Finding the Pearl of the Orient in West Tennessee

It was a sleepy Saturday morning in West Tennessee. I had received an invitation to a fundraiser being held by the West Tennessee Filipino American (Fil-Am) Association. The event was held at the home of Fil-Am members Charlie and Mitzi Williams of Jackson Tennessee.The annual event included a yard sale and homemade Filipino food being sold to raise money for the organization.

While the cold weather threatened to stop the yard sale, there was a smell that emitted from the backyard of the residence that could not be stopped. A door on the front porch opened revealing the sights, sounds and smells of cooking, eating and fellowship. As I entered I was thrust into a wonderland of sights and smells. (It was like a casino of good food. Lights, sounds and sensory overload!)

I was given a plate and led to a table where mounds of food begged for my attention.
The first dish I was given was homemade lumpia. For those not familiar with lumpia, lumpia are deep fried spring rolls filled with meat and vegetables. These golden delicious treats were brought in straight from a propane driven boiling wok on the back porch. A nice fluffy cloud of steamed white rice was soon spooned onto my plate. " Pour some of this on top of your rice" a lady advised me. I ladled some of the dark shrimp paste onto the rice. The paste was salty and savory.  As I turn, another person slips a piece of round crispy pork onto my plate. " This is Tocino" she says. The pork is sweet, salty and delicious. Tocino is a traditional Filipino breakfast sausage made from cured pork. It is sometimes made with pork, sugar, fruit juices and garlic. Imagine a sweet piece of Canadian bacon. Really, really good.

Before I could take a bite another kind lady offers me a sample of fried squid. Long crunchy strips of squid meat and fried fish are placed on my plate.  I am led out the back door to the patio where I meet the man responsible for many of these wonderful dishes. My friend laughs and tells me that the man responsible for all of this wonderful food could be the 'unofficial mayor of the local Filipino community". She introduces me to head cook Eli Masangkay as he gingerly begins to submerge a dried translucent squid into a vat of hot cooking oil. He then turns and opens the lid on a gas powered grill to reveal a gallery of gorgeous marinated kabobs. Strips of pork and chicken pop and crack over the hot blue flames releasing scents of heavenly origin.

After watching Eli apply his masterful touch to the squid and kabobs, I wander back inside where I watch a young lady take hardened brown pieces of chocolate and place them in boiling water. She begins to grind the chocolate disc back and forth using a wooden tool known as 'Batador' (which is similar to the Mexican 'Molinillo' used in making Mexican hot chocolate.) Filipino hot chocolate known as 'Tsokolate' is traditionally made from small discs known as 'tablea'. Tablea discs are made from ingredients cacao and sugar. The discs are placed into water and then blended. The result is an amazing smooth, sweet chocolatey beverage. 

I feasted on several Filipino dishes and finally capped them off with some wonderful frozen mango.

The food was impeccable. The hospitality was remarkable. The West Tennessee Filipino American Association hosts a number of events throughout the year. I highly recommend that you make plans to attend any of the organizations community functions. You will not be disappointed!

World Foods Cooking Class a Success!

Our World Foods cooking class held at Jackson State Community College was a great success! We had close to thirty participants that came out and joined us. During the day we cooked, shared and ate foods from Ethiopia, Thailand, the Philippines, Cuba and Mexico. Members of the class shared their experiences about eating from floating restaurants in Vietnam to cooking a whole pig on bamboo in the Philippines. We hope to hold the class again soon and will be offering private classes to parties and groups by appointment. Don't forget, we will be set up starting in May at the City of Jackson Farmer's market. Our booth will offer hard to find  import foods, seasonings and cooking tools from Asia, the Caribbean and Mexico. Come out an see us!

Breaker, Breaker...I'll have the Tandoori

The south is filled with many wonderful examples of the odd and the sublime. And for those of us who have suffered in silence pining for more ethnic cuisine here in West Tennessee, the odd and the sublime may have just landed off of Interstate 40 at exit 93.

For more than a decade, Jackson and surrounding areas have been without South Asian Indian cuisine. Many of us have had to drive to exotic foreign lands like Memphis and Nashville for our fill of curry and tamarind. But alas, our time has come. Hot, fresh and authentic Indian food is now available....at a truck stop.

That's right. Behind the posters for Red Bull and cascading rows of Snickers and Mars Bars, the sound of Hindi is spoken through the crackling speaker of a television set. Colorful bowls of spicy pickles and chilies decorate the tables and through it all , the luring scent of cardamom and cumin tickle the senses.

