Wät's on first?

[johanna_hypatia]

-Whatcha makin for dinner?

-Wät.

-I asked, what's for dinner?

-Yes.

-What is?

-Yes, it is.

-What?

-Sure is!

-???

There's this type of rich, spicy Ethiopian stew called wät that is at the center of Ethiopian fine cuisine. The word is pronounced pretty much the same as the English word what. So we've had plenty of Abbot and Costello

Comments

[johanna_hypatia]

Ajowan or ajwain (Trachyspermum copticum) (Hindi अजवायन ajvāyn) is a spice known only in the East. Little seeds that resemble anise seeds, only smaller and darker. But the flavor is very sharp and like oregano to the nth power. Indian groceries have it. It has some medicinal properties, including antiseptic because it has thymol, and is used as a remedy for infant colic.

Long pepper (Piper longum) is another spice from the East which used to be imported to Europe in the Middle Ages, but was forgotten after they got a taste for black peppercorns. Long pepper is completely different from its black cousin: it's hotter, and has a weird, overpowering aroma that's hard to describe-sort of sweet and resinous like perfume or incense, with citrusy, spicy, and camphory notes (it reminds me of some couture fragrance or other, but I can't think of which one right now). It smells OK by itself, but I actually don't like it in food much and only use it in minute quantities combined with lots of other spices. I used a teeny bit when I mixed some garam masala, and then regretted it-the stuff was just too heavy and overpowering. But the Sanskrit name for it, पिप्पली pippalī, is the etymological source of pepper, paprika, peperoni, falafel, and, coincidentally or not, berberé itself. When people in the West stopped using the original pippalī, they transferred its name to other pungent plants, like black pepper (Piper nigrum) and chili peppers (Capsicum spp.).