ONDATROPICA COMPETITION

Mario Galeano Quantic- Picture by B

We are delighted to offer our customers and Colombiagers the opportunity to win:

- 2 tickets to the ONDATROPICA CONCERT AT THE HACKNEY EMPIRE ON 20 JULY.

- An original copy of ONDATROPICA’s first album. See the Album teaser HERE.

- A delicious dinner for two at London’s leading Latin American restaurant SABOR in Islington.

To enter participants simply have to send an email to INFO@COLOMBIAGE.COM with the correct answers to the following three questions by no later than 18 July:

1. Which prominent British cultural institution has assisted ONDATROPICA from its beginnings?

2. Name two of the great musical talents that will be performing alongside Mario Galeano and Will Holland on 20 July 2012.

3. Which is the Prom number in which BBC Radio 3 World Routes Academy mentee Jose Hernando Arias and his mentor Egidio Cuadrado will perform on the BBC Proms 2012?

The winner will be announced at the end of that same day via email and through our website (on this very page). We do hope you participate in the competition and good luck to everyone!  We hope you will continue to enjoy our events and cultural activities.

See you on 20 July at the Hackney Empire,

The Colombiage & Sabor Team

Frente Cumbiero Competition

An exciting opportunity is coming your way! By sending an email to INFO@COLOMBIAGE.COM outlining the correct answers to our three questions below, the lucky winner will receive:

- 2 tickets to FRENTE CUMBIERO LIVE IN LONDON this 31 May together with the chance to meet the band backstage.

- An original copy of FRENTE CUMBIERO’S 7″ VYNIL, a collector’s item, signed by the members of the band.

- A delicious dinner for two at London’s leading Latin American restaurant SABOR in Islington.

Questions are as follows:

1. In which studios in Medellín, Colombia, will Frente Cumbiero’s Ondatrópica project gather a group of the best old school Colombian tropical musicians together with the new generation to record an album?

2. What are the names of BBC Radio 3 World Routes Academy’s 2012 apprentice and mentor respectively?

3. Name one of the four panelists that accompanied Colombiage’s Director, Landa Acevedo-Scott in February at Unconvention 2012 Colombiage’s panel “Culture is Propaganda: Is Colombia’s new wave of cultural stars changing the image of a troubled nation?”

Participant emails will be received until 29 May at 5:00 pm and the winner will be notified via email. His/her name will appear in this very page shortly afterwards. A special mention will also be published here after the concert.

Don’t miss the chance to see FRENTE CUMBIERO LIVE IN LONDON at Brixton Jamm this 31 May at 7pm accompained by DJ Russ Jones aka The Hackney Globe Trotter.

Best of luck to everyone!

The Colombiage Team

Circus Party with Circolombia

Sabor is very proud to support Salida Productions on a Circus Party this 3rd of May, from 7.30 pm till 2am, at the Old Vic Tunnels, in Waterloo, Leake Street Entrance, London SE1 8SW
Circus Party is an exciting fundraising event that will include DJ’s, Colombian food made by Sabor and drinks with special guest artists Circolombia’s Urban and Friends. All funds raised will go towards 'Macbeth', a Circo Para Todos project for Autumn 2012 .


Salida Productions  will be collaborating with Circolombia (www.circolombia.com) in Cali, Colombia on a brand new version of Macbeth this Autumn 2012. 

Ajiaco

Photos by Pablo Salgado

Ajiaco is a chicken and potato soup, and a regional variation on the better-known sancocho. It originates from Colombia’s capital, Bogota, in the Altiplano region of the country. This region lies 2,600 meters above sea level, making a warming winter broth a suitable local favourite. The key ingredient in the soup is guasca, a herb only produced in the area from which ajiaco originates. It is this herb that gives the dish its distinct flavour.

In the Altiplano, there is less variety in the crops available than in Colombia’s warmer regions. Consequently, whereas sancocho is made with a variety of different vegetables and tubers, the recipe for ajiaco typically uses three or four different types of potato, with each providing different tastes and textures.

