Curry Buffalo

Though I've been wanting to curry a buffalo for a while, it took me a while to get to it. It's not that easy to find bison meat in Toronto, or anywhere, I imagine. I knew that I could get it at The Healthy Butcher (www.thehealthybutcher.com) but avoided doing so because I suspected, correctly, that it would be outlandishly expensive. Instead, I spent three months poking into mom & pop butcher shops in my neighborhood (Dufferin/Rogers/Oakwood/St. Clair) and politely asking for bison meat. No one has it. At least I made a friend: the beautifully ham-handed butcher at Macelleria Atlas (800 St. Clair Avenue West), who gave me a super recipe for stew beef and a rich explanation of why it is important to brown meat and vegetables separately. I finally hit up Healthy Butcher today; $50 later, my most giant saucepan is full of curry bison and my veins are full of iron and "good" cholesterol. $16.99/pound, people. Oh well. It's Christmas.

Bison are super cute animals, so it's no surprise that they're also delicious. And yeah, prairie folk definitely get down like that; I know people back in Winnipeg who keep a buffalo hump in the freezer and eat the stuff regularly. Bison burgers are pretty commonplace on the prairies, and some people are into the prairie oyster/tendergroin/cowboy caviar situation...oi! As for me, I'd never tried the stuff before today. No, I know bison from the diorama in the first display one walks through at the Manitoba Museum of Man and Nature; fluffy beasts, like hoofed teddy bears, with soulful eyes that seem to be full of tears even after being stuffed and standing in a museum for 25 years. I know the stories of buffalo running, in which a bold adventurer would risk his life to lead a humble herd of trusting beefalo to their death over the edge of a cliff, poor things. I know that there were once something like 50 million bison, seriously, on this chunk of land that I live on - before they were hunted for their hides and tongues, tasty meat left to rot by money-hungry colonizers. Governments on both sides of the border actively encouraged extermination of the indigenous bison herds, which were the main food source for another indigenous group that was being actively exterminated...the humans. Lucky for me, bison are now being farmed sustainably and herd sizes are healthy, though nowhere near what they were when they fed entire nations of people.

A quick look at www.bisonbasics.com will tell you that bison meat has never been genetically modified, is 100% grass-fed, and is lower in fat, calories, and cholesterol than lean beef, pork, or turkey. Has more protein too. Awesome, right? As a person with Caribbean blood, I was pretty confident that any meat could be curried, and the bison didn't disappoint. I wasn't sure whether to prepare it like a curry goat or curry beef, so I kind of split the difference. If I can ever afford to do this again, or if I get a line on some cheap bison meat (bison farmers: holler at me) I will make it more closely to the way I curry goat, and see how that turns out. I'd also slap it into a roti skin next time instead of serving on rice. Bottom line - it was rich and juicy with an earthier taste than any other curry dish I've had. The mister says delish, but he's easy.

RECIPE

Curry Buffalo
Serves 4-6.

3 lb bison, cut to bite size
2 tbsp lemon juice
Salt to taste
Dash of thyme
Double dash of Seasoning
3 tbsp curry powder
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 small onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 potatoes, cubed
1 tsp pepper sauce

1. Wash bison with lemon juice, then season with salt, thyme, Seasoning, and 1 tbsp of curry powder. Leave to sit for 30 minutes.
2. Combine onion, garlic, remaining 2 tbsp curry powder, and 1/4 c water. Heat oil in large saucepan over medium heat, add onion mixture, and brown.
3. Add bison and stir. Add 2 c water, cover, and cook 40 minutes over medium-low, stirring occasionally.
4. Add potatoes and pepper sauce; cook another 20 minutes.

Enjoy, peoples!

Oxtail Borscht with Coconut Bannock

Borsht, borshch, borscht...I personally have a soft spot for words containing way too many consonants for only one vowel. This soup probably originated in the Ukraine but is eaten in most central and eastern European cultures, and definitely on the prairies. I have a distinct memory of a school field trip where all us kids brought money from home to buy lunch at a museum cafeteria. While all my classmates ate pizza and hot dogs, I was SO EXCITED that the soup was borscht; I was so focused on my styrofoam bowl that I barely noticed the strange looks. Thinking back, even the teacher must have thought I was one odd duck. Borscht is sort of sweet, based on beets, and a beautiful reddish-purple colour. I was surprised to learn that there is a Slavic version called "green borscht", which is made with sorrel - an herb that I distinctly associate with the Caribbean. The Polish also make a "white borscht" containing fermented rye, chopped hard boiled eggs, and horseradish! Sounds yum, right? There are hearty and light borschts, as well as cold borscht for summer. I based the prairie side of this soup on a traditional hearty borscht, since I love beets. Incidentally, beets are known to be both a laxative and an aphrodisiac (!).

Oxtail stew or oxtail soup is one of my favourite Caribbean meals - so thick and savoury. So, I was surprised once again when I learned that there is also a German version of oxtail soup, spiced with paprika and thickened with cream. I mean, it definitely makes sense to eat the tails of cows - I just didn't realize that anyone outside of the islands was on to that. People who aren't in the know usually express disbelief when they hear about oxtail soup - "It's not actually the tail, is it?". Yes. Oh, yes. Yes, indeed it is.

Borscht is usually eaten with rye bread, but bannock seemed like a good choice for this meal because of it's similarity to bake. Corn bake, coconut bake, Johnny bake, fry bake, or just bake - bake is a round, flat, biscuit-type bread eaten by Trinis, and is almost identical to bannock, which is a simple flat bread historically eaten by indigenous people as well as white settlers on the prairies and in the north. In Trinidad, bake is most often eaten with avocado or fish, especially shark, and some pepper sauce - mmmkay, getting hungry now. Time to finish this up and get some seconds...which brings me to:

The verdict: good stuff! Super healthy, hearty, winter food. The fancy boy toy says "deelish". He has a cold and his taste buds are impaired, but what little he could taste, he liked. I think this soup is gonna cure him...

RECIPE

Oxtail Borscht
Serves 6-8.

5 l water
2 cubes beef bouillon
2 lb oxtails
4 beets, diced
2 medium potatoes, diced
1 large carrot, diced
2 cups red cabbage (about 4-5 large leaves), finely sliced
2 small onions, sliced in rings
2 pinches dry thyme
2 tsp dry dill
1 hot pepper
4 cloves garlic, quartered
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

1. In a large pot, bring water, bouillon, oxtails, beets, potatoes, carrots and cabbage to a boil. Reduce heat and cook over medium-high heat until tender, about 30 minutes.
2. Add onions, thyme, dill, hot pepper, and garlic. Reduce heat, and cook over medium heat until the flavours have combined, about another 30 minutes.
3. Discard the pepper. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Coconut Bannock
Serves 6.

2 c flour (I use whole wheat)
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp instant yeast
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 c grated coconut
1 tbsp margarine
1 tbsp shortening (I like the combination of margarine for good flavour and shortening for good texture, but 2 tbsp margarine would work fine, too)
2/3-1 c warm water
(note: bake is normally made with sugar; if you're into that sort of thing, add 2 tbsp sugar.)

1. Combine dry ingredients in a bowl.
2. cut in margarine and shortening.
3. Add water and mix with your hands until a ball forms.
4. Knead on a floured surface for about 5 minutes. Roll into a ball, place in a bowl, cover with a cloth and let rise for 10-15 minutes.
5. On a floured surface, roll into a circle that is 1/2" thick.
6. Place on a greased baking sheet. Prick with a fork several times. Use a pretty design, since it's fun.
7. Bake at 400F for 25 minutes, until it's starting to brown. Cut into wedges.