Sheep Shearing or Kouraes in Crete

The following is an account of the sheep shearing I attended in the village of Gonies, up near the Psiloritis mountain range of Crete, where the age old traditions practiced take you back a couple of centuries...Welcome to the island of Crete in Southern Greece, where it feels like one is on a perpetual holiday!

One of the first things you notice on the mountains of Crete are the goats and the sheep. Hordes of them. Blocking roads as they waddle along, guided by their shepherd’s tinkling their bells or simply, camouflaged amidst the brown-green Mediterranean landscape on the mountains of this Greek island. Even the cuisine spells goats, in the form of meat or from the various cheeses that goat’s milk produces. It is a popular form of livelihood, where most shepherds still reside in sleepy villages along the mountains of Crete, maintaining this ancient tradition of animal farming. 

As the days get hotter and temperatures soar in the 40s (C), it is time to relieve the sheep of their cumbersome wool and the shepherd sends out a verbal invitation to all friends and family. Each shepherd chooses a day of convenience for everyone, as this annual event brings together peolpe from the village and even the diaspora living in the cities to enjoy an evening of some hard work, followed by a hearty meal hosted by the shepherd. The sheep roam this rocky terrain with free abandon so when the day arrives, everyone heads up to the mountains in their 4 wheelers, carrying boxes of cakes, pastries or drinks for the host. The women have a specific task of cooking goats meat in a pot on a stone fire while the men prepare a fire and set up a circular grill, with goats, sliced into halves, hung on stakes all around it. This is called an antichristo and the only spice used is salt! 

As the afternoon gets cooler, the men roll up their sleeves and bring out the sheep, dragging them towards an open space as the sheep initially resist. Their feet are tied up and using one hand only, huge sheering scissors are used to cut away the wool, in a painless process. The task takes about 5 minutes per sheep and as soon as they open the binds, the sheep literally leap off with relief at their lighter bodies! They start gathering in a crowd and wait for more sheep to join them, while the wool keeps piling up. At this point, the women enter the pen and collect the wool into sacks. The wool feels muddy and even wet but is possibly one of the best experiences for your hands, as wool naturally contains lanolin and the after effect leaves your skin feeling amazingly soft. The shepherd offers the laboring guests with a plate of cooked goat lungs or liver and some raki, or an alcohol made of grape residues from wine making. The shearing done, the animals are let off to roam the mountains but some cheeky ones escape the shearing process and are duly dragged back to get sheared! 

The women have by now prepared a mammoth bowl of salad with local herbs and tomatoes, feta cheese, cucumbers, peppers, olive oil and boiled potatoes or zuchini. The salad is dished out, drinks provided and the boiled goat meat is first served followed by the arrival of the shepherd, carrying huge pieces of the half lamb on a stick, sliding off the meat in one fluid move. Someone cuts up major portions but everyone basically uses their hands to bite off the succulent meat, subtly flavored  by salt. 

A rice dish eventually arrives which has been cooked in the soup of the boiled goat, sprinkled with lemon and acts as the best palate cleanser and side dish. Reminiscent of a congee or a panta bhaat, the pilafi also appears at Cretan wedding menus. 

The Greeks have an immense heart and appetite for food and when you feel that they could possibly not eat anymore, the desserts are brought out with more fruit and drinks. 

One of the elderly members of the party eventually takes a shoulder bone from the remains of the antichristo goat and cleans it with a knife to read the fortunes of the shepherd. Colorings and markings are noted and predictions, like death in the family have been known to come true so many shepherds prefer to avoid this practice. 

The evening ends with music, songs and dance, accompanied by the louto or the lute and the warm wishes of everyone that took part in this social event.      

This was yours truly trying to sheer a hapless sheep, who eventually got tired of my amateur touch and tried to free herself, at which point I decided to let the professionals take over! 