SABOR’S AJIACO
(Chicken and potato soup from Bogota)

Serves: 4

Preparation time: 30 minutes

Cooking time: 1 hour

Ingredients
2 chicken breasts
3 cloves of garlic
2 red onions
salt to taste
2 litres of chicken stock
12 small yellow potatoes (also known as papa amarilla, yellow potatoes can be found in South American shops in Brixton, Elephant and Castle and Seven Sisters)
2 corn cobs, cut in half
4 medium white potatoes, peeled and cut into 5mm slices (new potatoes or jersey royals are ideal)
4 purple potatoes, peeled and cut into 5mm slices (also known as truffle black potatoes, purple potatoes can be found in the supermarket. Red potatoes can be used instead, as they also retain their shape when cooked) 1 bunch of spring onions
1 bunch of coriander
8 tablespoons of guasca (this herb can be found dried in Brixton, Elephant and Castle and Seven Sisters; soak the dried herbs in water before use to get a more aromatic flavour)
250 ml of double cream or sour cream
4 tablespoons of capers, drained
2 avocados, peeled, pitted and thinly sliced

Method
First, marinade the chicken breasts with the salt, onions and garlic and leave over night.

The next day, place the chicken breasts into a heavy 4-litre casserole dish. Add water, cover the dish and cook until the chicken is tender. When cooked, remove the chicken from the dish. Remove the skin from the chicken and discard. Cut the chicken into strips.

Cook the yellow potatoes in the casserole dish with the chicken stock, until the potatoes start to disintegrate. At this point the soup should be thick and fairly smooth.

Add the spring onion, coriander, sliced white and purple potatoes, guasca and corn halves to the soup, and continue cooking.

When cooked, remove the bunches of spring onions and coriander.

To serve, divide the chicken strips between four deep bowls and pour over the soup. Dress each bowl with 3 tablespoons of cream and 1 tablespoon of chopped capers. Place the slices of avocado over the top, and serve.

Caipirinha

The caipirinha is the national drink of Brazil. Its main ingredient is cachaça, which is a wonderfully sweet sugar cane rum.

1 lime, quartered

2 teaspoon brown sugar

50 mls cachaca

Chill a rocks glass with cracked ice. Place the lime quarters in the bottom of a mixing glass; add the sugar, and muddle, extracting the juice and the oil in the skin from the lime quarters. Add the cachaca to the mixture in the mixing glass, dump the ice from the rocks glass into the mixing glass, and shake well. Pour the entire contents of the mixing glass back into the chilled rocks glass and serve. We can have as many variations as you like, just replace some of the lime juice with another fruit.

Pisco Sour

Peru and Chile both claim that the pisco sour is their invention.. What is known, is that the Peruvians they blended it. Pisco is a grape brandy made from the muscatel grape.

50 ml Pisco

25ml of egg white

1 or 2 depending on taste teaspoon of sugar

25ml of fresh lime juice

Angostura bitters (optional)

Crushed ice

Place the Pisco, egg white, sugar, lime juice, and ice in a cocktail shaker or a blender . Shake vigorously. Strain into a martini glass and add the bitters. You can also serve in an old fashion whisky glass as we do it at Sabor.

Mojito

Invented long ago in Havana’s Bodeguita Del Medio bar in Havanna, this drink has been enjoyed by Cubans for generations.

2 tender sprigs of fresh mint

2 teaspoons of caster or brown sugar

30mls fresh lime juice

50mls Havana Club Anejo

Soda water

Muddle one mint spring with the simple syrup or sugar and the lime juice in the bottom of a mixing glass. Add the rest of the ingredients and shake with ice. Strain over cracked ice over the highball glass, top with soda, and garnish with the remaining spring of mint.

Margarita

No one knows who invented the margarita. Its origins are as mysterious as the pyramids, but with more hangovers. Margaritas are pretty ubiquitous, and you can get them from some horrible frozen margarita machine, one of my pet hates!!!!!! But the real deal is so much better. Stop buying that horrible day-glo green mix and go back to the basics:

50mls tequila

25mls Cointreau

30mls fresh lime juice

Combine the ingredients in a mixing glass with ice. Shake well and strain into a chilled cocktail glass with a salted rim. Salting the rim: Rim the edges of the cocktail glass by rubbing a lime piece on the outside rim of the glass, then dipping the outside rim into a saucer of course salt.

