The 2012 World’s of Flavor Conference, Part 1: Inside the CIA

I recently had the pleasure of visiting the picturesque Napa Valley for the CIA’s 15^th Annual World’s of Flavor Conference. No, I’m not a spy, and I’m not talking about that CIA, but rather The Culinary Institute of America, one of the country’s most well regarded cooking schools. Each year they assemble top chefs and culinary professionals from around the world at their beautiful campus in St. Helena, CA for a summit on food without parallel. This year’s theme was “Arc of Flavor: Re-imagining culinary exchange from the Mediterranean and Middle East to Asia.”

The teaching kitchens at CIA

It was no small honor to attend the conference, and to represent Sri Lankan food for the very first time here, joined by my esteemed colleague, Chef Koluu, who traveled all the way from Colombo for the event.  Koluu was extremely helpful when I went to Sri Lanka to research my cookbook, and I made sure he was featured when I returned to shoot No Reservations with Anthony Bourdain. As one of Sri Lanka’s most well-known and respected chefs, his attendance at the conference was a must.

 

Chef Koluu outside CIA Greystone, St. Helena, CA

Having just barely escaped the east coast and the wrath of Hurricane Sandy, I arrived in the Bay Area at night, so it was not until morning that I got a good look at the CIA itself. Occupying the former hilltop mansion of The Christian Brothers’ winery and overlooking acres of quaint vineyards, the school’s substantial facilities cut quite an impressive sight. The third floor teaching kitchens alone occupy a space about half the size of a football field, filled with every modern convenience you can imagine. What a joy it must be going to school in such an environment, much less cooking there for three days. This massive kitchen is where all the action was happening as chefs from across the arc of flavor prepared countless dishes for the various seminars, demo sessions, lunch, and, of course, the formidable World Marketplace, probably the best food court going on planet earth.

It was encouraging and inspiring to see so many foreign chefs interacting with CIA staff and students, and introducing so many new ingredients and techniques. Koluu made his famous pork kalupol or “black” pork curry, fish ambul thiyal, and crab curry, along with other Sri Lankan specialties like hoppers, sambol, and coconut roti. Like the other chefs, we had a whole crew of students working with us–none of whom had ever even tried Sri Lankan food before. But they picked things up very quickly as they took care of most of the prep. For everyone involved, however, the opening day proved to be an exchange of cultures, ingredients, ideas, and good vibes.

 

 

baby back ribs

 

 

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Pan Asian: Pickled Tea Leaf Salad (Laphet Thote) – Myanmar

Last year, before heading out to the Bay area for some promotional events for my book, at least six different people gave me the same advice. I had arranged through friends to have my book party at a popular Burmese restaurant in Oakland called Burma Superstar, which also has several locations in SF proper. Upon hearing the name people said, “Oh, you have to try their tea leaf salad.”  Now if one or two people had dropped a dime, I would have thought nothing of it, but the hype machine created by six was certainly cause for a pause. It also, naturally, upped my expectations. ‘What could be so interesting about a salad?’ I thought, ‘Especially one made with tea leaves,’ which, last time I checked, tasted pretty bitter. Tea leaves are great for drinking and then, perhaps, composting, but making a meal out of them may be one for Andrew Zimmern.

 

Cut to the tail end of my book party at Burma Superstar. The place was packed, as expected, with a line out the door—and on a weeknight at that. The manager Tiyo, my friend’s sister, however, had reserved a table for myself and ten of my friends. She started sending out steaming plates from the kitchen in quick succession–curry pork with potatoes, chili lamb, sesame beef, mango shrimp, fiery tofu with vegetables, and rainbow salad–all of it unconditionally amazing. Much like it’s geographical location, Burmese food tastes somewhere between Indian and Chinese while retaining its own unique character.

Then the tea leaf salad appeared, but, quite frankly, I was stuffed, and it didn’t seem to warrant all the hype. What I saw before me was just a bed of chopped romaine lettuce with some diced tomatoes and bell peppers, lemon wedges, a pile of peanuts and sunflower seeds, with a dollop of some dark paste, resembling pesto in the center. This latter ingredient was apparently the fermented tea leaves, known as laphet in Burmese. It’s actually a very popular ingredient there, precisely because of this dish. After the waiter artfully tossed the salad at the table, thoroughly mixing all the ingredients and squeezing some of the lemon juice over it, it looked just like any salad I could make at home. As satiated as I was, I had to try it, because as Flavor Flav said: “Don’t believe the hype!”

