stirring my kumquats

Priscilla was kind to us (priscilla of the ocean).

The tropical storm that was spawned offshore of Manzanillo gave us a respite. At least, here on the Costalegre.

The National Hurricane Center had predicted Priscilla would make land east of Manzanillo. And it did that. But it was not as wide as had been predicted.

As a result, we were spared its wind and rain. That is just as well. The last couple of days of soft rain have saturated our soil. And the storm did bring rain to people living east of us. The Marabasco River at Cihuatlán, just ten miles to our east, was once again at flood stage.

For us, that was good news. But there were undoubtedly plenty of people in the state of Colima who were not as dry as we were yesterday.

And that brings me to the topic I wanted to write about yesterday. Cooking with kumquats.

Last week, my friend Gary gave me a bag of kumquats (kumquat may). I anticipate this time of year for Gary's harvest. I have not found kumquats in any store in this area.

They are a versatile fruit. As a tangy fresh snack or as the foundation for any dish that reacts well to the addition of citrus.

In the past, Gary's kumquats have primarily graced traditional chicken stir-fry. But I wanted to do something different. Something I have never cooked before.

I started with a trip to my butcher. I needed about a kilo of meat. We discussed what I was trying to do. I had a notion that I wanted to combine the tartness of the kumquats with Moroccan spices. Lamb would have been a perfect choice. But it is simply not available in the village.

Pork is. And I love Mexican pork. It tastes like pork once did north of the border. Lomo (loin strip) would be an obvious choice. I could roast it. But he only had a short piece. I bought it and a large piece of leg. Because the pieces have different consistencies, roasting was not a good option. I had another idea.

I had brought home a bag full of fresh vegetables to use in another dish. I decided to use them instead with the pork.

The vegetables and the two pieces of meat dictated my choice of cooking medium. The pork would cook at the same rate if sliced thin enough and then cooked at high heat. My wok was about to be pressed into service.

Stir-frying would also give me an opportunity to be creative with the marinade. Most Moroccan meat is cooked with fruit. The kumquats would serve that purpose. Omar is not fond of sweet fruit in his food. So, the classic apricots, dates, and prunes would not be included.

Food from the Maghreb rely on a balance of spices to create a distinctive northwest Africa taste. Coriander, cumin, turmeric, ginger. I combined them with some fresh bone broth, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and just a dash of sake, to feed my fusion tendencies.

When I tasted it, it was good, but the umami needed to be rounded out. Because turmeric is such a strong flavor, I decided to use that as my target. Even though I had several chilies in my vegetable combination, the marinade needed a bit more zing. The obvious choice was wasabi combined with honey. That was exactly what the marinade needed.

I let the pork marinade while I prepared the vegetables. In the past, I have seeded my kumquats. I did not do that this time. Instead, I cut them into rounds. The larger seeds fell out naturally. The smaller seeds would go unnoticed (and they did).

Once the preparation was done, the cooking process was relatively quick. That is the nature of stir-fry. I cooked the pork first until it was just browned and removed it from the wok. The vegetables were then added based on their density. Carrots then onions then chilies, until the vegetables were done.

The last step is always the trickiest with pork. The line between tender and tough is a matter of seconds. It is even trickier to avoid overheating the pork when adding the marinade (now thickened with xanthan gum) to create the sauce for the dish. As I learned from Linda Chan decades ago (stirring the pot), excellent stir-fry is an art form.

The result was superb. I can say that because when Omar tried it he declared it to be perhaps the best dish I had cooked during his two years here. Having a young Mexican extol the virtues of a Moroccan-Japanese-Mexican fusion stir-fry is testimony enough for me.

I now need to talk Gary out of some more kumquats. I have this idea for a Ukrainian-Indian-Colombian chicken dish. That is, after I make the tortilla I have been promising Omar. The potatoes, ham, onion, and eggs are just waiting to meet some new companions.

Maybe kumquats.