Cocktails

As the summer peaks, it's time to enjoy the gardens and an opportunity to entertain at home. We get asked a lot for any ideas for a Latin flavoured “trago” or cocktail to spice up the gathering, especially by those expecting South American guests.

The first thing is to think of drinks that would complement the food that will be served and also about your guests drinking preferences, as we Latinos are a diverse bunch. Our different countries have unique customs, aesthetics, and cultural influences. One thing that unites us all though is our love of getting drunk. Let’s face it, the history of Latin America is pretty bleak. If you had been conquered by Francisco Pizarro and Hernan Cortez, kidnapped from Africa to cut sugar cane or lived under a military/communist/fascist dictatorship, you'd want a drink too, so don't blame us, as we also love to have fun.

In Latin American thanks to the weather we can grow a variety of exotic tropical fruits, and this has helped us to come up with some pretty fun cocktails. A lot of men think cocktails are for girls, but the recipes we use at Sabor, that I'm going to share with you in the next few postings, can be enjoyed by anyone without fear.

Carmenere

Running a restaurant I get asked a lot about recommending wines, as our wine list is mainly South American. I drink a lot of these types of wines, even though at home I tend to have a broader choice, late last year for instance we drank lots of French wines, inspired by a trip to the Loire Valley and Bordeaux.

I get very impressed by the quality of wine production both In Argentina and Chile, every year we see at the International wine fair more boutiques wineries showcasing their wines. There is more emphasis in the quality rather than the quantity we saw in the nineties, but lets remember that South America produces more vine varietals than Malbec.

Carmenère, Chile's accidental gift to the world of wine, has been described as both things. Whatever you think of that country's most controversial grape, it's amazing that, until 1994, Carmenère didn't exist in South America. Or rather it did, but no one knew it was there.

When a visiting French academic called Jean-Michel Boursiquot identified Chile's Merlot plantings as Carmenère, it caused general consternation. Had some dodgy Del Boy nurseryman substituted one for the other back in the mid-19th century? The more prosaic truth was that, in those days, many vineyards were co-planted as so-called field blends. Maybe Carmenère adapted better than Merlot.

The more immediate problem facing the Chileans was that their 'Merlot' sold very well, thank you, largely because it tasted of Carmenère. So what should they do? Own up about the difference between the two, go on as before by misleading wine drinkers, or just fudge the issue?

The official statistics suggest that the issue has been resolved. Out of Chile's 115,000 hectares, Merlot allegedly has 11.5 per cent and Carmenère 6 per cent. But the figures are pure fantasy. There was very little real Merlot (called Merlot Merlot by Chileans to differentiate it from Merlot Chileno, or Carmenère) planted before the mid-Nineties, and Peter Richards, author of The Wines of Chile, reckons that somewhere between 50 and 80 per cent of the combined total is actually Carmenère.

The issue here is one of integrity. Many Chilean companies continue to label blends that are dominated by Carmenère as Merlot. It is perfectly legal to include up to 15 per cent of the former, but I think that economic imperatives - Merlot is the more famous name, despite the fact that it rarely produces great wine outside Bordeaux - have made them parsimonious with the truth.

These days there is a growing number of own-up Carmenères on the market, Here at Sabor we loved the ones produced by Julio Bouchon, which has some notes of chocolate, peppers and green tobacco, in combination with ripe fruits like cherry and plums. I recently found the amazing Antun Ninquen Carmenere and Cabernet Sauvignon blend, that was the clear stand-out of 25 wines we tasted one long evening, and we were happy to add it to our wine list.

Antu Ninquen Cabernet Sauvignon 2008

This Chilean blend is an award winning wine that is loved by Robert Parker amongst others. We loved it so much that we would like to share some of this wine's flavorsome details.

Ninquén (nin-ken), meaning ‘Plateau on a Mountain’, is the name of this unique Estate which is the first of its kind in Chile. Antu which in the Mapuche or “People from Earth” language means “Sun” is a range of wines inspired from this ancestral tribe, renowned for its perseverance. Antu Ninquén - “Sun of the Mountain”- is a premium wine that best sums up our philosophy: Create and show only the best from our land.