   

The Prophet's birth, Eid Milad-un-nabi

60,000 men and 13 elephants headed towards the Ka’aba in the city of Mecca, to destroy this pagan house of worship which the Arab tribes had filled with idols. The army was lead by Abraha, King of Yemen, who was proud to have the celebrated elephant Mahmud, which had been  lent to him by Negus of Abyssinia. Abraha had built a beautiful church in Sa’na of Yemen and wanted everyone, including non-Christians to use it for their pilgrimage. This did not go too well with the Arabs who had their own archaic Ka’aba which they revered immensely. Abraha charged forth with all his force but the greatest of them all, Mahmud the elephant relented. As he neared Mecca, Mahmud stopped and knelt towards the Ka’aba. No amount of coaxing, supplications or the use of force would make the mighty elephant budge. He hastened away from Mecca but would not go towards it. And then, it is said that the sky suddenly grew dark as a massive group of birds, the Ababil came flying out carrying stones in their beaks and hurled these down on the advancing army, until none was left to attack Mecca. The animals had refused to let the city be attacked, the city that was soon to give birth to one, who would be known as the last prophet of God. A man who would give rise to the last major religion of the world; a man, who would bring people of all kinds, regardless of the color of their skin, their status in life or their nationality, as one. The prophet Muhammad (SAW) is thought ot have been born in 571 CE, on the 12^th day of the month of Rabi-ul Awal known as the Sana-al Fil or the year of the elephant.

As the years progressed and Islam spread across regions and continents, the caliphates continued ruling in parts of North Africa and it was during the Fatimid Caliphate in Egypt that the birth of the Prophet was celebrated in style, but not until the Ottomans did it become a proper designated holiday, in the late 1500s. Like all birthdays, something special was cooked, people wore new clothes and greeted each other in remembrance of the holy day of the Prophet’s birth. 

Of course prayers were also a major part of this festival as the day of the Prophet’s birth or Mawlid in Arabic is also known as the day he passed away. The feeling of joy and sadness were balanced out as Egyptians celebrated Mawlid and to this day, some very special rituals are performed. Halwatil mowlood (sweets of the prophet) are consumed which are mainly sugar dolls, some carrying a sword sitting on a horse while The National Islamic Choir collaborates with the opera house to put up special shows throughout the week. The Egyptians love their creaking tables on special occasions and duck features a lot at Mawlid feasts. While the festivities go on for about a week, television programmes are all geared towards this event as old movies with an Islamic theme are telecast on TV and religious hymns are played on repeat all over. 

In some Arab countries like Libya, children dressed in their best wear on Moulud-un nabi come out carrying small lanterns or candles and stand opposite each other in a line. Then the lanterns are passed from one child to the other, signifying the arrival of the Prophet who brought the light of knowledge, education and wisdom with him. A special meal is served called aseed which is dough pudding, with a ball of boiled dough that is drenched in melted butter, date syrup or honey. In other countries like Iraq, especially in Erbil, Mawlood Nabaui is celebrated with a menu that includes dolma, rice with soup and some kind of meat, heavy with the spice of celebration!

Eid Milad-un Nabi  is considered a third Eid in the Indian subcontinent where in Pakistan the flag will be hoisted on all national monuments while a gun salute at dawn rings in the birthday. In some parts of India, processions are carried out where artefacts of the prophet like his footsteps in a glass casket, is smeared with sandal paste. From Kerala, to Sylhet and Peshawar, everyone wears their best outfit and food and prayers are an integral part of the day.

This year, Eid Milad-un Nabi is all the more special as we celebrate the birthdays of two prophets. One is the Gregorian calendar date while the other, is the lunar Islamic date. Both Jesus and Mohammad preached for peace, humbleness and righteousness while the Prophet Muhammad (SAW) paid especial stress on the need for education. In a world that is becoming increasingly intolerant and replete with strife, let us not forget the true message these revered men brought to us and their struggles to leave us a world where we could live in peace. 

Khulna: The tastes of the Sundarabans

Its been a while since I wrote here, been  busily creating the website for the cross culture cooks challenges but I also had to travel from work. This time I went to the Sundarbans and the city of Khulna, South-West Bangladesh. We flew by sea plane as the hartals and strikes all over the country rendered road journey mostly unsafe! So off we flew on the MAF planes, that took off from the Dhaka airport's tarmac and landed us, splashing water everywhere into the Rupsha river of Khulna.

