Afghan Cooking

I took picture of my Afghan friend’s restrant kitchen and their cooking. It was quite a fun. 🙂

—— [Taste of Afghan] 215-219 Rye lane, Peckham. London SE15 Tel: 020-36310310

This is the Afghan version of Nan. It’s huge. And it was baked in the Afghan style huge Tandori oven. Which will be served, hunged upright in the AIR ! —– (I don’t know if that was because their stomach was huge or else —– I didn’t ask. 😀

So, this is it. It was somewhat Mixed-meat full diner — for 5 guests ? (IT may cost about £50 —– I don’t know if £10 for a person was expensive or not.) Anyhow, they are well cooked and taste very good ! Though, I don’t remember any of those cooking’s name. (In fact, I expected more spicy hot. —– I’m a man consuming West Indian Hot Chilly Source, one bottle a month)

In here, I used LED right, instead of flash right — because I wanted to capture a vibrant sense of “being here, while they are cooked” with a movement. — as they themselves must have taken ordinary still photo by their own camera, I wanted to show my way using slower shutter speed for some pictures.

(Lens used was Canon EF 40 mm F2.8 Pancake lens on Canon 5D-Mk3)

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Healthy eating – Paradox

I don’t have any ism other than a habit in my character which is a kind of cleanness = loath to touch anything filthy or dubious = originated from Japanese Shinto. I wash my hair just with a water = use a shampoo may be less than once in a month. I hate to expose my skin to dubious chemical more than a dust in my room.

But I eat something a vegetable in the Brassicaceae family is a matter of my taste = not a kind of healthy concern or any ism. And eating frozen sprouts instead of flesh broccoli or daikon etc, was, I’m just lazy. (You may disappointed to see me not so keen = = = Here is a wise rule, this is the problem of the mind = “If you are too serious, you tend to fail / if your mind was stuck, you loose the ability” —–> Make eating it to almost a unconscious habit which origin was forgotten = = = It IS the same, “If you are too serious / wary too much of your health = you became ill. — This paradox is common with Zen Buddhism !)

I was eating boiled sprouts with salad cream with the same laziness. Once I bought a “light” type salad cream then noticed that such product was something unnaturally plasticky and realised that to make a similar textured, tasted product without using original ingredients, there must be a lots of dubious chemicals and the ingredients were used for a factory production.

Basically, the western food life is dreadful. Eating looks healthy whole grain bread but with animal originated fat (butter) — even worse with trance fatty acid “Margarine” etc etc. —– So, I don’t buy processed food. (Don’t ask me Miso, Suger etc were not processed food ?)

Instead to use salad cream I’m making Miso based Paste = Miso, Chinese Chilli bean Sauce, pinch of Sugar and a bit of Vinegar —–> mix together. (I hope those products were produced in traditional way without using dubious chemicals) (Am I asking too much or ignorant ?)

The paste I made here was also good for other cooking such as Oka-kurage, boiled Daikon etc. —– may be I should make a lot and keep it in a jar for a quick serve to each breakfast = may be safe to keep for a week or two.

Before we start to talk about Eco, Health issue etc, we better look around and think deep. = In order to make a 16 years old Swedish girl who said that she dosen’t want to pollute the air by jet flight, to appear the UN, while 4 times more jet journeys were needed for her staff and her father to travel !

While this girl accusing Japan etc for their coal burning power station, making an exception of China who is the scond largest poluter by their coal burning, saying that they ARE the developping country. (Are they = who said so ? ) We need to see the truth behind the hypocritical farce. And see who is behind her campaign.

That’s what we call deceptive performance, in another word, fraud. 😀

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Onion onion

I’m not making any educative post but just write about a bit peculiar about my cooking. (of Onion) 😀

Since I’m getting lazy, my food life is getting boring too. Made the situation worse, I found the frozen vegetable convenient.

Other than a boiled egg, a slice or two fruits loaf, a hand full sprouts ( boiled) and some fresh fruits (I stoped to buy packed so-called fruits juice of dubious origin) for a breakfast, rest of the cooking became more or less the same pattern. Boiled frozen mixed vegetable with chicken or egg in a stew (some time miso based), curry or noodle —– always with “Special Onion” = quarter of a large onion was finely cut and the other quarter was just chopped. The chopped onion was boiled together with mixed vegetable (and cooked as a part of such as a noodle)

THEN just before the end of cooking, finely cut onion was added like spice and mixed. —– some of the people may be horrified to eat raw onion though, if you try, you may find that they make quite a good taste. Only the trouble might be a “said to be a bad breath” (because I myself don’t know) —– still, since I’ve been eating like this for the past 8, 10 years = so far nobody ever complained to me. (anyhow, I live alone and no habit of hugging kissing others) —– And some say, this raw onion (on top of no smoking, no drinking) may contributing my good health.

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陸水母 (おかくらげ) A way to eat Cucumber

Again, this is the same old question of being natural or to be in the artful sophistication, which IS Zen.  (People having a misunderstanding, that’s so-called deep Zen philosophy is creating such sophistication, but the truth was, simple.  Since the person has been doing the same many years, naturally the skill got better and the work became such high level of refinement = it was a quite natural but unintended consequence —– if it was intended, having such intention  was not Zen. —– Zen ask you just do = After you did it thousand times, ten thousand times, you must be a master of “it”)

Of course, to have a question itself WAS already out of Zen though, this is the Yoshizen Blog where dog shit was the main subject not a serious religious issue. = So, here the matter IS how to eat a Cucumber —– like a photo on top, put a bit of Miso (Soybean paste) and give a good bite or two.     Otherwise, how about the other choice ——–

Cucumber (half of it) was skinned and sliced to the thin tapes using a vegetable peeler (Photo left)  And those cucumber tapes were piled up one by one and they were cut into the 1 mm thin thread. (Knife has to be very sharp) (Photo right)

Then hot chili oil (it has to be made by good sesame seed oil — not other vegetable oil) was added to the shredded Cucumber (Photo left)    And just before eating, some Soy-source was added and eat immediately.  (otherwise, it get soggy) (Photo right) —– How hot may depend on your chili oil.   Still, the texture and the feeling to eat is quite like a real Jerry fish (I mean Jerry fish in the Chinese dish — not the one you might find in the sea.  😀 )    Like a cooked Jerry fish but as it came from the land, I named this cooking (?) Oka-Kurage — Oka mean Land, Kurage is a Jerry fish.  Of course, it’s a joke.    I eat my cucumber in this way if not put it in a vegetable soup. (I wonder why I don’t make a Q-ri momi.  😀 )   I wouldn’t pretend this is Zen or anything sophisticated but just call it Oka-Kurage. It’s to eat. (When you eat, just eat = don’t think or talk.)      M m m, yummy !

So the question was, do you take this journey to eat mere Cucumber ?  (Of course, I wouldn’t call it a journey but the way to cook an Oka-Kurage = only a way to make an Oka-Kurage = its mean this choice IS natural to me. = No other choice.)  So, the others may mistake this single-mindedness as a Mindfulness or Kakugo  and such concentration of the work seemed quite like a Dog Shit for them.  😀  (For me, it’s a Cucumber. —– What else ? )

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