Appearance: Deep ruby red.

Aromas: A big core of ripe black cherries and blackberries, complemented by nicely melted touches of vanilla and cedar from a well integrated ageing oak

Flavours: Nice acidity over very ripe black fruit. As always, this wine is muscular and powerful, full of ripe and nicely textured tannins combined with the cedar from the oak ageing giving to this wine a lingering but creamy finish

Varietal Composition: 70% Cabernet Sauvignon; 30% Carmenère

Appellation: Colchagua Valley

Vineyards: Ninquén

Aji Amarillo

My favorite chilli is aji amarillo, long and thin peppers, about 3-5 inches in length. Don’t be fooled by the name – amarillo means yellow in Spanish – because ripe aji amarillo are bright orange and unripe ones are yellow. The seeds inside will make a dish very spicy so just remove them to lower the heat level. The aroma and its fruity, somewhat sweet flavor add to the spiciness, making it unique from other hot peppers.

Aji Amarillo is consider the most important ingredient in Peruvian cooking by the famous Peruvian chef Gaston Acurio.

Here at Sabor we use aji amarillo in dishes such Papa a la Huancaina, potatoes with a yellow creamy sauce; Causa, a cold potato dish colored and flavored with yellow aji; and as a garnish on Escabeche, pickled fish. Another common use is as a side dipping sauce that can accompany any meal.

In addition to flavor, aji amarillo has health benefits as well due to its high levels of capsaicin, a natural ingredient in hot peppers located in the pepper’s ribs, which is good for pain relief, as a digestion aid, and in fighting inflammation.

In the UK the supply of this Aji is very irregular, so when we get it, we buy a good quantity and make a paste that we can use later in various recipesj, and we would advise anyone to do the same.

Pasta de Ají Amarillo

This chilli paste is use in many peruvian recipes especially in ceviches (we have even done a sorbet and is great with pasta). It can be freeze in small containers so that it can be easily thawed when needed.

Ingredients:

• 1lb (½ kg) ají amarillo

• ½ cup sugar

• ¼ cup vinegar

• 2 tbsp vegetable oil

Preparation

Wash, stem, seed and devein ají amarillo. Place in a large pot of cold water and bring to the boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 30-40 minutes until ajíes are soft. Strain ajíes and place in a blender or the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade. Add the other ingredients. Blend to form a creamy paste. Press through a fine mesh sieve to remove any pieces of skin.

Chillies at South American kick to the world food

Ajíes (Capsicum)

Ajies mean hot chilli peppers in Spanish (also spelled chili), is the fruit of the plant capsicum of the nightshade Solanaceae family, in their various forms are what give every dish its essential flavour.

Ajíes feature prominently in pre-hispanic mythology; one of the legendary brothers who were the forefathers of the Inca Empire, Ayar Uchu, is named for ají in Quechua. Cultivated since prehistoric times in Peru and Mexico, it was discovered in the Caribbean by Christopher Columbus. He thought them as a more masculine version of Old World peppers, so he named them pimento in contrast with pimenta. Diego Alvarez Chanca, a physician on Columbus' second voyage to the West Indies in 1493, brought the first chile peppers to Spain, and first wrote about their medicinal effects in 1494.

Ajíes are used in two basic forms; as an aderezo which is a seasoning or dressing included in the preparation of a dish or as accompanying sauces or salsas. Just add a little aji to soups, stews, meats of ceviches to give a wonderful kick to the food. They are used dried or fresh and can be blanched to reduce spiciness. The various ajíes can also be bought in jars ready made in markets and specialty food stores. Here at Sabor we used a different types and always get asked about to describe the differences, I’ll be posting on many different types of aji in this blog since they are intrinsic to South American cooking .

