Recipes

In Joyce Zonana's Dream Homes, she talks a lot about food, which is an imortant part of any child's upbringing. Food can hold deep cultural significance, or even just resurrect happy memories.  Food is one of the major cultural defining points.  When people are going out to eat, they might think "Do I want Chinese, Mexican, or Italian?"  Each of those three styles of food is vastly different from the others.  So food can definitely be a big part of someone's cultural identity.  But even on a more immediate scale, food can play a big part in one's family identity. 

The food our parents and grandparents cooked can signify who we are, and where we came from.  And for those of us who are from a third generation (or more) American-born family of a giant melting pot of who-knows-what, food can also give us a tiny glimpse at our ancestry.  Are you maybe 1/8 Italian, and your mom (who was 1/4 Italian) made spaghetti sauce from a recipe that was handed down from her mother (who was 1/2 Italian) from her mother's mother (who was born in Italy)?  

Or even if you don't have any top secret handed down recipes in your family, even the regions where you and your parents were born can show itself in food.  Were your parents from a state with a big fishing economy?  Maybe they cooked a lot of fish when you were growing up.  For someone living in the south, maybe your grandmother made brown beans and cornbread often, and later you found out the secret ingredient was lard, but you didn't care because "Granny always cooks everything with lard."  And now when you make brown beans for your family, you might add in a bit of lard. 

Here are some of the recipes that are important to us.  


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Ashley's Recipes: 

[Every trip we have ever made to Georgia has involved food. My Mumum, my mom's stepmom, my grandmother, who is of Indian heritage, loves to cook...and she cooks for an army. She'll fix a turkey, a ham, dressing, mashed potatoes, turnip greens, cornbread, black eyed peas, sweet potato casserole and probably a couple other things for FOUR people who usually are only coming to visit for a few days! One meal that always stands out to me is her curry. She makes either chicken or crab curry with Roti, an Indian flatbread. I used to help "clap" the Roti, which involves taking the hot bread off the skillet and physically clapping it in your hands, which makes it flaky, and also burns your hands. She said it just makes you tougher. :) 

And I must add that she uses hot pepper in everything. Her curry will probably be a lot hotter than this recipe would make for you. Once her cornbread dressing was so hot I had to put sweet potato juice on it just to eat it...because she used hot peppers instead of bell peppers, she said by accident. My mom said when she was a kid all she ever remembered tasting was hot!
 

I also remember going to New York once to visit mumum's relatives, and they make their chicken curry with chicken feet!]

Mumum's Chicken Curry

4 tbsp. olive oil
4 med. onions, coarsely chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 (6 oz.) can tomato paste
2 c. water
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
3 tbsp. curry powder, adjust to taste
2 lbs. boneless skinless chicken, cubed
6 lg. potatoes, peeled and quartered
2 red chili peppers (dried)

In a Dutch oven, sauté onions in olive oil until translucent. Add minced garlic, tomato paste, water, garlic powder, curry powder and salt. Cook until mixture begins to thicken and onions are tender. Drop in hot peppers. Add chicken and cover. Simmer on low heat for 1 hour, being careful not to boil.

Add potatoes and continue to simmer for another hour or until potatoes are tender. Taste and adjust seasonings, adding salt and curry or garlic powder, if needed. Add water to desired consistency.

Serve over white rice with Roti.

(The chicken can be substituted for crab legs, which also makes a spicy,
delicious meal)

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Roti  (Indian flatbread)
 
2 1/2 cups self-rising flour, or 2 cups self-rising flour and 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 cup warm water
Vegetable oil for pan
Melted butter

Preparation:

Place flour(s) in a bowl. Mix in the 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil.
Add water slowly, stirring as you go, until dough starts to come together. Keep stirring, adding a little more water if dough is still dry, until a ball is formed. Knead on the counter, adding flour if needed. Dough should be soft, but not sticky enough to stick to your hands or the counter. Let rest for 10 minutes, covered with a damp cloth.

Roll out dough in a large circle, about 1/4" thickness. Spread about 1 teaspoon vegetable oil over the surface of the dough. Roll the dough up into a long roll. Cut into 10 spirals. Roll each spiral out flat into a 6 inch circle. Let circles rest, covered with damp cloth, for 5 minutes.

Heat a flat heavy griddle or skillet over low to medium heat.

Roll the first circle of dough out as thin as possible.

Add about 1 teaspoon oil to the skillet. Place dough in hot skillet.
Brush top with oil. Cook until bread puffs up and turns light brown on the skillet side. Quickly flip to brown the other side (about 1-2 minutes).

