Taste of Romani (Gypsy) Cuisine

Copyright © 2016 by Goce Nikolovski

All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher.

ISBN  978-1-365-61387-6

Introduction

Romani (Gypsy) cuisine reflects the culture’s 1000 year, 3000-mile journey westward, from India to much of Europe. Although the Gypsies had unusual preferences, such as snail soup, hedgehog, or pig stomach, most of their food is based on the many cultures they have contacted their nomadic journeys.

The many cultures that the Romani contacted are reflected in their cooking, resulting in many different cuisines. Some of these cultures are Middle European (Hungary, Romania, Czech, Slovakia etc,) Germany, Great Britain, and Spain.

Bread, leavened or unleavened form an essential part of any meal. Much of the cooking is done in a single pot over an open fire. The raw materials for the dishes are from wild sources, or from the fields of local farmers for whom they frequently worked.

Communal celebrations for events such as weddings and funerals are an essential part of gypsy life and much attention is paid to the foods prepared for these events.

Gypsy food is characterized by strong color and flavor, rusticity and ... passion. Maybe an interesting experience!

Enjoy and Bon appetite!!!

Traditional Gypsy Food

A man interviewed across a few Gypsy tribes what the core of Romani cuisine is.  Some people clarified with idioms such as, meat is the Gypsy vegetable, and with sayings of other nomadic groups like the Tatar who likewise state, the right of the Tatar is meat and rakia.  There are beliefs that some Romani groups came into the Balkans enslaved by the Tatars. Perhaps this period of time under Tatar restraint formed their drive for red meat.  It definitely did not arise from their Hindu Indian origins in which the food choice tilts towards vegetarianism. In other words, they learned it from somewhere, without a doubt.  But that is what Romani culture is all about – it’s an mixture of many cultures collected over 4000 miles and 1000 years of movement west.

According to sociologists, there are typically two major variables effecting ethnic cuisines: produce availability and economy. Religious beliefs are additionally known to play a part though pastoral limits.  These have never had much of an effect on the Gypsy.   The Tatar and other religious nomads ate a myriad of meat since their red-blooded gardens were free for the picking at any point in time during the four seasons. The less fortunate Gypsies, however, wandering the countryside without livestock, were made to tend to the needs and weaknesses of people to earn their keep. They discovered an economical niche and by doing so made their way into the distinguished class known as middleman minorities. This sociological term is defined as a group that, although discriminated, has found a societal need which leads to a certain status among the majority as both despised and in demand.  While other middleman minority groups like Jews based themselves in the profit-driven cities, the Gypsy meandered through the countryside where benefit often came in the way of food items.  The farmer’s surplus soon became the foundation of Romani cuisine.

The Romani’s skill to use natural resources has stayed the stimulant of their economic independence. Their imagination also helps fill their plates.  Mushrooms and nuts collected from the forest brought them protein while wild berries and greens cooked like spinach or added into their soups provided additional nutrition. Snails were another favorite Gypsy meal which gave more protein to their diet.

Gypsy appetites have changed since then. New refrigeration systems and better access to markets with animal meat has slowly changed their opinion towards the slimy mollusks. Within a generation or two, traditional dishes like snail soup had been completely discarded. Even the very poor Romani of today who struggle for food have abandoned snails.

Beggars can’t be choosers is the Gypsy way of life. They take what they can get until it becomes a new food of choice.  Some foods they eat are oase tziganesti ( Gypsy bone), describing meat-stripped animal bones that shoppers usually get for their dogs.  The Romani put this in soups and in the popular dish shak te mas which is meat and cabbage.

Pig stomach is another animal part typically thrown away that quickly found its way onto the Gypsy dining table. Preparation involves cleaning, boiling and frying the organ.  Animal fat that is also discarded or turns to soap and other byproducts is eaten by the Gypsies in gelatin or liquid form with bread.

Any sort of bread is a major part of the Romani meal, second to meat and just before potatoes. It’s on the table no matter what the menu is. A surplus of bread always accompanies their meals because it’s what fills them, especially poor ones, and that is what produces the well-known big Gypsy belly.