Sabor 2010 Highlights

Colombian Food

I get asked very often "what is Colombian food like"!!! Let me start by answering this by giving you a background about Colombian food, and South American food generally. Colombia is just North of the equator, and well within the tropics, so of course our climate is very different to Europe. Although we have two short rainy seasons each year, this usually just means that it rains torrentially for half an hour a day, then the sun comes out brilliantly again. The temperature depends entirely on altitude. My own origins are in the coffee-growing region of Risaralda, a mountainous area west of the capital Bogota. Where I grew up (the small town of Quinchia), you could hitch a lift in a jeep and be down by the lush banks of the Rio Cauca in a hour, basking in hot sun (>30C) any day of the year. If you went up the mountains into Los Nevados del Ruiz instead, you could be throwing snowballs within a couple of hours - as long as your chest could stand the altitude!

tropical fruits are available all the year round, not just mangoes, papaya and pineapple (which we eat super-fresh by the slice from street vendors all the year round), but also guava, maracuya, and tomatillo. We love meat, and our beef (usually from zebu cattle, herds of which cover the mountain sides in some parts of the country) is every bit as good at Argentinian - though it tends not to get exported. Like the Spaniards, we also make full use of our pigs, and chorizos, morcilla and chicharron (fresh hot crispy pork belly pieces) are hugely popular. Colombia also has two coastlines - the Caribbean and the Pacific, and many huge rivers, including a stretch of the upper Amazon, so fish is excellent, very varied and always fresh. Trout is particularly popular, cooked with a variety of sauces, whilst various types of white fish are ideal for ceviche, the classic South American dish of raw fish marinated in citrus juices, mixed often with mild onion slices and a little sliced chili pepper, and garnished sometimes with fresh 'popped' corn kernels. This is an ideal party dish, as it can be prepared a couple of hours in advance, can be eaten just with a fork, and is zingy and appetising. On the Caribbean, coconut milk is often added to ceviche to give it a mild and fruity flavour. On the Pacific a stronger flavour of lime juice is typically preferred.

Like all cuisines, Colombian food has a starchy base. Potatoes come orginally from South America of course, and we have many types. Yuca - an African import - is another staple root vegetable. However rice is served with very many meals, and corn is particularly important. Instead of bread (at breakfast for instance) we usually have arepas - thick discs of reconstituted dried corn kernels, mashed with a little salt and then simply griddled. These are delicious straight off the griddle, spread with homemade butter or buttermilk, and perhaps topped with a slice or two of cheese, or some just-laid eggs from the chicken in yard which will typically have been cooked 'en caserola' - a bit like a cross between frying and poaching. If you have a stronger palate, some people swear by minced kidneys on top of arepas for breakfast. For a special treat, we enjoy arepa de choclo - these are made not with dried and reconstituted corn kernels, but with fresh sweetcorn which has been boiled, mashed, seasoned, then formed into thick patties - sweet, soft and slightly salty all at the same time, absolutely delicious when freshly grilled and buttered.

As in the UK, Christmas and the New Year are the time of year when families are reunited, though unlike you we usually have the benefit of doing this in lovely weather! Hence for us December and January are like Christmas, the New Year, July and August all rolled into one. Early in January, once the New Year celebrations are over, festivals and carnivals are held all over the country, but especially in Baranquilla, Manizales, and Pasto. The holidays seem to go on for weeks sometimes and large family groups seem to roam the country visiting far-flung relatives in all parts. Outdoor swimming pools and amusement parks all over the country are as busy as the beaches - and the bars. Personally I love to get out into the countryside horse-riding, especially it if means I can reach one of the more remote valleys, to enjoy swimming in one of our many natural thermal springs, or to eat fresh grilled trout fished out of the stream.

Everyone cooks. Many of the traditional Christmas specialities are ideal for getting children involved with their mothers, grandmothers and aunties in stirring natilla (a thick corn-based custard, flavoured with cinnamon). When set, but ideally still warm, natilla is served with bunuelos, fluffy sweet doughnuts with a slightly 'tangy' flavour which comes from being made with fresh (often homemade) mild white cheese. Tamales are another tradition at Christmas, and again ideal for sharing the effort. People 'muck in' to mix the corn dough, prepare the filling which is most often of chicken and vegetables, and wrap the assembled packages in banana leaves ready for steaming. Empanadas are also made in vast quantities - small 'pasties' which can be filled with shredded beef, or mushrooms and cheese, or almost anything! encased in a crispy fried cornmeal shell or a light flaky baked wheat pastry crust (very typical of Chile, but now also popular in the more tropical countries of the continent). These are always served with aji, a fresh relish of tomatoes, onions, chilis and lime juice which really gives these snacks some kick!