 

Very often, when trying something new, one looks for comparisons to something known or familiar, but after a taste of the tea leaf salad I was at a loss for words. Literally. The only thing I could do was grab another crunchy, savory bite– and another and another. The simplicity of ingredients masked the broad spectrum of flavors going on here—from salty to spicy to tangy. As for the tea leaves themselves, I couldn‘t quite put my finger on this new taste, but its umami was off the meter. Tea leaf salad is truly a dish you have to taste for yourself.

 

laphet or fermented tea leaves

I never dreamed it would be so hard to recreate this dish at home, however. The only ingredient in question was the fermented tea leaves, but with the internet, everything is just a few clicks away.  Or so I thought. While looking for the elusive ingredient I found out some interesting things about fermented tea leaves along the way. First of all, they are not available in the U.S. due to a trade restriction against the banned chemical dye known as Auramine O, which some brands of the tea leaves are said to contain. Wow! What’s not to love about an illegal ingredient. Secondly, it supposedly takes 6 months to ferment the tea leaves, which are buried underground in vats. So much for making it myself. Finally, laphet  (meaning ‘pickled tea leaves’) thote (meaning ‘salad’) is not only one of the most popular dishes at Burma Superstar, but in the entire country of Myanmar itself! It is often eaten as a snack or at the end of a meal as a palate cleanser, and instead of romaine lettuce the Burmese use Napa cabbage and often ingredients like dried shrimp, green chilies, and fish sauce.

 

ingredients ordered from from http://www.mumhouse.com

I did, in fact, procure authentic laphet via mail order, and was able to recreate almost exactly what I was served that night at Burma Superstar for the recipe below.  They are available through a Burmese store in London called Mum’s House (www.mumhouse.com), and come in small packets costing  £1.30 (about $2) each containing a small bag of laphet and a small bag of fried yellow split peas, manufactured by a company called Yuzana.

 

the anatomy of a tea leaf salad

 

The Recipe

 

1 head Romaine lettuce, washed & chopped

1 medium tomato, diced

1 bell pepper, chopped

1 lemon, cut into wedges

¼  cup unsalted sunflower seeds

¼ cup sesame seeds, roasted

¼  cup unsalted peanuts, roasted

¼  cup laphet

¼  cup fried yellow split peas

¼  cup fried garlic

1 Jalapeno pepper (optional)

 

1.) Place all prepared ingredients on a serving plate. Squeeze with lemon and toss all the ingredients together until well mixed.

 

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Burma Superstar, Oakland

Whoa! Slow down. Wait a minute! Who forgot to tell me about Burmese food? I did, after all, date a girl from Myanmar once, and I have eaten at at least one Burmese restaurant in New York, but nothing I have experienced up to now could prepare me for my first real Burmese meal at Burma Superstar, Oakland. As an Asian food freak, who has tried practically every cuisine of the continent and subcontinent, I can now say that Burmese ranks up there as some of the best. It’s not quite like Chinese and it’s certainly  not like Indian, but somewhere in the middle–as reflected in the geography of the country of Myanmar itself–there lies the perfect fusion, which is Burmese food.

I  first heard about Burma Superstar through my friends Bill & Gigi. Bill having dined at their San Francisco location only had great things to report. Gigi’s sister Tiyo, managed the place, so when I was looking for places in the Bay Area to have my book party, it was a no brainer. You already heard about how well that event went, but I have a secret confession to make: one reason I wanted to have my book party at Burma Superstar was so that I could try their food. In fact, I had to purposefully abstain from eating the Sri Lankan food that I had prepared for the party in order to have room for a full dinner at the restaurant–a small sacrifice which was well rewarded!

out front at Burma Superstar Oakland

Joining me for dinner were 9 friends from the Bay Area (I didn’t know I even had that many friends in the Bay Area), who were all veterans of Burma Superstar. While  we perused the menu deciding what to have, Tiyo just started sending dishes out to us from the kitchen.  First came the salads–the legendary tea leaf and rainbow salads–both of which were featured on Food Network. I had more than one recommendation to try the tea leaf salad, especially since it was dressed with a unique paste of fermented tea leaves. How do I describe the flavor of this special ingredient other than to say it was…singular…and most delicious! The salad comes with all of it’s individual ingredients–including fried garlic, peanuts,  sunflower seeds, tomatoes, romain lettuce, and dried shrimp–unmixed and the waitperson tosses them together at the table, which also adds a nice touch. The rainbow salad came with a similar presentation, helpful in identifying all 22 ingredients it is composed of, before being quickly devoured.

