My eggplant patch has been off the hook this year and my poor family has been subjected to a nonstop barrage of Italian-style eggplant, grilled eggplant, baked eggplant. I had to mix it up. I knew where to go.
Well, I didn’t know exactly where to go, but figured Wat Buddhametta: Tucson Buddhist Meditation Center at 1133 S. Swan Road might be a good start. I hadn’t been there before, but had heard the Buddhist monks living there were from Thailand, and that Thai cooking often included eggplant. So I loaded up a bag of eggplant and basil and headed out to take my chances.
I’d never met a monk before, and was nervous. I arrived to find several monks eating a gorgeous, fragrant meal. They seemed happy to see me. I let them eat and went to sit in their Buddha room for a while.
When lunch was over, I worked out a trade: Eggplant for cooking lessons. The abbot and headmaster of the center, Ajahn Sarayut, said that would be fine, and upon the delivery of another bag of eggplant, invited me back for a lesson.
Here’s how you make killer Thai eggplant, Wat Buddhametta-style: Squish up some garlic and thai chiles in something and simmer it in canola oil until your kitchen starts to smell fantastic. Add oyster sauce, a little black pepper, some fermented soy bean sauce and a bunch of eggplant. Stir until soft, mix in fresh basil and enjoy.
It is so good, and I thank the kind monks and workers at Wat Buddhametta — who also have a food trailer at the upcoming Tucson Meet Yourself festival – for welcoming me into their kitchen.
Next up: Pad Thai! Food sure is fun sometimes.
This article appears in Aug 11-17, 2011.
“Tucson Weakly” better have a good excuse for changing the title of this article apart from kowtowing to the rampant xenophobia in the US. This was released a few days ago as “Will Trade Eggplant for Buddhist Cooking Lessons”.
Conformity is spineless and deleterious to society. To do so is to participate in oppression.
I actually changed it. They weren’t Buddhist cooking lessons. They were Thai cooking lessons. This is more accurate.
Also, just out of curiosity, why would a paper that publishes stories about cooking with Thai Buddhist monks be the focus of your concerns about conformity, oppression and xenophobia? If anything, calling cooking lessons “Buddhist” because a monk was involved is oppressive. I changed the title of this story after I realized that I do not call cooking soup with the Catholic Service Workers at Casa Maria “Catholic” cooking. The end of oppression and xenophobia comes from understanding and communication, and I believe the new title of this piece extolls those ideas better than the former did.
These monks…how are they with portobello mushrooms? Mushrooms in general? How is their work?
how are these monks with cooking monkey?
good. i’m glad you changed it. as long as i don’t have to see any heathen faiths mentioned when i am scanning the headlines then everything is hunky dory and more ack! you rat!