My work was with the communities that are living on the fringes of the Sundarbans mangrove forest and building eco-cottages there. We came across some local stuff like the fruit Noyil which turned out to be the "orboroi" or in other words, Phyllanthus Acidus :D

While monitoring the final parts of installing the eco-cottages made with local products like the Nypa palm and bamboo, we would travel out by boat everyday, catching the canopy covered boats from the Mongla port. These eggs were being sold there. The white ones are duck eggs with Koel eggs or cuckoo bird eggs. The bottle had rock salt mixed with some red chilli powder to sprinkle over the boiled eggs and eaten as a wholesome, hygenic, healthy snack!

At the eco-cottage sites of the villages along the Sundarbans, we ate a range of local fruits and vegetables and then this winner of an ingredient made its appearance on our last day, while treating some foreign guests. This is the famous Chui jhal or Piper Chaba. The uniqueness of eating this plant in South-Western Bangladesh mainly lies in the fact that we only use the roots and stems of this plant instead of the leaves. They cut down the stems and roots, peel then and chop them up and cook them ALOT so only meat dishes like beef or mutton go well with this root dish as they can be cooked for hours. tasting like horse radish, this root herb is said to be the remedy to ailments like arthritis.

I thought I know a lot about food or at least foreign ones disguised as our local versions but this one totally duped me clean! The Bosnian roti was being served at our hotel, the City Inn and I wondered how convenient to name something from a remote country that no one can even verify! But then I was told its story.... Apparently this recipe of leavened bread dough with yeast and deep fried, was brought back to Bangladesh by the UN deployed chefs or soldiers working in Bosnia from the UN peace keeping corps.  They learnt this bread from their Pakistani colleagues but when they re-invented it here in Bangladesh, they gave it the name of the country where they had learnt it, hence Bosnian bread :D

And after all that delicious food I ate the famous mishti paan or sweet paan of Khulna. Filled with coconut powder or khopra, cashews, raisins, rose extract and fennel seeds. This paan kind of makes up for any dessert cravings and can be a VERY efficient digester. Too efficient as I later discovered :/

And thus I returned home in one piece with some chui jhal to experiment with and looking forward to my next journey back to Khulna and the Sundarbans :D 

New mail ID for Cross Culture Cooks

Dear all,

Please note that you can now send us queries at

cooks@crossculturecook.com

So ask away! :)

Reema Islam (Bangladesh) 
Miguel Esquirol (Canada-Bolivia)

Miguel's cooking challenge: Fish Paturi from Bangladesh

COOKING CHALLENGE FISH PATURI

Cooking an unknown dish, something that you never tried even in a restaurant, is a particularly interesting challenge. It’s like that kid’s game where you have to walk blindfolded while somebody guides you using only his voice. It can be frustrating and, at the same time, lets you use different senses that you didn’t know you had. You can smell, listen and even feel the floor below your feet. Cooking Fish Paturi is something similar to this, it was like a glimpse in someone else universe.

Groceries

The first challenge for this dish was the gathering of all the ingredients.

• Some of them were fairly straightforward. Finding the fish, Barramundi or Asian Seabass (Lates calcarifer) was out of the question considering availability and freshness. The replacement I decided was a regular Seabass, a regular white fish with good texture.
• Other ingredients were also really basic and easy to find like the lemon, green chiles (jalapenos in this case) and coconut.
• Most of the spices I had it already, Tumeric, white mustard salt and sugar.
• The last ingredients were a little more difficult. Black mustard was something I never used, but I found in a big supermarket.
• I had the chance to find a small Indian store for the last couple of ingredients. They had the Banana Leave and the mustard oil. About this last one, it was the only product that I’ve never even heard about.

Mise en place

If coconut was something I always known, when I started the recipe, I’ve realized that I never actually opened a coconut. After a short youtube video, I got a drill and a hammer among my tools, and I proceed to open my first coconut. Once opened I took out the white flesh with a spoon, and cleaned up from the brown substance under water.
Another new experience was cooking with banana leaves, in spite that I always known the tree, and even I had one in our garden while growing up. I’ve never worked with it before.  I used some scissors to cut up the leave in big squares, and because I felt that I didn’t had enough, I also made some squares in parchment paper.
Finally, the green peppers, I only took the skin, without the seeds, to avoid the dish being too hot.