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The dishes kept coming in such quick succession that all of us were kept very busy, spooning delicious tidbits onto our plates and making room at the table for everything. “Ooohs” and “Aaahs” replaced regular speech as we voiced our collective foodgasm over the great dishes we were tasting. So greedy was I that I forgot to take notes about individual plates, but much of my recollection of that evening is imprinted on my tongue. The curry pork with potatoes was incredibly moist and tender; the fiery tofu with vegetables, spicy/sweet; the sesame beef had a tanginess from the added tamarind; and the tender strips of chili lamb had a serious kick. The mango shrimp, a dish I had seen prepared in the kitchen also had the spicy/sweet combination, which I have come to associate with Burmese food.  No where was there any coconut milk or curry leaves like Sri Lankan food, or kaffir lime leaves and galangal, like Thai. Simply Burmese cuisine in all its glory!

After such a feeding frenzy, I don’t think anyone at the table was in any shape for dessert, but we had to go for it anyway. It’s the first time I’ve ever seen 10 stuffed people share one dessert, the sticky black rice with coconut ice cream, which was, of course, another victory. Eating at Burma made us all feel like superstars.

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The Rice & Curry Book Tour: Pt. 3, The Bay Area

The author with Tiyo, manager of Burma Superstar Oakland

While California grows much of the produce we consume in the U.S., the Bay Area (i.e. Oakland, San Francisco) in particular is a food mecca. What might be considered trendy elsewhere–terms like, ‘organic,’ ‘sustainable,’ and ‘seasonal’–is really taken to heart here because people take their eating very seriously. Due to a dearth of Sri Lankan restaurants on the left coast, I knew I had to represent fully–especially in the Bay–so I planned two events here, a book party and a Sri Lankan supper club.

The book party was held at my new favorite restaurant in Oakland–Burma Superstar. I would never have heard of the place if not for my friend Gigi in New York, whose sister Tiyo is manager of the Superstar franchise. I believe they have 3 locations in SF proper, one in Oakland and, one in Alameda. When I was discussing plans for my book party with Tiyo, she advised me to have it at the Oakland location, their flagship restaurant. No problems there, for as many times as I’ve been out to SF, I never made it across the Bay Bridge to Oakland. At long last, here was my chance. After all, the way people in the Bay area explain it, Oakland is to SF as Brooklyn is to Manhattan. Being a long-time Brooklyn resident, I looked forward to checking out her sister city, long known for Raiders and Panthers. I was ready to leave my own mark on Oaktown with a little rice and curry.

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I did not make anything fancy for the book party–simply a selection of Sri Lankan “short-eats” or small bites including fish cutlets, turkey patties, and devilled pork. For one, I did not have much time to cook, and secondly, I did not want to eat too much of my food, so that I would be able to try some Burmese food after the party. Thanks goes out to Tiyo, who came and picked me up in San Francisco, took me to Oakland to shop for my ingredients, and then donned an apron and helped me all day in the kitchen. I have not cooked in too many commercial kitchens, and it was a pleasure to use the woks at Burma Superstar, where they have a lot of time-saving equipment such as a serious deep-fryer to cook the cutlets.

Tiyo in the kitchen of Burma Superstar, Oakland

It was an eclectic crowd–including a lot of musicians–that showed up to try some Sri Lankan food at a Burmese restaurant run by an Ethiopian. Call it true fusion, in every sense of the word–if ‘fusion’ applies to my music, then why shouldn’t it apply to food? Shouts out to Dub Gabriel, Sean Leonard, and Dan The Automator (producer of Dr. Octogon and Gorillaz). Also big up Tamara Palmer, a former music writer, who now writes about food.

