Pakistan

by M 
Today we have a mint chutney all the way from Pakistan. What can I say about Pakistan?  I really know nothing about Pakistan except that they don’t particularly like their neighbor India, and India feels similarly about Pakistan, oh and they are both nuclear nations.  I don’t want to get into politics, I just find it interesting that neighbors in general often don’t get along well. Really, the interesting part about the neighbor paradox is its infinite scalability.  It can be two neighboring countries--there are many cases like Pakistan or India--or you can divide one country in half and feud between the north vs south, east vs west (RIP Tupac and Biggie).  Or you can have a feud between 2 states; see North carolina vs. South Carolina... why can’t there be just one Carolina or Dakota? Think of your neighboring cities, uncouth jerks, right? Everyone in every high school loathes their neighboring high school.  And of course there is your neighbor, you know, the people who live next to you... I of course love my neighbors, except for the ones who live on the other side of my house... I don’t care for them.  Even as I write this, which is a left side of the brain activity, I can feel the the right side of my brain becoming frustrated.  And if you want to scale in the other direction, what’s up with Europe? I am pretty sure people subconsciously hate Mars and Venus, and don’t get me started on the the Andromeda Galaxy. Basically we can deduce that if you are not in, you’re out and we don’t care much for you. The funny thing is, this mint chutney from Pakistan really reminds me of mint chutneys I have had many times at Indian restaurants!  So there is another lesson we can deduce: when food is good, it’s good... no matter what group you associate with.




Sauce: Mint Chutney
Manufacturer: Home made
Chile Pepper: Green peppers (Capsicum annuum)
Country of Origin: Pakistan (Islamic Republic of Pakistan)
Score: 7/10

This stuff is really good, actually.  It has a nice freshness to it, so it pairs especially well with fried foods. The freshness is due to the list of fresh ingredients: no vinegars, extra acids, or slow roasting on this one.  We can also attribute the freshness to the the mint.  Mint is a strange ingredient because most of us associate mint with things like toothpaste or fresh breath, and if you don’t, you should brush your teeth more.  But when used with the right ingredients mint can be very diverse and add interesting notes to common flavors.  

This one you can easily make at home (which our coworker’s wife did for this taste test). You’ll need one bunch of fresh mint leaves, a couple of green chillies, a bit of coriander, salt, and a little bit of water.  Then, puree.  You can kick up the heat by using as many chilies as you want or use the old trick of leaving the ribbing and seeds out for less heat.

Rating: 7/10 …. definite recommendation! Seal Team 6 style