Remove from heat and clap (physically clap the hot bread with your hands, which makes it flaky) and place in a large bowl to cool. Cover roti with a damp towel while you cook the rest. Add more oil to the skillet as needed.

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Liz’s Recipes:

[Cooking is a huge part of my life.  My mother’s a caterer for a living and I have been helping her with her business every since I was 10 yrs old. She does weddings, birthdays, special occasions, and many other events. It’s definitely something that brought my mother closer and united my real passion in life. Once I graduate from Western next year I will be attending culinary school in the hopes to open up my own restaurant and bakery one day. I would also love to write a few cookbooks.]

Never Fail Pound Cake

Mix Together: 1 stick of butter

3 cups of sugar

5 eggs- add one at a time after sugar and butter

3 cups of cake flour

1 cup of milk; alternate with flour

2 tsp. of lemon extract – put in a cold oven then turn the oven on.

 [My mom is a baker and she is the reason I know how to make cakes, cupcakes, pies, donuts, Danishes, and so much more. When the holidays come around there are about 15 different desserts to choose from and one of her biggest hits are her awesome cakes which I’ve mastered how to make. It’s a great honor in my family when you’re chosen to take over the torch and cook for the holidays so here is one of my mother’s favorite recipes for cake.]

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Mommy's Homemade Buttermilk Pancakes

Sift Together: 1 ¼ c. All purpose flour

½t. baking soda

2t. baking powder

¾ t. salt

2t. Sugar

Add: 1 egg

1 ¼ c. buttermilk

3T. oil

[My mother always cooked a huge breakfast every Saturday morning which consisted of pancakes, eggs, hash browns, bacon, sausage, homemade biscuits, fresh jam, and so much more. It was a way for the entire family and our friends to pig out and eat like Kings and Queens and my mother made everything fresh. It’s also taught me the value of breakfast and how much I love it! Enjoy her recipe!]

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Laura’s Recipes:

[When it comes to recipes, all I know are a few things my mother’s mother cooked. I know nothing from my father’s side.  Next time I see my dad, I’m going to ask him if he ever learned any of his mom’s recipes.  So, these two are passed down from my mom’s mom.]   

Goetta  (a German peasant dish popular in the Northern Kentucky/Cincinnati area)

Makes 10-12 servings

1 lb. sausage

1 lb. lean ground beef

1 tsp. salt (you can add more to taste after frying)

1 Tbsp. whole pickling spice

1 lb. box of Quick Oats

8 cups water (2 quarts)

Bring water to rolling boil.  Crumble beef and sausage into very small bits.  Add to boiling water.  Add salt.  Put pickling spice in spice bag or ball and add to water.  Boil 30 minutes.  Remove spice ball/bag.  Boil 15 more minutes.  Remove from heat and stir in box of oats.  Stir constantly and pour/spoon mixture into greased loaf pan(s).  Refrigerate.  Slice and fry.  Freeze unfried slices in freezer bags.  No need to thaw; put frozen slices straight into frying pan.  Great for breakfast! 

[Goetta is important to me because I am part German.  I have never been to Germany.  But I know I have ancestors from there.  My mom's mom made Goetta with this recipe.  I never met her.  Both of my mom's parents died before I was born.  But my mom made Goetta for us with this recipe and I loved it.  I would always beg her to make it, "When are we gonna have Goetta again?"  It's important to me because it's German and also because it's popular in Northern Kentucky, and my mom grew up "right across the river from Cincinnati."  Another reason it's important is because since my mom didn't make it very often, it always seemed like a special treat.] 

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Southgate Chili  (Southgate, KY--just across the river from Cincinnati) 

Makes 3-4 servings

1 lb. lean ground beef

1 medium onion (chopped or grated, depending whether you like chunks)

6oz. can of tomato paste

1 tsp. salt

1 heaping Tbsp. chili powder

1 Tbsp. brown sugar

1 tsp. vinegar

1 tsp. worcestershire sauce

1 can kidney beans

1 quart water

Brown meat in skillet.  Add onion.  Heat water, vinegar, worcestershire sauce, chili powder, brown sugar, salt, tomato paste, and kidney beans in pot.  Add meat and boil.  Reduce heat to simmer for 1/2 hour.  Great with Fritos!   

[This chili is important to me because my mom made it a lot when I was growing up.  I love how it isn't very spicy/hot, and is actually a little sweet.  This was the first recipe I asked my mom to teach me.  Her mom made it when they lived in Northern Kentucky.  It doesn't have the siginificance of being exotic or foreign, but it does connect me to my mom's side of the family.  Both of her parents died before I was born, so even though I was never able to get to know them, sharing the same recipes they shared at the dinner table with my own family connects me to them.]

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