Parties are big of course. More than in the UK (it seems to me), all age groups get together collectively, to talk, to eat, to drink, and often to sing and to dance! Live musicians often come to people's homes - it's very easy to hire a mariachi band in the big cities of the country. There will always be food, and in my experience there will always be a full hot meal for anyone who wants to sit down for that. Small groups will form to catch up on gossip over a plate of braised beef with potatoes, yuca and vegetables, crispy fried chicken, or mondongo (delicious spicy tripe stew), which will arrive unprompted like magic from the kitchen. Meanwhile most people will be chatting (or flirting) over drinks, whilst a continuous stream of snacks circulates - empanadas, chorizos, tamales, bunuelos, and maybe small plates of ceviche. The most traditional beverage in colombia by the way (apart from beer) is aguardiente, a aniseed-flavoured clear spirit, usually drunk neat. It can be an acquired taste for foreigners - thankfully the Latin American classics like Margaritas, Mojitos, and Caipirinhas are well known and usually expertly prepared.

Lulo, an exclusive Andean fruit

As a person that was brought up in the Andes in Colombia, I learned to love fruits from a very early age, thanks to my father’s passion and tradition of planting fruit trees, and in some cases naming the trees after kids. For me, the most delicious of South American fruits are mango, maracuya (passion fruit) and lulo. Lulo in particular has inspired me and given so much pleasure in our kitchen at Sabor, that early this year we decided to plant around 2000 trees on our farm in Quinchia, in the coffee-growing region of Colombia, and I would like to share with you all you some facts about this delicious fruit.

Lulo is an exclusively Andean which can be compared with gooseberry, kiwi and lime, and which has a floral aroma. Its scientific name is Solanum quitoense and it comes from the Solanum genus of the Solanaceae family. The Solanum genus also includes 3 food crops of global importance: tomatoes, aubergines and potatoes.

Lulo is indigenous to the tropical region of the , primarily(although it is now also grown in Central America). Its Colombian name 'Lulo' comes from the Quechua "ruru" which means fruit or egg. In Ecuador it is known as Naranjilla (little orange) for its acidity, round form and orange colour when fully ripe, although the pulp and juice remain green. The fruit's tartness is reminiscent of a Seville orange, the species used for making marmalade.

Lulo grows on a bush - it is a perennial which takes around 10-12 months to produce fruit. In Colombia it grows in warm climates between 800m and 2000m above sea level. Traditionally it is difficult to cultivate, as it is delicate and susceptible to disease and parasites, however new hybrids (not GM) are proving more fruitful. Traditional bushes are waist high, but our lulo de la selva grows 5-6 feet high, produces an abundance of fruit and retains a good flavour even after processing. The lulo used in cocktails at Sabor comes from a co-operative of luleros in Belen de Umbria, Risaralda in the coffee belt of Colombia, we hope very soon it will come from our family farm!!!!!!!!.

In South America the fruit is used widely in juices, milkshakes, jams and desserts. The juice has a floral aroma and is often blended with water (or milk) and sugar. The tartness can be subtly balanced with pressed apple or pear juice, with a dash of elderflower cordial.

In order to introduce lulo to the British palate, as part of our mission to popularise Nuevo Latino cuisine, Sabor turned to Fruto del Espiritu as a supplier. As well as Sabor, Fruto del Espiritu supplies clients such as the Dorchester Bar, where the a lulo twist on a Mojito has led to the Mulito. Another favourite is the Lulo & Amaretto Sour (which we created at Sabor), building on the natural tartness of Lulo. Fruto del Espiritu has also introduced lulo to over 50 schools and youth clubs throughout the UK as part of a Healthy Eating & Enterprise programme, where students have to create their own cocktails.