Unusual spices in curry: Asafoetida

Germans call Asafoetida Teufelsdreck, which means devil’s dung, because of its extremely pungent, sulphurous smell. Its aroma and flavour can be a bit daunting to the uninitiated, but when the spice is added to hot ghee, sizzling in the pan, the oniony musky aroma is evocative of aromatic Indian cooking and Indian restaurants everywhere. In fact, just a small pinch of asafoetida will enhance the taste of any fish or vegetable dish and it’s used extensively in curries, pickles, and daals.

There are two main varieties of Asafoetida: Hing Kabuli Sufaid (milky white asafoetida) and Hing Lal (red asafoetida). The spice is a resinous gum which is obtained from the stem and roots of certain species of giant fennel tree which, in India, are grown in Kashmir and some parts of the Punjab. A greyish milky resin is collected, then dried in the sun. As the resin dries, it hardens and becomes amber in colour, darkening to red and eventually brown.

Asafoetida is most widely used in powdered or granulated form or is sometimes sold in lumps that need to be crushed. It’s usually best kept in airtight containers to avoid the strong odour infiltrating the room or cupboard.

The spice adds depth and texture to dishes, especially if used with aromatics like cumin, chillies, ginger and garlic. Best flavours are obtained by adding the asafoetida into the hot ghee, allowing it to incorporate for about 15 seconds before putting in the other spices. Once cooked the spice has a roasted garlic aroma and truffle-like flavour.

Asafoetida appears mainly in South and West Indian dishes. It’s an important ingredient in Indian vegetarian cooking, often used in dishes of the Brahmin and Jain castes where onions and garlic are forbidden.

Historically it has been used in medicines as a remedy for asthma and bronchitis and to treat impotency, mood swings and depression. In India, women sometimes eat it after childbirth mixed with ghee and rice to prevent the baby from getting colic. Added health benefits are that it can be used to enhance digestion and reduce flatulence.

Souvlaki with Pita Bread

 Recipes from alternative-athens.com

Ingredients

Serves: 3 - 4 persons

• 1 kg of chicken or pork cut in cubes with 2.5cm sides
• 6 Pita breads
• Juice of 4 lemons
• Salt, pepper and oregano for seasoning
• Some fresh onion rings
• Slices of fresh tomato
• 6 wooden skewers
• Tzaziki (see recipe here below)
• Olive oil

Method

1. Pass the pork meat cubes through the wooden skewers, salt and pepper them.

2. Cook over a barbecue fire, on a skillet or under an oven grill.

3. In the meantime, spread some oil on the pitas and place them under the oven grill, browning slightly each side, but not drying them.

4. When the meat is done, dip the skewers in a tall glass containing the lemon juice

5. Hold a pita bread in one hand and empty the meat cubes in it, by removing the skewer.

6. Sprinkle with oregano and salt, add tzaziki, some onion rings and tomato slices and then roll the pita and fold it with a piece of baking sheet. Your souvlaki is ready!

Greek pita bread

Ingredients

• 2 tea spoons dried yeast
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 1/3 - 1 1/2 cup of warm water
• 500 gr. Flour
• 1 tsp of salt
• 2 tablespoons of olive oil

Method

1) Mix the yeast with the sugar and ½ of the cup of water. Let it rest for 5 min. It will start to rise.

2) Mix the flour with the salt. Make a hole in the centre and pour in the oil, the other ½ cup of warm water and the yeast.

3) Knead, adding as much water as it is needed in order to have a soft, pliable and non sticky dough.

4) Place the dough in a well greased pan and turn it so it is greased from all sides. Cover the pan with film and wait for 1 ½ h in order to rise.

5) Press and shape the dough in order to have small pita breads of 15cm diameter and 1cm thickness. Coat with olive oil and leave them to rest.

6) Make parallel shapes

7) Bake at 230οC for 5-7 minutes, they should not be totally baked. When they are at room temperature, put them in plastic bags and in the freezer.

8) When needed, defreeze and coat with olive oil, both sides. Fry or grill and sprinkle with salt and oregano.

Tzatziki

(Yoghurt dip)

Ingredients

Serves: 4 servings 

• 1 kilo strained yoghurt (10% fat)
• 1 cucumber, unpeeled
• 4 garlic cloves (more gives a stronger taste)
• ½ cup olive oil
• 2 tablespoons vinegar
• 1 cup finely chopped dill
• ½ cup finely chopped spearmint
• salt

Method

1. Grate the cucumber, salt it and let it drain for 15 minutes.

2. Squeeze the cucumber until all its water is removed.

3. Grate the garlic and mix it (beat it) with salt until it becomes creamy.

4. Put the yoghurt into a bowl and add the cucumber, the vinegar, the garlic, the oil, the dill and the spearmint.

5. Whiz the contents until all the ingredients are well mixed.

6. Serve cold.

Epic Greek Food

It was a rainy day in Athens (yes, believe it or not … it happens!). So, we went on an odyssey through the city's streets and alleys with Alternative Athens tours sampling all the foods that make Greek cuisine epic …

Greece is in the middle of an economic crisis, but it doesn’t feel that way – in Athens the restaurants and bars are packed to the gunnels and not just with tourists. It’s the Greek way of responding to austerity explained our taxi driver, Michail. “If a Greek person only has 10 euros left, he’d rather go out and spend it in a coffee shop or restaurant than sit at home being miserable.” As Euripides said: “When a man’s stomach is full it makes no difference if he is rich or poor.”

