Gumbo jumbo

Chef Richard Graham, of Cilantro in Bangalore, knows a thing or two about cultural melting pots. He’s of Afro-Portuguese origin, but his family has long since settled in Goa. Since then he has worked across the globe in Germany, Mumbai, Australia and the US. “I have a similar history to this cuisine,” he says.

“Cajun and Creole cooking was influenced by seven nations that settled in Louisiana, from the Native Americans to the Italian immigrants of the 1800s.” He’s invited me to sample some of the flavours of New Orleans, the iconic city where the Cajun story begins.

It’s a story of not only cultures mixing, but classes, too. “What we know today as Cajun cooking came from the migrants of New Orleans, the grocers, cheese makers, bakers and orchard farmers,” says Graham. “So it was looked down upon as lower class. But the Creole style evolved from the wealthier kitchens of planters.”

These homes had chefs of Caribbean and African descent, who added their own unique flavour. “The Spanish and Italian influence of Creole cuisine was the heat of the peppers, the supreme importance of rice, the introduction of beans and the extensive use of tomatoes.”

The principle difference between Cajun and Creole cuisine, Graham explains, is that Creole is city cooking, while Cajun is peasant food. “Cajun is what the Acadians (later Cajuns) developed as they learned to live in the south Louisiana swamps. Creole is based on French traditions, with influences from Spain, Africa, Germany, Italy and the West Indies. Creole is more refined and subtler while Cajun is pungent and more highly spiced.”

Richard puts his chef’s hat on and whips up his first dish, a traditional Louisiana Jambalaya. “The Spanish gave Creole food its spices, and the paella, which was the forefather of the Jambalaya. Some ingredients were unavailable in the New World (like saffron), and the Louisiana settlers quickly adapted the paella recipe to suit available resources. Creole Jambalaya is traditionally made in cast iron pot with meats, vegetables, seafood, sausages and tomatoes. This is the red Jambalaya.”

Cajun style Jambalaya, meanwhile, contains no tomatoes—the meat or seafood is left to simmer in a cast iron pot. This emits a particular flavour and colour. Onions, celery and peppers are added along with rice, and left to simmer over very slow heat. The dish is finished when the rice is done.

Then there’s gumbo which owes its origins to bouillabaisse, from Provence, France. The Andouille sausages hail from the Germans who settled in Louisiana in 1690. Mirlitons, sauce piquantes came from south and Central America and African slaves brought with them the “gumbo” or okra plant, which gave the soup its name.

The spices tell a story, too. “There’s Tabasco, the legendary hot pepper sauce from McIlhenny’s plant on Avery Island, Louisiana,” says Graham. “The pepper came to Louisiana via veterans of the Mexican-American War who brought back seeds. Meanwhile, the Spanish brought their spices, as did Haitian and African-American settlers. And together with the new spices brought by the local Indians, such as the bay leaf, wonderful new combinations of spices and herbs made their way into local dishes.”

Adding the finishing touches to my Jambalaya, Richard adds a ragi papad— “just my contribution to such a multidisciplinary cuisine,” he jokes.

Blackened fish and chicken

Directions
1 Take boneless chicken or fish and rub in the blackened spice (pepper, cayenne pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, garlic salt, onion salt, some maize powder and a touch of roasted coriander powder).
2 Leave to rest for 10 minutes so that the spice is absorbed.
3 Grill quickly on a very hot griddle until fully cooked. Make sure you have a good exhaust system or the fire alarm will go off!

Seafood jambalaya

Ingredients
1 onion, peeled and chopped
1 garlic clove, peeled and chopped
2 tablespoons butter
1 cup prawns
1 cup calamari
12 mussels
Some crabmeat
1/2 teaspoon chilli pepper
1/8 teaspoon white pepper
1 dash cayenne
2 tomatoes, chopped
2 cups broth or water
1 cup rice uncooked
1 teaspoon salt

Directions
1 Brown onion and garlic in butter in a deep skillet.
2 Add finely chopped chilli pepper, white pepper and cayenne and crushed tomatoes.
3 Add broth, seafood, rice and salt; mix well, cover and heat to boiling point.
4 Lower heat and simmer slowly without uncovering for 20 minutes.
5 Remove from heat, keep warm and let stand for another 20 minutes.
6 At the end of this time, rice should be very tender and all liquid absorbed.