Over the years, restaurant users have become more discerning and more concerned with the ‘authenticity’ of their restaurant experience, a number of restaurant trends have emerged that offer a more realistic reflection of the food from its country of origin.
For the last couple of decades, far eastern food from various countries has increased in popularity, with many towns now having a Thai restaurant and perhaps even a Japanese restaurant. There has even been a trend for seeing authentic Thai food served on pub menus as Thai families take over pub tenancies or simply run the kitchen.
Japanese food has been a huge foodie trend in the UK, with most supermarkets selling packs of sushi alongside their sandwiches – although if that’s the only sushi you’ve tried (especially as the packs from a certain high end supermarket do not contain fish!) then you’ll be amazed at the difference in quality and taste when you first try ‘proper’ sushi. After all, sushi chefs train for seven years just to master making rice, let alone cutting fish!
The latest restaurant trends are towards South American food. Not just the big, juicy steaks from Argentina – that is SO 2007 – but more the smoked chipotle chile flavours of Peru. Mexico has also been a source of inspiration for a lot of newly opened places, with authentic burritos and salsas showing the wealth of difference between regional cuisine and the ‘Tex-Mex’ style that was popular in the 1999.
Oregano
Often confused with sweet marjoram, but herbalists believe that oregano is better medicinally. The generic name is said by some to be an amalgam of the two Greek words, óros and gános, meaning ‘mountain brightness’ or ‘shining mountain’.
An eastern Mediterranean native, the plant has a long history of use in medicine and it was used by the ancient Greeks in poultices for sores, aching muscles and rheumatic pains in limb joints. The herb was taken to the New World by the early colonists largely for the same medicinal uses. They also used it, infused, as a tea to treat bronchitis and asthma and its digestive properties were employed in treating gastro-intestinal disorders. The dried herb is very popular in Italian cooking.
What is Dal?
Dal is a preparation of pulses (dried lentils, peas or beans) which have been stripped of their outer hulls and split.
It also refers to the thick stew prepared from these, an important part of Indian, Nepali, Pakistani, Sri Lankan, and Bangladeshi cuisine.
It is regularly eaten with rice and vegetables in Southern India, and with both rice and roti (wheat-based flat bread) throughout Northern India & Pakistan.
Dal is a ready source of proteins for a balanced diet containing little or no meat. Sri Lankan cooking of dal resembles that of southern Indian dishes.
Mint Sauce
Mint sauce is a sauce made from finely chopped mint leaves, soaked in vinegar, and a small amount of sugar. Occasionally, the juice from a squeezed lime is added. The sauce should have the consistency of double cream. In UK and Irish cuisine it is traditionally used as a complement to roast lamb (but usually not other roast meats) or, in some areas, mushy peas.
Mint sauce can sometimes be used in recipes in place of fresh mint. Also you could try it on toast or bread. Mint sauce can be added to yoghurt to make a mint raita. "Sweet and sour" sauces such as Mint sauce were common throughout Medieval Europe, (with the use of mint being more common in French and Italian cuisine of the period than that of the English), however they became less common and mostly died out as Europe entered the Modern Era.
BASIL
Basil (ocimum sanctum) is the only member of the mint family which is native to India, where it was called arjaka in the ancient language, Sanskrit. Its Latin botanical names are derived from the Greek okimon, ‘fragrant lipped’ and basilikan, ‘Royal’.
Feelings about Basil have mixed throughout history, the herb having been variously associated with death, religious ritual, medicine, fertility, erotica and even as being responsible for the breeding of scorpions. It is probably for this reason, following a homeopathic logic that it was recommended at one time for the treatment of scorpion stings and snakebites. The ancients, although holding mixed feelings about the herbs, even swore oaths on it in courts of law.
In association with Just Eat. The online takeaway ordering service at www.just-eat.co.uk
