Recipes from Abroad // Colombian Calentado

Calentado. Heated. Cooking doesn’t get any easier than that. This Colombian staple takes the previous night’s leftovers – seasoned rice, beans, meat, potatoes – and reheats them into one dish. It can be eaten any time of day, but usually for breakfast or brunch. When my husband and I visited friends in Colombia in August 2009, we enjoyed calentado at a local restaurant. It was there I learned how to take dull leftovers and make an extraordinary meal out of them.

Everyone makes calentado a little differently. Here’s one recipe. But the beauty of calentado is that no recipe is necessary.

Take the leftover seasoned rice – I add some sazon when cooking white rice – and reheat it with a bit of oil in a skillet. If your rice isn’t seasoned, perhaps add sofrito. Add the leftover beans (and potatoes if you have them) and meat such as ground beef, chicken, pork, or chorizo. Get everything nice and warm. In another skillet, fry eggs to desired doneness. A little runny is the way to go, in my opinion. Plate the rice/bean/meat mixture and top with the fried egg. Serve with a side of home fries, hash browns, diced tomatoes…whatever you like!

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A quick note about Colombia. Growing up in the 1980s, I never thought I’d take a vacation to Bogota, Colombia, of all places in the world. I’m glad that the stigma of traveling to the South American nation didn’t deter me from visiting. The people are so warm. We met so many friendly faces and were surprised by the beauty and sheer size of the city of 10 million people.

Tidbits of information come to mind: on Sundays, certain city roads are shut down to vehicular traffic, allowing pedestrians and bikers to take to the streets. There’s an incredible police presence everywhere you go, which is oddly reassuring. Colombians are so serious about deterring the drug trade that it took a full three hours to get to the gate when leaving to return to the States. And any trip to Bogota is incomplete without a visit to the Chia location for Andrés Carne de Res.

Staying with locals, I was able to pick up on so many cultural wonders unique to Colombia. It’s an incredible country and one that I’d like to explore – Cali, Medellin, Cartagena. I could go on for pages about our visit, and we only scratched the surface in Bogota. Check out more photos of Bogota on my photography site.

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Back to Basics // From Wool to Weave in Peru

Sitting next to a pile of luggage in the back of a 10-seater van as we wound our way up and up through the Andes Mountains, I hoped nobody would turn around and notice my eyes were closed. I might have been able to pass my shuttered state off as jet lag -- after all, I had just arrived to Peru by plane a few hours prior. But it wasn't a lack of sleep that kept me in this state; it was the fear of looking out the window at the rocky chasm just inches from our van's tires. Our driver was a true professional, snaking the vehicle along a dirt path that came death-defyingly close to the ridge at rapid pace. But me? I was just an amateur passenger, a first-time visitor who wanted to take it all in but instead found myself squeezing my eyelids shut and grasping the vinyl seating until my knuckles turned translucent white.

Without warning, our van skidded to a stop. Gripping the seat even tighter, I opened my eyes just in time to see the door fly open. Out of a cloud of red dust appeared a woman dressed in a rainbow of woven colors, her outfit capped with a flat-top hat that looked like a cupcake paper turned upside-down. In a wrap on her back she carried a baby that couldn't possibly have been older than nine months. As the woman took a seat in the van, another member of our tour group asked if she might snap a picture, raising her camera and pointing to it. The woman didn't understand the request in English or Spanish, but smiled warmly and nodded at the hand gestures. As it turns out, this was no ordinary hitchhiker; this woman was from the Amaru community, the Andean village we were on our way to visit.

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After a few more minutes winding up the mountain we arrived at our destination. Hopping out of the van, I took note of the surroundings: a dirt road surrounded by modest homes made of cement. Further out, a patchwork of small fields on the sloping mountains was being cultivated by farmers. As we passed through an archway decorated with flowers, more women dressed like our hitchhiker friend greeted us by placing magenta garlands made out of Peru's national flower, the bell-shaped qantu, around our necks and sprinkling us with white flower petals. The women seemed genuinely excited to have us, hurriedly buzzing around like bees getting ready to show us their craft. With a translator on hand, a few of the women spoke about the importance of the textiles in their native tongue, a form of Quechua (the common ancestral language of the Andes). After thanking us for our interest in learning about their traditions, the demonstration began.

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First came the shearing of a sheep. After corralling her and binding her feet with yarn, three women held the sheep down and took a knife to her wool. The sheep wasn't too excited about this -- and neither would I have been, judging solely by the dullness of the blade -- and began shrieking wildly. Even her young lamb swooped in to see what was the matter, but the women assured us it didn't hurt the animal -- she was just scared.

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Next one of the women showed us how they clean the wool using only water. The process started with an empty bowl and one full of water. Placing the wool in the empty bowl, the woman covered it in a little water and rinsed it until the water turned black. Then she dumped the dirty water and repeated the process until the water turned murky brown and eventually clear, ensuring the wool was nice and clean. No bleach, no soap -- just some water and a whole lot of patience.

