Marco Polo Pesto

From this old post you can see that I'm fond of fusion foods. All cultures are the product of cultural cross-pollination and nothing is purely one thing or another. But in the context of dishes I think 'fusion' refers to a deliberate act of mixing elements that are currently regarded as distinct. This is descriptive of my latest recipe - Marco Polo Pesto.

I named it for the Venetian explorer who traversed much of the Eurasian landmass and documented his travels (in particular his time as a guest of the Mongol emperor of China). It takes the Italian form of pesto and seeks to give it the function of a Chinese condiment. It is however entirely of my making and I cannot attribute any authenticity to it whatsoever. Nor can I say it is an original concept as a quick search of the Internet will show many others have developed similar recipes.

The motivation came in part from a desire to be inventive and also for convenience. I love how stirring some pesto into boiled and strained pasta produces a very quick meal and wanted something similar with a different flavour. The rest was a case of thinking of ingredient substitution and getting to work with my mortar and pestle. There is coriander and curry leaf rather than basil, cashews rather than pine nuts (like many commercial pestos), ginger rather than garlic, my cheese substitute is coconut cream (making this potentially vegan), and the saltiness that would come from cheese is provided by soy sauce. Onto the recipe itself.

Ingredients: Raw Cashews (3 to 4 handfuls), Coriander (25g), Curry Leaf (5g), Coconut Cream (150g), Ginger (4cm x 2cm x 2cm), Soy Sauce (3 to 4 tablespoons), Sesame Oil (3 to 4 teaspoons), Chinese Five Spice (3 teaspoons).

Note that amounts are approximate. I resent having to offer them at all as my methodology involves getting a bunch of stuff that will fit in my shopping basket and then messing with things in the kitchen. This however is what more-or-less what happens.

Preparation

A mortar and pestle has such a lovely look and has associations with both cooking and ancient magics. Some of what follows may work better with a food processor but I chose the tiring way (also I only own the older item).

Crush your cashews into a fine slightly sticky powder. There will be small lumps left over and this is okay. Put the crushed nuts into a bowl. Add the Five Spice mix and distribute it evenly till its colouration has shifted from beige to a pale brown.

Finely chop both the coriander and curry leaf. Try to get the herbs as finely cut as you can and then put them into the mortar and pestle and mash into a pulpy mess. Put this into its own bowl.

Finely dice or crush the ginger and mix it in with the leaves till it is a well-mixed part of the whole pulp. By now you are experiencing all kinds of smells but there is more to come.

Pour coconut cream into yet another bowl.

I imagine all these ingredients could be combined in different ways and it would all produce the same end product. But this is how I did it. Now you have three bowls. You also have bottles of soy sauce and sesame oil. It gets exciting now. Take a fourth bowl. These are biggish bowls by the way.

Add the sesame oil into the bottom of the bowl of final unity of ingredients. Now start portioning each of the the three mixes into the bowl and stir them thoroughly. You want to try to produce a consistent paste. Do so in small portions so you can get the mix of wet and dry right (you may end with some leftover ingredients).

As you are mixing contents of the three feeder bowls also add some soy sauce. This is a key ingredient as it provides saltiness to this dish. Keep on mixing till you have added all the ingredients you can. Give it a whiff. Dip a bit of crust into it and give it an experimental taste-test. Hopefully you enjoy it but remember that it is better warm. It looks a lot paler and more speckled than Italian pesto.

Packaging And Presentation

Spoon your Marco Polo Pesto into a cleaned used jar. The amounts I suggest should fill two of those 190g pesto jars. Screw on lids and refrigerate. Now cook some rice noodles. Remove your Marco Polo Pesto from the refrigerator. It will likely have a firmer consistency than Italian pesto and gouges can be left in it. Stir two spoons per serve into cooked strained carbs. Consume. Tell me what you think of it.

A word of caution. This stuff is brand new so I simply cannot tell you its shelf life. Best to consume it within the next week rather than forget it exists. Serve it for friends at a dinner party or take some to work every day. Keep one jar and give the other to someone you wish to surprise and (hopefully) impress.

And finally feel free to vary this recipe to your preferences and cooking experience. Other pestos may come of this. I wonder what ingredients would go into a dessert pesto...