First Time - Part I

Posted 9/27/2008 by brianchase

Found myself crossing two rivers this afternoon (via bridge and tunnel) giving a friend a ride to Newark airport. It's not often that I'm in Jersey and, coming from Brooklyn, it always seemed like distant territory duly marked by the change in license plates. But, New Jersey is really very close, just as close to Manhattan as Brooklyn and Queens. I was sitting on pier 41 in Red Hook yesterday (finally made it to Steve's Key Lime Pies!) looking out over lower Brooklyn, Staten Island, and New Jersey. It all seemed so surprisingly close, especially when measured against my usual gauge for NYC distance: time spent in slow moving traffic (cars or people!) that's keeping me from where I want to be. New Jersey and New York share a similar space yet it's a rare instance when I'm in the former. After dropping my friend off at the airport, I thought I'd stay in the area for dinner.


I had heard great things about the Indian food in the South Asian and Middle Eastern communities of Northern Jersey. Having never been to any of them, I thought I'd pick a place and see where it lead me. I found myself this evening on Oak Tree Road in Iselin. Not knowing the area, I took the time to walk up and down the main drag.


There were three outstanding elements to my dining experience tonight, all of them notable for the same reason- they were EXTREME!! Extreme flavors, extreme ingredients, extreme tastes. I didn't expect it or see it coming. I stumbled upon it, or, perhaps, I wanted it in some way. Food is a drug and the chemical shifts that come from eating can change your whole outlook, mood, and perception for that moment.


1. Hot Green Chili Peppers in Spicy Gravy (picture 1)
Yes that is a hot green chili pepper wrapped inside my delicious paratha. I did in fact make a chili pepper sandwich. When I stepped into this Pakistani/Northwest Indian restaurant and checked out the selections at the steam table I was surprised to see this dish of hot green chili peppers in a spicy gravy. Here, the whole green chili pepper is used as the primary ingredient. This type of preparation is something I've known to be common in Hyderabi style cuisine but I've never heard of or seen it before in Pakistani or Punjabi cooking. Well, here we are! I've had a Hyderabi version of this dish and the biggest difference between that and this one is the sauce- the Hyderabadi one was thicker, creamier, and richer, possibly made so with yogurt or ground almonds, and this one was very thin, pungent, and sharp. Why would anyone use a hot green chile pepper as the main vegetable in a vegetable dish? Mexicans do it with Chile Rellenos. Also, the Japanese have grilled shoshito peppers and some Spanish tapas restaurants offer a similar version. But the Indians do it differently: in my experience the chile is hotter and meaner with a more robust flavor; it is anything but subtle, delicate, and tame and often stewed in an equally flavorful sauce. Why would anyone make a dish like this and what is the benefit of eating straight up hot green chili? When I eat broccoli or brusseles sprouts I can feel its nutritive properties giving my body what it needs. But what does a chili pepper offer? Speed, my friend. Speed, heat, and fire. I felt my blood turn hot, my heart rate increase and my veins bulge. Circulation was working overtime and blood and heat was rushing through my body, burning whatever came into its path. The only other example I can think of that had a similar effect was when I immersed myself in a room filled with ultra-violet light.



2. Sugar Cane Juice with Ginger, Lemon, and a dash of Masala Spice (pictures 2 and 3)
Sugar, straight from the source. No evaporation, no refining, no crystallization, no anything. Just pure, simple, sugar juice. Yes, sugar juice; direct from the cane, in its purest form. I've had sugar cane only once before. I bought it from a Dominican fruit stand that is only up during the summer, around the corner from my house. Not knowing what to do with it, I asked the guy there and he said just bite into it and suck out the juice. When I got home I took one of the cut stalks of sugar cane, held it over the sink and bit. Instantly, the juice flowed and for the first time I was experiencing direct contact with pure sugar. My teeth were clamped down on the stalk and they refused to let go. I felt like an ant sucking out every last drop of life-giving sweetness. It's a weird feeling. Now, I was confronted with a chance to experience that rush again, something that can only come from having a substance in its pure unadulterated form. The woman that prepared my drink put the cane through a press, squeezing out the juice. She then asked if I would like to add some fresh ginger and lemon. "Yes, please!" She topped it off with a few shakes of "masala spice." As she handed me the drink in a large plastic cup, she looked and said, "First time?" to which I replied, "Yes." She smiled back as if she knew something I was soon about to find out. I stepped outside and took a few sips. First of all, it is nothing like the sweetness of candy or of cakes. That stuff is a ruse, full of empty promises. This is entirely different. It was warm and had a surprisingly full body, a slight thickness. It had the stimulation and energy that comes with sugar but with a very gentle and nurturing quality to its sweetness (as opposed to the jolt and ultimately depressing nature of refined sugar). Instantly, my body absorbed this tonic of natural ingredients and my nerves and synapses and muscle tissue all fired off and hummed as I made my way to the bottom of the cup. Afterwards, I was buzzing and walked quicker than usual, as if on a conveyer belt moving in the same direction. My lips were tingling. The hyperactivity didn't last long and the feeling of the drink mellowed rather quickly. I never suffered a "sugar crash" and instead felt like I perked up for a bit but was then let gently down, invigorated and charged.

(Blog continues in the following post)

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