'Taste of India' is Jackson's newest Indian cafe providing authentic dishes like curries, dosas and daals 24 hours a day. The menu is small but is filled with an assortment of savory Indian dishes. As a start, our party tried the paneer pakora. Paneer is a cheese made from cow's milk, lemon juice and vinegar. For the paneer pakora, the cheese is rolled in chickpea flour and then deep fried. We also tried the samosas. Samosas are baked or fried puff pastry filled with potatoes, onions, peas, lentils and seasonings. It is very good dipped into a tamarind based sauce called chutney.

We ordered a dish of butter chicken. Butter chicken also known as 'murgh makhani' is a dish of skinless chicken cooked with tomatoes, butter and garam masala spices. It can also be cooked in yogurt, garlic chili paste and cashew paste. It is a rich thick delicious stew of spices and savory bites.

Friends ordered the chicken curry which was a little spicy even thought they ordered the mild. However, they truly enjoyed it alongside a plate of mixed vegetables cooked in garlic, ginger, tomatoes and spices.

Taste of India also makes delicious homemade breads including 'roti' a bread made from wholemeal flour. It is an unleavened bread that is cooked on a traditional griddle called a 'tawa'. 

The meal was delicious and the service was great. The restaurant has plans of putting in a tandoor oven in the future which will add a number of grilled dishes to the menu. They have a small market which sells spices, lentils and Indian house ware products.

The chef that cooks for Taste of India is Punjabi. Punjabi cuisine is a food from the Punjab region of Northwestern Indian and eastern Pakistan. It is one of India's main culinary styles. Some of the dishes he creates are known as 'thalis' which are mixed platters of small dishes. It is truly a unique experience dining on food that has traveled from such distant lands in a cafe that services Kenworths, Peterbuilts and Mack Trucks. Very Unique...

Taste of India

I-40 Exit 93 

Jackson Tennessee

We Will Wok You

As a departure from our regular reviews of local food joints, I wanted to share a little bit about some of the tools that you can use to create great  dishes in your own kitchen. One of the first things that most of us think about when we think of Chinese cooking is the wok.

What makes a wok special? Why couldn't you simply use a frying pan or skillet to cook Chinese dishes? Grace Young writes in The Breath of a Wok that the Cantonese believe that the wok imparts a special flavor known as 'wok hei' which means 'taste of the wok'. Indeed a well-seasoned wok creates a taste that cooking in a pan or skillet cannot reproduce. The circular shape of the wok allows for food to be cooked at various stages of heat and the seasoning of herbs and spices works itself into the essence of wok.

When purchasing a wok, avoid stainless steel woks. They take to long to heat up and will not season well. Avoid buying woks in big name department stores. They usually appear high quality but stink when it comes to cooking. (And for heaven's sake..don't ever, ever, ever even look at electric wok's. There are no regions of varying heat in these for proper cooking, just one big warm shell!) A good wok is created using hammered or spun steel. The spun carbon steel looks like the tracks on an album (if you can remember albums..I can..and I can remember eight tracks but that's another story) The grooved spun steel is a perfect surface for cooking.

I would suggest buying your wok from an ethnic market where 'non touristy' woks can be found.
Woks come in a couple of body styles. The traditional rounded bottom woks are made for stoves with gas. Flat bottomed woks sits nicely on an electric power range.

Cooking on the wok is an art. Oils like sesame oil or peanut oil are suggested as they can survive high heat without burning. They also impart a great flavor and scent. After cooking on a quality wok, it will build a patina that will season it. The following is a great cutaway shot of a wok in action.

Cutting ingredients to go into the wok should be complimentary to the wok. Meat and vegetables should be cut into small pieces and thin strips so that they will cook quickly. This technique was implemented in areas of China where fuel could be conserved by cooking foods at a quicker pace.

The words 'stir fry' in the Bible Belt may conjure up images of 'La Choy' tasteless mixed vegetables and bamboo shoots mixed with waterfalls of soy sauce and bite size chicken pieces.

Stir frying is a technique used in cooking Chinese dishes. Known as 'Chau' in Cantonese, the technique is used to preserve textures and lock in flavors. Stir frying focuses on 'tossing' ingredients around the pot to lightly sear them  without burning them or drying them out. The term first came on the scene in the U.S. in 1945 when an English Chinese cookbook written by Buwei Yang Chao spoke of the 'chao' cooking technique. The writer shares that "chao may be referred to as big fire shallow fat continual stirring quick frying." A long description that he suggested be called 'stir fry' for short.

Instead of pouring a ton of ingredients in your wok, start out with a basic sesame oil and minced garlic. The scent and seasoning of the two is amazing...

Indian Food in Jackson Tennessee!

