While television celebrity Chef Alton Brown’s book of the same title as the headline for this column is all about the science and how-to of cooking the food, I am here to tell you that for me, especially this week, I’m just here for the food – to eat and enjoy.
I want to share with you 10 things that I have cooked and took pleasure in eating and drinking in the last couple of weeks. Apart from obviously liking these things, it could be as a result of not having made or eaten them for a while. Whatever the reason, I found myself studying them as I consumed, marvelling at their simplicity and being awed by their taste, their flavour. Everyday food is to be celebrated, always.
Let’s start with the Baigan (eggplant) Choka I had just yesterday. Smoky and creamy; notes of sweetness from the eggplant itself as well as the slices of garlic, softened and sweetened from the fire-roasting. The flavour of garlic permeating the flesh as the eggplant softened while cooking and mashed smooth. The tiny bits of minced hot pepper coupled with wafer thin slices of scallion for the subtle onion flavour, rounds out the choka. Salt to taste, a light squirt of fresh lime juice to balance the flavour and a pouring of smoking hot oil to chunkay the choka and it’s done. Let that choka sit for a few minutes for the flavours to meld and then dig in. With each mouthful, I found myself shaking my head; my senses enveloped. Darn, how good is Baigan Choka…