In Greece, food is an important part of the culture, inextricably linked to family and celebration of life. Rooted in mythology, tradition and religion, the Greek diet is also healthy, associated with longevity, reduction of heart attacks, strokes, Alzheimer’s, cancer, diabetes, allergies, lack of birth defects and numerous other health benefits.

So, how do you eat like a Greek? Tanya Fiore, our guide from Alternative Athens Tours, met us in Thissio close to the centre of the city to show us how. A fluent English speaker having studied at Brighton University, she was young, enthusiastic, charming and … very wet! We huddled together under our umbrella (formerly known as the sunshade) and splashed off through the puddles.

First stop was on Agiou Filippou, where we sampled a vital part of Hellenic culture: Greek coffee.  The rustic taverna was one of a few of older establishments in Athens where the drink was still prepared and served in the traditional manner. Greek coffee is the same as Turkish coffee, though it’s not advisable to make that observation in Greece as the name was changed after the Turks invaded Cyprus back in 1974. It’s a brew of pure caffeine, so thick and sweet you could stand a spoon in it, and is considered the fundamental start to the day.  Made, as we witnessed, in a careful and loving manner, the freshly ground coffee beans are gently heated over coals in a long-handled, small copper pot called a briqi. The resulting brew, which comes in varying degrees of strength and sweetness, has a foamy top, and is best sipped very slowly.

It’s common to see the older men sitting outside cafes, playing board games and whiling away the morning with a Greek coffee. Apparently younger Greeks prefer the variety of espressos, cappuccinos, mochaccinos and (delicious) iced fredos on offer in trendy bars and urban coffee shops. Certainly, authentic Greek coffee is an acquired taste. After a silty demitasse of the stuff, my tongue was slightly furry - but on the plus side, I was wide awake. 

Tania told us there was a longstanding tradition amongst older folk to read the grounds left at the bottom of the cup and she could remember her own grandmother twisting the cup three times in a clockwise direction to glean what the future had in store.

For us, the future was a visit to the bakery in Pittaki, a once prosperous street become derelict, now re-vitalised with cool, urban graffiti and an eclectic array of lights, chandeliers and lanterns donated by the people of Athens, that dangled from overhead wires. Belying its hole-in-the-wall façade, the bakery provided freshly baked fare for most of the city’s restaurants and shops including the ubiquitous bread snack we had come to sample – Koulouria. Sold by food vendors everywhere, Koulouria is shaped in a ring. Its outside is covered in crunchy, toasted sesame seeds and the centre is soft and slightly chewy. As Tania explained, Kolouria’s importance as a snack is due to the Greeks’ rather idiosyncratic eating pattern. Because they eat so late, dining at 9pm or later, many people wake up still feeling full, hence on the way to work they may grab a Koulouria or pastry to tide them over till lunch at around 3 o’clock in the afternoon, after which they may have a

tapas-like snack or dessert, after which they start all over again. At lunch, they tend to eat things that are baked, such as moussaka or Stifado whereas in the evening, it’s more likely they will eat food that is prepared there and then.

We discovered that there is nothing Greeks like better than a pie or pastry (it’s a miracle how they remain so slim, maybe because they also eat a lot of fruit and drink copious amounts of water). Our next destination was the famed Meliortos, a contemporary bakery, café and dessert shop. Here, we sampled some of Greece’s most famous products

including the famous Tiropita or cheese pie made with three different types of cheese wrapped in filo pastry. We tasted an exquisite Elixir jasmine flavoured vinegar you could down by the spoonful; Taxini tahini paste made from toasted sesame seeds; local honey produced from species of thyme, and the Greek equivalent of Turkish delight (presumably also re-named). A new one on us was the Mastic, an aromatic resin found only on the island of Chios, used in Greek breads, desserts and, interestingly, to make chewing gum (which explains the origin of the word ‘masticate’). Top marks went to the velvety Pamako extra virgin olive

oil, the base of most Greek dishes.  Although Greece is the third largest producer of olive oil in the world, Greeks are not so good at marketing and exporting the product as European rivals, Italy and Spain. In current economic times, you can’t help thinking this is a shame. And if, like me, you’ve ever wondered if it’s worth paying more for the extra virgin version, listen up. Extra virgin oil is made without the use of any artificial processes, with the oil pressed from only the olive fruit itself. As it’s not treated with chemicals, it not only tastes better, it also retains more natural vitamins and minerals.

