Tulsa Food

This week the thrill of the “hunt” dominated my Angolan feast. Baby Ava and I spent more time hunting for ingredients than cooking or eating them. Other than my normal shopping trips, I made several runs to specialty shops to find banana leaves, palm oil, and prawns. Lesson of the week? Call ahead to find out if a store has what you are looking for and get the name of the person you spoke with. That way, when you get there and they tell you they do not have the item you are looking for, you can refer them to the person you spoke with.

My first challenge was to find the banana leaves for the steamed Yuca Sticks, a dense starch eaten with stew throughout Africa. I found a huge bag of banana leaves at Las Americas (3rd & Yorktown) for under five dollars. This was a great deal but there was no way I could use all the banana leaves for this one recipe. And, unfortunately, the giant leaves have to be used within a few days or they start to turn yellow.

My second challenge was to find red palm oil. This traditional oil lends a very earthy flavor and striking red color to African foods. I knew my Angolan Chicken Stew would fall flat without it. Although Whole Foods carries Red Palm Oil, you can also get unrefined palm oil – and lots of other neat African and Caribbean items – from the African Food Market (69 & Lewis). Roaming the aisles of this little market is fascinating and well worth the trip.

My third and final challenge was to find prawns for the Grilled Prawns with Habanero pepper marinade and dipping sauce. I was able to find these at Bodeans for $16.99/lb. Their Indonesian prawns were delicious and the hands down favorite dish of the week.

For photos and more information: Read the entire Angolan meal review.

About the Author:

Do you love International Cuisine? So does Sasha Martin. After all, she lived in Europe for six years and traveled to 11 countries before her 18th birthday. Then, while earning her B.A. at Wesleyan University (Middletown, CT), she wrote an honors thesis entitled “The History of Artisan Bread Baking in France.” After college, Sasha attended the Culinary Institue of America for a year (Hyde Park, NY). In 2005, her CIA internship brought her to Bama Pie’s R&D kitchens, right here in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Not long after she got here, Sasha met the love of her life and decided to stick around. There was just one problem: she missed the foreign foods she grew up with. A lightbult went off when she realized “Hey, I can make international foods right here in Tulsa!” and that’s just exactly what she’s doing.

Today Sasha is on a mission to cook one meal for every country in the world. That’s 195 meals! And, guess what? She’s doing it in 195 weeks. You can can follow her journey at the Global Table or by checking out her weekly update on Wednesday’s here at www.TulsaFood.com

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