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How To Chiffonade Basil
Chiffonade is to cut a flat leafy vegetable or herb into thin strips or ribbons.
Stack the leaves on top of each other, in a neat pile.
Roll the leaves tightly into a cylinder. You can roll either the long or short side of the leaves; this will just give you different lengths.
Cut into strips using a very sharp knife. A dull knife will bruise of crush the leaves which you do not want.
Gently pull apart the ribbons with your fingers.
TIP: You should do this right before you have to add to your dish because the basil tends to get brown quickly if left to sit in the air.
DEFINE: CHOKA
NOUN, Ch-oa-k-aa
This is a method of preparing a dish in Trinidad where, the vegetables or dry-cured fish (herring or salted fish) are fire roasted, before mashing and combining with salt, onion and other fresh herbs. It has originated from India, and must involve roasting the vegetables in the direct flame to give a charred flavour. At the end, hot oil infused with garlic and other spices (such as whole cumin/geera, fenugreek/methee) is added to finish the dish. Chokas are normally eaten with Trinidad Roti which is a type of thin bread.
Define: Chounkay or CHUNKAY
Verb, ch-oun-kay, ch-oun-kay-ing, ch-oun-kay-ed
Use in a sentence: 1)"Time to chounkay the chicken or duck." OR 2)“ Time to chounkay the Tomatoes choka or dhal.”:
Some pronounce as “chounkay”, while others say “chunkay”; either way, it means the same thing. There are 2 ways in which we use this word in Trinidad:
1) A method of cooking whereby you heat oil in a pot and add a required amount of curry masala which is then allowed to fry until it looks grainy. At this point, the meat or vegetables will then be added and coated with the curry and permitted to cook.
2) A technique where oil is heated in a metal ladle or kalchul, before adding spices and minced garlic to infuse the oil. Once the garlic or other spices have become a dark golden colour, this is then added to a dish such as Trinidad dhal or various vegetable chokas. This techniques adds an inexplicable flavour profile to that dish which will make you wanna keeping eating!
Define: Chulha
Noun, ch-oo-l-ha
A traditional Indian cooking stove which uses firewood for cooking. It is shaped like a "U" and is made out of mud or clay.The high heat and direct flame of the burning wood, adds immense flavour to whatever type of food is cooking on it. There is a distinctive difference in flavour of any type of food cooked on this- be it bread, vegetables or meat.