peanut oil, that becomes very nutty as the beans cook, as well as a healthy dose of garlic and chile de árbol. It’s become a staple at home.
And you know what? It turns out you don’t need a wok to make stir fries. You just need a thick pot that can withstand high heat and has a large surface: a la Mexican. I found out because, NO, I have not found that electric cord, and NO, I will not buy another wok. In my kitchen, it is only my grandmother’s wok that will remain king: If only in theory, until I find that electric cord…
When you don’t care much about something in Mexico, it is very popular to say “me importa un cacahuate” or “me vale un cacahuate.” This translates to something like “I don’t care enough” or “I couldn’t care less,” the word cacahuate being used for that “less or not enough.” That may be in regards to the tiny size of an individual peeled peanut, but ironically, cacahuates or peanuts mean a lot to Mexico and Mexicans.
Peanuts have been in Mexico’s culinary repertoire since Pre-Hispanic times. Though its origins can be traced to Southern Latin America, specifically Peru, and it is said to have been domesticated in Bolivia or Paraguay, when the Spanish arrived in Mexico they found it for sale in the street markets where it was a staple.
Used to snack on, be it raw, roasted, toasted, steamed, salted or spiced up and combined with other ingredients like in Pico de Gallos; as a thickener for Mole sauces or salsas, soups and stews; it’s oil extracted and used in and out of the kitchen; in “palanqueta” or bark form, entirely covered and hardened in some kind of a sweet and thick syrup and other sweets and even drinks! As times have moved on, the peanut not only remains central to our eating but also to our celebrating.
See me in the blue dress in the photo below?
Me and my sister (on the right with the white sweater) are proudly carrying a bag of treasures gathered from a broken down piñata! Traditionally, piñatas have been filled with oranges to eat, fresh sugar cane pieces to suck, and peanuts to munch on. So, of course, kids run like crazy once the piñata breaks not to be hit hard and then run back like crazy once everything hits the floor. It is in more recent times that candy and toys have been added.
So, smart to include peanuts for sure: healthy and entertaining to an extreme, as kids can spend hours cracking and peeling those peanuts. What’s more, they are incredibly nutritious. Rich in niacin, Vitamin E, fiber, proteins and many other nutrients, it is full of antioxidants and it is free, naturally of trans-fats and sodium.
Another irony is that peanuts, one of the most popular “nut” in the world, are actually not from the “nut” family. The peanut is a legume from a small flowering plant, and it grows in a really strange way: once the flower is pollinated, it gets heavier and leans toward the ground where it pushes its heavy, woody seed underground and grows into a legume pod with beans inside, in this case, peanuts.
The odd way peanuts grow is said to have confused the Spaniards who couldn’t figure out how the flower and legume could be in different places. In fact, the Náhuatl word given to it by the Aztecs was “cacahuatl,” meaning cocoa bean from the earth.
The Spanish and Portuguese took the peanuts to other parts of the world, including Africa, and it was by means of the slave trade that they came into the United States. No wonder some people think that peanuts come from Africa. Ingredients find a funny and fascinating way to move around the globe…
Although the peanuts were used thoroughly in Mexican kitchens before the Spanish arrived, it was the Spanish nuns that gave the peanuts a sweeter use in the convent kitchens, creating all sorts of marzipans, pastes and cookies. Peanuts were a replacement for almonds, which they had been accustomed to using in Spain.
Peanuts are a key ingredient in modern Mexican cooking, used in more and more ways as time goes by.
There is just something a little more sweet or fresh about peanuts cooked from their raw state, especially if you have monsters you need to keep busy and you need to peel a few dozens. You can look for un-shelled, raw, skinless peanuts in your local natural foods store or mainstream stores too. However, sometimes they are tricky to find raw. You can use roasted instead. You can also use roasted or raw already shelled unsalted peanuts.
It’s best to store peanuts in an airtight container. They will keep in your pantry for up to a month or in your freezer for six months. Do watch out though, if left unattended or not properly sealed, their delicious fresh and almost sweet taste can turn bitter, old and unpleasant.
Aside from being careful with not letting them age or get bitter if bought on the shell, you may want to start stuffing them in your own piñatas…
I showed Cristina Ferrare and Mark Steines how to make Pambazos, and made them use their napkins, on the Hallmark Channel’s Home & Family Show.
To watch the video, click here.
For the recipe, click here.
CBS’ The Talk is having a food festival! I made Scrambled Egg Packets with Black Bean Sauce for Mexican Brunch, with help from hosts Sheryl Underwood and Julie Chen. We also had Avocado and Hearts of Palm Chop-Chop Salad and some Triple Orange Mexican Wedding Cookies for dessert. In case you missed all the fun, click here.