Marinade

I mixed in a chopper the coconut, the two different mustards, the tumeric, lemon juice some of the green chiles, salt and sugar. I had to add a little bit of water to make a paste. The past was fragrant and with a nice yellow color thanks to the tumeric. The coconut give it a rough texture.  Once the past was done I added the fish in small pieces and I let it in the fridge for about an hour (the time to go to the swimming pool).

Cooking

This was the most difficult part of the process. I put the fish, mustard oil and green pepper on top of the banana leave and I fold it. I used butcher twine to close it in a small envelope. It was a slow process, and some of the leaves cracked, but finally I ended with five banana leaf pouches, and the rest of the fish inside parchment paper.

Steam

I used a simple steamer, with an inch of water, to cook the fish. I piled up all the small envelopes and let it cook for around 10 minutes. The smell was mouth watering.

Serving

I presented individual envelopes on top of some basmati rice with the juices of the fish and coconut/mustard running into it.

Tasting

This dish was one of the most different flavor combinations I ever had. I’ve eaten most of the ingredients separated but the mix, the marinating and the steaming of the fish, turn the dish into something delicate and fragrant, frankly quite unique. The subtle texture of the fish worked with the more fleshy flavor of the coconut. The yellow tinted flesh of the fish was almost spicy with the mustard oil, without being overwhelming.
My only regret was perhaps that the cooking was too long, and the fish and sauce felt a little waterlogged.

Miguel Esquirol Rios

(originally from Bolivia)

Humintas: A Bolivian corn dish

A friend happened to send me this post on someone who had made bread using the techniques of the ancient Pharoahs of Egypt and I thought this man thinks like me: matching food and archaeology or history if you prefer :) So I got in touch with Miguel and within the first hour we had chalked out a plan to make dishes from each other's country and swap the experiences. So here begins our quest to learn more about other cultures and history thorough the best way we know: cooking! :D

My task was to make the Bolivian dish Humintas. Now I checked online and it is widely eaten in many South American countries as well. Bolivia has their own version but most follow the same basic recipe and unfortunately, the use of animal fat (lard) which I obviously had to replace with melted cow fat. I do not eat any pig products so it had to be an alternative to lard but I wish I didnt have to use animal fat as I strictly avoid it in my food! :/ Oh well... I went all Nigella Lawson and added a dollop nonetheless. (wait she probably would have used the entire cow!!)

So here I was, having only been exposed to some basic Brazilian cuisine during my visit there in 2012, while Humintas was primarily a very homely dish, one that may not be on restaurant menus. So imagine my delight when my friend Danya suddenly sent me 6 massive corns from her organic cornfields just in time for my cooking session. I called in my friends Liz and Vince and Vince is this award winning photographer so I was doubly blessed with quality products and an experienced hand like him! :)

On to the dish and sourcing the spices was no problem. We love chilies in Bangladesh and I have often felt that South American dishes have many similarities with us, at least in terms of cuisine and I made my maid run around looking for banana leaves as M. le Photographer  decided he wanted a natural base. My maid went to someone's banana grove behind our house and tore 2 huge leaves much to my neighbor's amusement and we started cooking!

Ingredients: 

Pinch of Salt, cinnamon powder, anise powder, 2-3 green chilies that have turned red then ground into a paste, warm animal fat (I used 2 tbs), 2 eggs, sugar, a tsp of baking powder, 5 corn cobs, a bit of white cheese or cottage cheese. (called Dhk poneer here)

Method:

Grind the corn kernels until you get a paste which might be slightly grainy to the touch. 

Mix everything properly except for the cheese. You may check the texture as eggs make the mix too watery so omit one egg if needed. Open the corn husks, use a couple of husks inverted, take a husk and turn the round ends inwards with inner side pointing out then place another one beneath it so you can ultimately wrap them. Put a couple of tablespoons in the middle of the husk. In the middle add grated cheese.