It has happened! West Tennesseans in the Jackson and Lexington Tennessee areas can now have their onion pakora and tiki masala! ' A Taste of India' is now open 24 hours a day (yes!) at the I-40 exit 93. Based in the back of a truck stop (Yes...look for the Sikh symbol on the gas pumps!) A Taste of India is now offering such treats as curries, dals (tasty lentil dishes) and delicious chaat (a Hindi term used to describe savory snacks.) The restaurant has a Punjabi chef who has been specially trained and cooks some amazing dishes.

Look for photos and more in this blog in days to come. Our World Foods class was a hit! Look for the article about the class in this weeks Jackson Sun newspaper.


Make eating an experience!

The 'Soul' of Cooking

Over the past few months I have been working to document the kitchen life and cooking of some of West Tennessee's ethnic restaurants. Most of the places that I have visited are places that I frequent and have come to know as my culinary 'homes' away from home. All of them are locally owned. Most of them are maintained by families who have immigrated to the good ole USA in search of greener pastures.

There's my friend Mister Joe. Mister Joe owns and runs the Lotus Vietnamese Restaurant in Memphis Tennessee. Mister Joe drives an old mini-van to work and is there sometimes 10 hours a day. He came to the U.S. back in the late Seventies amidst some very stressful conditions in North Vietnam. He is a sweet little guy who describes almost every item on his menu as 'very delicious, very delicious'. Everytime I visit his place, it takes a little while for the food to arrive. But the reason is...it is cooked fresh when it is ordered.    His place is so 'kitch' decorated with faux ocean scene murals, the classic 'dogs playing poker' and mother of pearl wall hangings with scenes of Vietnam. Multicolored lights decorate Buddhist statues and vintage beer signs. While it looks like a mad mix of a college dorm and a Saigon lounge in the Vietnam era, it is homey, comforting and familiar.

Then there's Thurley and her mother cooking up hot delicious Honduran dishes at 'Los Amigos' in Jackson Tennessee. Piles of green plantains and bottles of homemade sauces fill their kitchen . Thurley's brother comes in a jokes with his sister and mother, all of them laughing and cooking as if they were home.

My visit with legendary Chinese Chef Lisa Lie at Asian Palace in Memphis Tennessee was surreal. She asked me "what do you like here?" when I answered " The chicken feet", she erupted into laughter and said "Oh I am going to take care of you!" She toured me into a room full of flaming stoves and giant size woks. A man walks by and opens a rack of Peking duck. She smiled and cooked and laughed. She began to crank out a number of dishes...steamed chicken buns, shrimp dumplings, hot and spicy prawns...and on..and on...The men and women working in the kitchen seemed to light up when I asked them about their work.

While working on my book on southern barbecue I discovered similar themes among families who own barbecue joints. Pride in their cooking, love for the business and most of all...a love for the food that they cook. There is a certain 'spirit' that flows throughout the hands and kitchens of all of these great eateries. The 'soul' of cooking is the love for food and the love in sharing these foods with the world around them.

May we continue to support the souls that prepare these foods...

Sweet Treats from Latin Lands

Most West Tennesseans might be familiar with Mexican desserts like flan and sopapillas from the numerous Tex Mex style Mexican restaurants throughout the region. But there are a wonderful number of sweets available in the growing community of Latin specialty markets and taquerias throughout West Tennessee. One of these community jewels is 'Sarai's Panaderia and Taqueria' located in South Jackson Tennessee.

Owner Martin Martinez and his staff offer up a great menu of authentic Mexican dishes like Al Pastor Tacos, Barbacoa Tortas and Chorizo Gorditas. Chef Maria cooks all of her traditional Mexican dishes in the true spirit of Latin American cooking. Fresh ingredients, authentic spices and Mexican cooking techniques all combine to produce some truly amazing dishes.

While the savory dishes of Sarai's are worth the trip alone, it is the sweet treats that they produce that really steal the show. Owner Martinez creates homemade Mexican style cakes for birthdays, weddings and family celebrations. A display case showcases a number of the breads and pastries made in the traditional style.

Some of the items include:

'Conchas' which are traditional Mexican sweet breads. Butter, flour and sugar are combined to create these traditonal breads that are popular breakfast items.

'Empanadas' which are stuffed sweet pastries filled with fruit and covered in sugar.

'Felites' are French inspired pastries that combine butter and dough. (Maria points out that these pastries resemble an 'ear' and giggles. )

'Guayabas' are balls of sweet dough made to resemble 'mountains' that are made from milk, eggs, sugar and butter.

'Pan Fino' are cinnamon covered sweet breads.

'Polvorones' are sweet colorful pastries that resemble cookies.



All of these wonderful treats are affordable, tasty and made fresh daily. Sarai's is located at:

Sarai's Panaderia and Taqueria
1433 South Highland
Jackson Tennessee 38301