The Romani cuisine is more distinguished by the style in which it’s made.

Gypsy food is cooked outdoors in cauldrons atop a wooden flame. They work with their hands with only a knife and wooden spoon. They know nothing of electric cooking or preparation machines. Even use of the blue-flamed gas stoves are frowned upon. They prefer wood fires all the way. They say that the slower cooking time is what gives the meal a more concrete Romani taste.  The Gypsy usually eat off of a single dish, too, usually with their hands due to a lack of utensils and their belief that food tastes better from your hands.

All in all, the hardships the Gypsy people have faced have helped them to mold a unique brand of food to their culture.

Gypsy Appetizer

Apple Basil Chicken

(serves 30 as an hors d'oeuvre, 6 as an entrée)

Ingredients:

−  6 boneless, skinless chicken breast

−  1 cup Prairie Gypsies' Apple Basil Jelly

−  1 T. soy sauce

−  1 cup white wine

Directions:

Mix together Apple Basil Jelly, soy sauce, and white wine. Pat chicken breast dry and grill for approximately 7 minutes each side until no longer pink, brushing with jelly mixture frequently.

If serving as an hors d'oeuvre, cut each breast into approximately 10 bite size pieces and skewer on a bamboo skewer. Serve with Apple Basil Sauce (recipe follows).

If serving as an entrée, leave each breast whole, serve with rice and top with Apple Basil Sauce (recipe follows).

Apple Basil Sauce

Ingredients:

−  1 cup The Prairie Gypsies Apple Basil Jelly

−  1 cup rice wine vinegar

−  2 T. soy sauce

−  1 T. ground ginger

−  2 T. cornstarch, mixed with ½ cup apple juice

Directions:

Mix together Apple Basil Jelly, vinegar, soy sauce and ginger in a small sauce pan. Heat to bubbly and stir in cornstarch-apple juice mixture, Remove from heat when thick. Serve as a dipping sauce for Skewered Apple Basil Chicken Bites or spoon on top of whole grill Apple Basil Chicken Breasts for an entrée.

Garnish

Garnish hors d'oeuvre tray or each entrée with an apple cored and sliced into at least 6 rounds, then sautéed in 3 T. butter and 1 T. brown sugar and remaining brushing sauce.

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Blue Cheese Dressing & Dip

The perfect dressing for chopped salad.  A great dip for chicken wings and vegetable crudités! Last up to a week in refrigerator

Makes about 2 cups

Ingredients:

−  ¾ cup of sour cream

−  1 ¼ teaspoon of sea salt

−  2 Tablespoons red wine vinegar

−  ½ teaspoon fresh ground black pepper

−  ¾ teaspoon of garlic powder or 2 garlic cloves thru press

−  3 Tablespoons cream

−  5 Tablespoons of red onion chopped

−  3 Tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil

−  1 cup of blue cheese crumbled -Jasper hill Bailey Hazen or Valdeon blue

Directions:

Mix all ingredients except blue cheese & red onion till creamy.

If you like dressing chunky mix in onions and blue cheese.

If you prefer creamy toss everything into food processor and blend.

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Baked Stuffed Clams

Serves 4- 6

Ingredients:

−  1 stick of unsalted butter

−  1 pound of chopped clams (2 cups)

−  2 Tablespoons dry vermouth or white wine

−  1/2 teaspoons of sweet paprika

−  1 Tablespoon of chopped jalapeno-drained pickled jalapeno or cherry peppers can be substituted

−  1/4 teaspoon fresh ground white pepper

−  1/2 teaspoon of salt

−  1/3 cup of ground dried chorizo

−  1 1/2 Tablespoons of granulated garlic powder

−  2–5 dashes of Gypsy Juice or Parrot hot sauce

−  1 medium onion minced

−  2 Tablespoons of chopped flat leaf parsley

−  1 cup of plain bread crumbs, preferably homemade

−  1 lemon

−  6–8 small ramekins, scallop or large sea clam shells lightly greased

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400° F.