The author gets crunk with Dan The Automator

Of course, the restaurant was in full blaze during the time of the book party making things feel even more festive. As soon as the event officially ‘ended’ at 8pm, myself and a party of 9 friends took over a long table in the corner to enjoy some amazing Burmese food. But that’s a whole different blog post (coming soon!).

*     *       *

Following a late night in Oakland, there was no rest for the weary as I had to make the move to Napa Valley to prepare for my next event–The Sonoma Sri Lankan Supper Club, hosted by my college buddy Graham and his lovely wife Sarah. Within the heart of wine country, Sonoma is known to be beautiful, but you just never know how beautiful until you see it yourself. My friend’s house overlooks the valley from a high hill, and so mesmerized was I by the view that I had to keep pinching myself to believe that it was real.

My buddy Graham's house, site of The Sonoma Sri Lankan Supper Club

Graham & Sarah Edwards with the author

I couldn’t have come up with a better place to host the Supper Club if I was a location scout, and after shopping for fresh produce and meats in the quaint town of Sonoma, I set about preparing for the huge feast I was about to throw down. I marinated the pork, for black pork curry, and also made the dessert, caramel pudding or flan, which needs several hours of refrigeration in order to set. The next day, I started on all the other dishes which included rice, dhal, shrimp varauval, tempered leeks, carrot curry, mallun, and a Sri Lankan salad.

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I started cooking at about 9:30 on the morning of the dinner and worked right through the day until the first guests started arriving about 7pm. By then, I was on my last dish, mallun, which is pretty quick to prepare. After serving the fish cutlets as an appetizer and delivering some introductory remarks to the crowd of about 20, I laid out the buffet and the guests filled up their plates with a meal that hardly anyone in the house had eaten before.

guests mingle at the Sonoma Sri Lankan Supper Club

the buffet line

enough wine was consumed that night in Sonoma

Graham had done his research pairing wines with the spicy Sri Lankan food, and I believe over 40 bottles of wine were consumed that evening. I got so many great comments about the food and people genuinely seemed to enjoy themselves. Of course, it wouldn’t be California without some of the guests heading outside for a late night dip in the hot tub. Not me, however. After being on my feet all day, I was ready for bed.

And, as if my west coast food odyssey was not over, my friends Dave & Holly Tambling took me out to a very special meal at The French Laundry in Yountville, CA, to cap a week of serious feasting!

Holly & Dave at French Laundry

Thanks to Graham & Sara, Dave & Holly, Gabe & Kelly, Sean, Tom, and Tiyo for making my west coast excursion a very  memorable one!

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Pan Asian: Burmese Fiery Fish Curry

It’s hard to believe I’m starting a new season of Pan Asian, but here it is. While season 1 started off as almost a hobby, I’ve moved into full gear now on season two. No longer do I shoot the show using a simple Flip camera, but rather a Canon Vixia HV30 (though I still shoot everything myself using a tripod). I’m also editing on final cut these days as opposed to I-movie, and I have a new opening credit sequence courtesy of my friend Liz Moore. I still choose only dishes that interest me, and usually make these recipes for the first time on camera. This time, for example, I found out that this “fiery” fish curry was not that hot for my tastes, so I will be sure to add more chilies next time. It still tasted great, and my motto remains: “If I can make it, so can you.” Just don’t be intimidated by ingredients you’ve never used. Once you become familiar with Asian food, you will be eating it all the time, just like me, and I always guarantee great tasting food that is good for you and easy to make. So tell you friends and join me in the kitchen for another episode of Pan Asian.

 

The Recipe

Curry paste:

5 dried red chilies soaked in hot water for 20 minutes

3 large shallots, chopped

1 head of garlic, cloves separated and peeled

4-5 whole sprigs fresh coriander

1/4 cup water

Curry:

2 pounds firm-fleshed fish (such as monkfish), skin removed and cubed

1 tbsp. turmeric

1 tbsp. salt

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1 cup water

1/2 cup chopped fresh coriander leaves

1.)   To make the curry paste, combine the chilies, shallots, garlic, and coriander in a blender. Add enough water to process and blend until smooth.

2.)   To make the curry, place the fish in a large bowl and sprinkle with turmeric and salt.

