How to Make a Tasty Hasty GARLIC PASTE-y (invite GINGER if you fancy)

          We focus on spices here at the NC. All else is treated with an approachable 'anything goes' attitude-- sort of like an achievable common denominator. Indian spices are the variable that we seek to learn about. So we shy away from listing food ingredients that are time-consuming or not easily available (at least, to us). We tend to use canned tomatoes and beans, frozen peas, common produce, jarred jalapenos, an occasional packaged item, so and so forth.

          Except with garlic. We at the NC insist on real garlic. We always keep a baby-food jar of garlic paste in the fridge-- we don't even own garlic powder. Indian recipes often call for garlic paste or ginger-garlic paste (which we usually substitute with our garlic paste). If a recipe lists cloves of garlic, we usually estimate an equivalent with our garlic paste. It's that simple.

          "So Trobee," I said to my pierced n' tattoed colleague.

          "Whazzup!?!"

          "Grab some paper and a pen. Write down how you make garlic paste."         

           Stare. "You put some cloves in a grinder and grind it up. Put the stuff in a jar, put it in the fridge. Garlic paste."

          I stared. "But don't you, like, shake it up a bit or something....? I mean, when Trina first did it, she had to call you."

          "Well yeah, ok, I guess..."

          "Maybe," I dared to add, "you're more like traditional recipe-writers than you realize. Assuming too much...."

           She grabbed a pen and paper and sat down. She stared at it.

          "Just... pretend I know nothing about garlic," I told her. "Walk me through what you do." 

          "Look," she warned me, "when I write things, I just stick to the basics.... "

          "Exactly why you should do it! Go Tro. Go Tro."

           Trobee began to write.

*D.I.Y. Garlic Paste* by Trobee

Get out your coffee grinder, a garlic bulb or two, and a knife.

--Tackling the garlic bulb--

1. Cut off the hard, tippy-top of the bulb.
2. Pull off the "cloves".  Now remove their papery skins.
3. Loosely chop them. Put the pieces in the coffee grinder.
4. Start grinding. You will notice that it will not make a smooth paste right away. So what I do is take a spoon, mix the half-lumpy garlic paste around and put the cover back on. Then while it is grinding, I shake it up to smooth-ify it.

It's OK if it's not perfectly smooth.

          "Thanks, Trobee,"  I said with a smile."I knew you could do it."

~~~ A common Indian practice is to include an equal or less amount of chopped gingerroot in the grinding process. When recipes call for 'garlic-ginger paste', you'll fit right in.

~~~ Garlic-ginger paste can also be purchased  at ordinary supermarkets. Is it as good? Of course not. However, Trobee and I cooked up the mushroom recipe below two ways ~ one version used fresh paste and the other used store-bought paste. We were surprised to find that the store-bought paste did a fairly decent job. So it's definitely doable.

---

G-Spot 'Shrooms (ginger and garlic, that is)

          Indian cuisine loves to use pastes in their cooking. This recipe is ideal for a first-timer with the paste-making experience.  And flavor-wise?  Mmm!  Really hits the spot. Serious.

Simple little pleasures.

• ¼ cup onion, loosely chopped
• 4 garlic cloves, chopped
• 1 Tb gingerroot, chopped or ¼ tsp ginger powder
• 2 cups mushrooms, chopped
• 1 ½ Tb oil
• A few shakes of soy sauce

1. Blenderize the onion, garlic and ginger (in your coffee grinder perhaps) until it is a smooth paste. Add a bit of water if you need to.
2. Get out your medium skillet and heat the oil, then add the paste and sauté until it is golden brown.
3. Add the mushrooms, followed by a few shakes of soy sauce. Let them slurp up the yummy goodness.
4. Heat through for about 10 minutes.

graphic by Mo Digital