Heat 10 inch or larger saute pan and melt butter

Saute onion and chorizo and jalapeno together for 4-5 minutes on medium heat and set aside

In a large mixing bowl combine bread crumbs, garlic, paprika, salt, pepper, parsley, hot sauce, wine and clams and mix thoroughly. Add contents of saute pan to the bowl and mix. Add desired amount of clam stuffing to scallop shells or ramekins and place on baking sheet. Bake for 15–18 minutes. Serve with Gypsy Juice hot sauce and fresh lemon.

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Crab Cakes with Chipotle Dipping Sauce

These crab cakes are very tasty. They have alot of ingredients but they are worth it!

Ingredients:

Chipotle dipping sauce

−  3/4 cup Kraft or Hellmann’s mayonnaise or  you may substitute sour cream

−  Juice of 2 limes

−  1/2 teaspoon of sea salt

−  1 finely minced garlic clove or teaspoon of garlic powder

−  1½ teaspoons El Yucateco Chipotle sauce

−  2 teaspoons of sugar or agave syrup

−  1 Tablespoons fresh chopped cilantro

−  Whisk together in medium bowl and set aside

For the Crab Cakes

−  ½ cup Kraft or Hellmann’s mayonnaise

−  2 Tablespoons flat leaf parsley chopped fine

−  2 Tablespoon Roland hot Dijon mustard

−  1 teaspoon of Worcestershire sauce

−  few dashes of parrot hot sauce

−  1/2 teaspoon sea salt

−  ¼ teaspoon white pepper

−  ¼ teaspoon smoked paprika

−  2 teaspoons garlic powder

−  12 Ritz crackers crumbled

−  3 scallions finely chopped, white & green parts

−  1 teaspoon mirin cooking wine

−  1 egg

−  2 Tablespoons corn starch

−  1 Tablespoon extra virgin olive oil or melted unsalted butter

−  1 Tablespoon agave syrup or sugar

−  Juice of 1 lemon

−  1 cup of panko bread crumbs*

−  1 lb of fresh crab meat- squeezed out moisture and flake

−  ½ cup sunflower oil for frying

−  1 large saute pan

Directions:

Mix all ingredients except panko bread crumbs and sunflower oil.  Form desired size cakes. Coat cakes in panko crumbs and set on tray. Heat saute pan medium to high heat.

Add oil. Fry in 5-7 minutes each till slightly golden and plate. Keep warm in oven  on baking sheet at 325°. Serve with Chipotle dipping sauce

Tip: 

You can substitute  same amount of any of the following fishes in place of crab meat: haddock, cod, hake, tilapia or skai fish

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Fried Lobby Rangoon – Lobster Rangoon

Makes 22-24 wonton’s

Ingredients:

−  5 oz of cooked lobster meat drained dried & chopped (shrimp or crab can be substituted)

−  ¼ teaspoon of white pepper

−  ¼ teaspoon of sea salt

−  6 oz of whipped or soft cream cheese

−  ½ teaspoon of cornstarch

−  1 tablespoon of grated carrot

−  1/8th teaspoon ground Grenadian nutmeg

−  ½ teaspoon garlic powder

−  1 tablespoon of fresh snipped chives or green part of 1 scallion chopped fine

−  Package of yellow square wonton wrappers (available at Asian markets)

−  2 cups of sunflower or safflower oil

Directions:

In a bowl blend cream cheese, carrots, salt, pepper, garlic powder cornstarch, and nutmeg. Incorporate chives and lobster till blended and set aside

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Grilled Chicken Salad

(makes about 4 cups)

Ingredients:

−  3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

−  Cooking spray

−  Salt and pepper to taste

−  1 c. chopped celery

−  1/4-1/2 c. chopped red onion

−  1/2 c. Prairie Gypsies' Apricot Mustard

−  1/2 c. mayo

Directions:

Spray chicken breasts lightly with cooking spray, sprinkle with salt and pepper. On