Fold the husks into a packet shape ensuring the stuffing does not ooze out

Close the humintas with a tie made with the husks. (you can use the husks to cut out strings).

Place these in a steamer for up to 40 mins and stick a toothpick in to see whether done.

If the toothpick comes out clean you are ready to serve

The huminatas was obviously sweet and spicy to the taste with a hint of the zing cheese adds to any dish. next time though I will keep the corn paste less grainy as some of the kernels had not entirely been ground well. Nonetheless, I got a taste of Bolivia right here in my kitchen in the chaotic city of Dhaka, all thanks to Miguel and I cant wait for our next assignment!!! :D

Cheers all and take pride in your cooking!!

Reema Islam,
Dhaka, Bangladesh
Cooked Humintas from Bolivia
Pics by Vince Boisgard

Atisa Dipankara Srijnan: Connecting Bangladesh, India & Tibet

A man born in Chittagong, Sharat Chandra Das was sent to Tibet as an envoy of the British empire in the latter part of the 1800s.  As it was highly restricted to travel freely, he snooped around the mountains and monasteries trying to understand the life and ways of the Tibetan monks there. He worked as a sort of spy for the British and needless to say, had to escape Tibet when he was found out, leaving those who had befriended him in risk.

The info he had gathered during his stay was later compiled into 2 books: Indian Pundits in the land of the SNows in 1893 by the Asiatic Society and Travel Accounts of Tibet by the British Geographical Society. He mentioned another son of Bangladesh who had made his indelible mark on the reclusive Buddhists of Tibet and was responsible for reviving and restoring the Buddhism practiced in Tibet.

Atisa Dipankaram Srijan, was born as Chandragarbha in 980 CE, in village Vajrajogini of Vikrampur or the Bikrampur we know of, now known as Munshigonj. Like the Buddha, Atisa was also born into a privileged family as a prince and as a child, showed the seeds of a scholar in him. later as he grew up, he joined a university and started studying more about Buddhism and soon became the star pupil, going on to become the prinicipal of Vikramashila Vihara, one of the 5 main Mahaviharas like Nalanda.

Ruins of Vikramashila in district Bhagalpur of Bihar, India

 By now he was called Dipankar Srijnan. At 32, he travelled a perilous journey to Java and Indonesia to spread the Gospel of Buddha and after 15 years he returned to India.

Tapestry found in Indonesia depicting Atisa

Here he headed Vikramashila and several other universities before being invited by the Tibetan king who wanted Buddhism revived in the mountainous region. Bidding his tearful disciples adieu, who felt Atisa leaving India would be catastrophic for the spread of Buddhism (Nalanda was already declining) Atisa then left India and lived for a year in Nepal before leaving for Tibet, through another arduous, perilous, dacoit ridden yet undoubtedly exiting journey to Tibet. he crossed the Manas Lake or Mannosarovar near the Kailash mountains to enter Tibet and was welcomed (like everywhere else) like a celebrity by the King. he was given a celestial drink of tea and the title of Atisa (the greatest one) was bestowed upon him here. Atisa lived in Tibet for 13 years before dying at the age of 73. he is responsible for reviving the Mahayana Buddhsim, as well as the concept of the Dalai Lama.

painting of Atisa found in Kadampa monastery of Tibet gifted to the Metropolitan Museum USA. 

Poor Atisa felt homesick and even composed songs in Bangla for his beloved place of birth called "Vajrasana Vajragiti", "Charyagiti", "Vajrayogini Stotra". However we have lost these ancient songs and now they are only contained within Tibetan Tanjurs, or their translated treaties.

Today, Bangladesh truly recognises the efforts of this great scholar and Atish Dipankar is commemorated with a China-Bangladesh joint venture, with a faux model of his house. Now known as "Nastik Ponditer Bhita" or the house of the atheist scholar, Prof. Sufi Mostafizur rahman and his team of archaoelogists have what they feel discovered a 1000 year old monastery in Munshigonj or ancient Vikrampura. this will certainly give us a better idea of the childhood days of Atisa and the world he was exposed to within Bangladesh.

Atisa Dipankara's house built as a symbol 

Excavations at the 1000 year old Vihara site

At atish Dipankar's house