At Thessaloniki at Psiri, a bakery, come coffee shop, come bar in the heart of edgy Iroon Square, we discovered the queen of the Greek desserts - the 
Bougatsa, a filo pastry with a sweet cream custard centre. We watched in awe as a chef rolled out and tossed pastry around as if he was changing feather-light sheets on a bed. Coffee shops like Thessaloniki are relatively new, Tania told us, as for a man to pay money for cakes back in the day when the women’s place was in the kitchen, was tantamount to admitting his wife was a bad cook – probably the worst insult any lady (or husband) could get.  

We forged onwards, through more colourful streets, towards the famous food quarter of Athens, pausing at Miran, a charcuterie with a frontage festooned with dangling sausages and hams. Greeks love cured meats and cheeses and inside we found out why. A wooden platter of delights awaited with Armenian Soutzouki made of air-dried veal meat; Pastourma from veal or camel meat; strong-tasting bull meat products from the Kerkini region; dolmades and local cheese, all washed down with a cheek pulsating,  honey-flavoured raki.

A couple of doors further down the spice shop beckoned. Resembling an old apothecary, every spice and herb imaginable was stashed away in glass fronted drawers so the rich colours could be seen. Spiky chilli and garlic bulbs cascaded down walls. Dried herbs hung in bundles over the counter crammed with an assortment of bottles and packets. Herbs grow abundantly in Greece but the most loved is oregano, widely used in meat dishes, sauces, soups and salads. Thyme is another favourite for flavouring meats and honey. Spicy food is not so common,

although black pepper is used extensively.  However, paprika and saffron are popular and Allspice gives meats and desserts an exotic flavour. Cumin is also added to spicy meatballs called soutzoukakia whilst sweet cloves and cinnamon flavour many desserts.

Through the alleys of Varvakios, we proceeded to the central market known as the “belly of
Athens” the Dimitoki Agora. 

Bordered by Ahinas and Sofokleous Streets, the covered meat market surrounds the fish stalls with fruit and vegetables across the street. The atmosphere was chaotic and lively. Above the din, merchants called out their prices, voices echoing, meat cleavers chopping. Single traders from villages perched on boxes selling herbs or garlic amidst rows of stalls packed with cheeses, olives, spices and sweets. Meat counters displayed a horrific selection of animal parts: pigs’ feet, calf’s heads, brains and intestines, with carcases hanging above. In the fish market, vendors were selling all manner of seafood from the Aegean and Mediterranean, with others imported from as far as China, Portugal and North Africa. As the floor was awash with fishy substances, we congratulated ourselves on not wearing sandals. We tried the olives, so many different types, so plentiful. The black and burnished Kalamata, cracked ones from Peloponnese, rose pink olives like grapes, bright green Halkidikis, shrivelled varieties that resembled raisins, and nutty olives from the Island of Thassos recommended as an accompaniment to a glass of ouzo.

Most restaurants in Athens source ingredients daily from the Agora which explains why the food always tastes so fresh.  You can pick out your fish and have it cooked there and then in the basic restaurants in the market. These establishments are also famous for their soup made from the foot of a cow, popular with late night visitors as a reputed hangover cure, while the Patsa, a broth made from the intestines of a pig, is said to aid conditions of indigestion, bad blood or overindulgence. We took note for later.

Fruit is an important part of the Greek diet. At the end of a meal it is customary for restaurants to serve a complimentary plate of fresh orange, pears or grapes rather than a pudding (which is usually enjoyed at a separate time of the day). The end of the fruit and vegetable market led to the beginning of Athens’ China Town, and the Indian and Pakistani neighbourhoods of the city where The Royal Curry House on Omonia Square served a multi-cultural mix of dishes from Indian, Bangladesh, Pakistani, Chinese, Arabic and Thai cuisines. It was tempting but we had to stick to our remit of ‘eating like a Greek’.

As no food had passed our lips in at least 15 minutes, we stopped for an energy boost at
Krinos on Aiolou Street 87. Established in 1923, Krinos is the oldest shop of its kind in Athens and specialises in Loukoumades; a sweet pastry from fried dough, like a doughnut, served hot and crispy on the outside and fluffily doughy on the inside. Combined with cinnamon, honey, hot chocolate nuts or cheese, they were mouth-meltingly delicious.

In fact, they were so delicious that the grand finale of our trip was in danger of being overshadowed. At Plateaia Agias Eirinis in a place Tania said remained unchanged since she was a little girl, we ended our epic Greek food Odyssey. At Kostas, a ramshackle, father-and-son run kebab shop, hardly discernible under its camouflage of billboards and posters, people lined up to enter one at a time to order the best souvlakis in town. Greece’s favourite fast food, these souvlakis were as far removed from t he congealed British kebab of dubious provenance as a Bockwurst from a battered sausage. It was hard work forcing down the warm homemade pitta bread bulging with fresh tomatoes, oregano sprinkled salad and succulent grilled pork, smothered in Kostas’s special rich tomato sauce … but we did it!

Our fantastic tour was with Alternative Athens Tours. For further information visit www.alternativeathens.com