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Most fascinating to me was what came next. The women showed us how they make natural dyes from various flowers and minerals. For each specimen they showed us the corresponding fabric that would result. From browns and burnt orange to bold greens and blues, I was in awe that they could create such intense hues.

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In a nearby pot boiling with water over hot coals, the women demonstrated how to dye the fabric using just the hot water, wool, and some flowers. The colors that resulted after just a few minutes in the hot pot were remarkably vivid.

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The women also showed us how they turn the wool into yarn, stretching it out on spindles. Everything was done by hand without the aid of machines. I should also note that there were no men present -- they were all out working in the fields.

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Finally, it was time to weave. The Amaru women explained that the geometric patterns in the textiles include very old codes that tell about the community's identity, customs, and desires. Even the young girls wanted to join in weaving, with the adorable girl pictured above stealing the show (by far, she was the most photographed person in the community that day!). Watching the women pass down the tradition from generation to generation made me think of my own grandmother, a seamstress who knitted, sewed, embroidered, and crocheted. Unfortunately, without her around to show me how to create textile masterpieces, I've always found that I have little patience to learn myself. Still, it's interesting to note that whether in the suburbs of Cleveland or high in the Andean mountains, many of our traditions are similar.

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The end result are these beautifully intricate textiles. The Amaru women create blankets, tapestries, scarves, purses, jewelry, and dolls. I purchased a bracelet and have been proudly showing it off, explaining that I know exactly where it came from -- from the sheep to the finished product. In the end, spending time with the Amaru community was well worth the stress of the harrowing drive into the Andes.

Visiting Peru and want to meet the Amaru Women yourself? The community is located about 30 minutes by car from Cusco and five minutes from Pisac. Tours (including a demonstration and lunch) and homestays can be booked through La Tierra de los Yachaqs ("The Land of the Wise"), a community-based tourism project.

Recipes from Abroad // Learning to Make Thai Curry from a Local Chef

In 2000, I took a private class with the chef and owner of Apple’s Retreat and Guest House when I stayed in Kanchanburi, Thailand. It was there that I had the most heavenly green curry ever. My teacher’s nickname was “Apple,” and she’d spent some time studying under a chef in Canada, so she spoke English. I spent the entire day with her, including going to the market so she could teach me how to choose a good shrimp paste, fish sauce, etc. Then we cooked all day. I took notes on how she made her curry, so while not her own recipe per se, this is my interpretation. You really need a mortar and pestle, ideally, to make a traditional curry. Her food was honestly the best Thai I’ve ever had. I loved the recipe so much I used it for teaching Thai cooking to kids when I ran my cooking school in Berkeley.

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Kang Keaw Wann’s Thai Green Curry (serves 4)

Ingredients: 2 green Thai chiles, cut into slices 1 green serrano chile, cut into slices (don’t add this with the Thai chiles- it gets added later) 2 stalks lemongrass (about 2 T.), use only bottom two inches, ends trimmed 1 t. galanga, sliced and finely chopped 1 T. shallot, sliced 3-4 cloves garlic, skin on, smashed 1/2 t. kaffir lime peel or equal amount lime zest 1 t. coriander seed 1 t. cumin seed 1/2 of a cilantro root (you may subsitute one stem of cilantro, leaves and all) 2 kaffir lime leaves, crushed in hand 1 t. shrimp paste (kung pe) 1/8 t. curry powder 1/4 t. ground turmeric 2 T.canola or vegetable oil 2 c. coconut milk 1 chicken breast, cut into 1/2” cubes 4 Thai eggplant, stemmed and quartered bamboo shoots blanched green beans, assorted vegetables (do not use onion) 1 T. fish sauce (nam pla) 2 t. sugar 1 t. salt

Directions: Place both Thai chiles in a mortar and pestle and grind to a paste. Add lemongrass and grind to paste. Continue to add the following items one at a time and grind to a paste before adding the next ingredient: galanga, shallot, garlic, kaffir lime.

Toast coriander seed and cumin over medium heat in a small fry pan. Add to paste in mortar. Grind until coriander seed is completely broken down. Add serrano chile and grind. Add cilantro root and shrimp paste and grind. Add curry powder and turmeric and grind into paste. Remove curry paste from mortar and add to a large skillet. Over medium heat, add 2 tablespoons of oil to paste until heated through. Add one tablespoon water and crushed kaffir lime leaves to curry paste.

In a small saucepan, bring 2 cups coconut milk (make sure you add cream from top of milk) to a boil. While coconut milk is heating, add eggplant and chicken to curry paste mixture and saute, stirring constantly, until chicken is cooked, about 2 minutes. Add coconut milk to curry mixture and any remaining veggies that need to be cooked. Heat through, about 1-2 minutes, then add nam pla, sugar, and salt, and bring curry back to a boil. Remove from heat and serve immediately over steamed Jasmine rice.

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