3.)   Heat oil in a large pan over medium heat. Add curry paste and cook for about 5-7  minutes until fragrant. Add fish and cook, stirring, until the paste clings to and forms a crust on the fish—about 5  minutes more.

4.)   Add the water, reduce heat to low and cover and cook, stirring occasionally, for 15 minutes. Remove cover and cook 5-10 minutes more, until thickened. Sprinkle with coriander leaves and serve.

Makes 4-6 servings

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Pan Asian: Mohingar – Fish Noodle Soup (Myanmar)

a bowl of Mohingar with all the trimmings

Burma, or Myanmar as it is known today, is one Asian country not often in the news apart from natural disasters like the devastating cyclone that rocked that country in 2008. That’s because the military dictatorship that controls the country is notoriously secretive and isolationist.

Therefore, the announcement of the release of human rights activist and Nobel Peace Prize Winner Aung San Suu Kyi, came as a huge surprise this week. In order to celebrate, I thought I’d make some Mohingar, a traditional Burmese fish noodle soup, which, in fact, is considered the national dish. It’s similar to Vietnamese Pho in that they are both noodle soups with a delicious broth that also use tons of different garnishes.

Though I’ve enjoyed this dish in restaurants, and had a Burmese girlfriend who used to make it, I’ve never tried to prepare it myself.  Up for the challenge, however, as any gastronaut worth his salt, I conducted a lot of research online comparing different recipes and techniques. Serendipitously, I stumbled upon a great site called Hsa*ba (Burmese for “please eat”), which was put together by Tin Cho Chaw, who penned a fabulous Burmese cookbook by the same name. I ended up using her recipe as the basis for my first pot of Mohingar, and was not disappointed.

Please check out her amazing site at: http://www.hsaba.com/ and buy a copy of this amazing cookbook!

The Recipe

Prepare the fish:

3/4 lb. (300 g) fish – whole catfish or trout

1 lemon grass stalk, bruised

1/4 tsp. turmeric

2 cups (500 ml) water

onion paste:

1 large onion, chopped

3 cloves garlic

1-inch piece fresh ginger

2 lemon grass stalks (white part only), sliced

3 whole dried red chilies, soaked in hot water

1 tsp. shrimp paste

1/2 tsp. paprika

1/2 tsp. ground turmeric

6 tbsp. peanut oil

for the soup:

6 cups (1.5 l) water or stock

1 cup (100 g) young banana stem, sliced (or bamboo shoots)

2 1/2 oz. (75 g) ground rice powder, roasted

3 tbsp. fish sauce

1 tsp. ground black pepper

eat with:

1 lb. (500g) rice noodles, cooked

3 limes, halved

5 hard-boiled eggs, peeled and quartered

2 handfuls fresh coriander, chopped

extra fish sauce and chili flakes

1.)   Put the fish in a large pan, add water, lemon grass, turmeric. Bring to a boil and simmer for 6-10 minutes until the fish is just cooked. Remove fish from pan when cool enough  to handle, peel the skin and flake the flesh, discarding any bones. Drain the fish stock through a sieve and reserve for soup.

2.)   Grind the onion, garlic, ginger, dried chilies, and lemon grass into a paste in the food processor.

3.)   Heat oil in a saucepan and add onion paste. Cook over moderate heat for 15-20 minutes until the paste is soft and caramelized. Add the shrimp paste, mash with a wooden spoon until incorporated, then mix in the turmeric and paprika. Cook for a further minute until the spices are fragrant. Then add flaked fish. Cover and cook for 10-15 minutes, allowing all the flavors from the onion paste to infuse into the fish. [The soup paste may be stored for later use at this time by freezing]

4.)   To make the soup, place soup paste, rice powder, water and the reserved fish stock in a large pan.  Bring to a boil while stirring continuously to make sure the rice powder doesn’t clump. Add the banana stem or bamboo shoots and simmer for 20-30 minutes until tender. Add the fish sauce and taste for seasoning. Add the black pepper before serving

5.)   To serve, place a handful of noodles in a bowl and ladle over the soup. Let everyone add their own garnishes. Soup should taste spicy, salty and tangy from the limes.

Serves 4-6

Cooking time: 50-70 minutes

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