Salmon Sebiche
The influx of young people from the Cloud Kingdom has recently introduced a new cusine to Awsranka: Carivanserai Grub. Those curious enough to make connections with these young migrant workers have been surprised at the variety and novelty of the foods brough up from the far south to feed the workers and give them a taste of home.
In fact the most surprising dish offered up by the camp cooks feature our own local salmon.
Sebiche requires the very freshest of fish. Here in Awsranka that generally means trout or salmon. The night I ate with the Llama Teteyaotla, the cook had obtained a nice bit of salmon (we were in the midst of the spring spawn up the Caldur River) and created this meal for us.
The fish is first filleted and skinned, then the flesh is cut into small cubes, about the size of the last joint of your little finger. Cook then marinated the cubed fish in a combination of an spirit that he had brought from the south (somewhat like our brandy, but quite tart), a paste made from some dried vegetables, which he named "chiles", finely sliced onion and a bit of salt.
Our beautiful salmon never knew a temperature it would have shunned in life. But after resting in its bath for only a little while, cook declared it ready to eat. He served it with boiled maize and a variety of papa (rather like our familiar pumpkin, though more starchy), and finally a bit more maize - fried this time and adding a distinctive crunch to each mouthful.
I must admit, I provided my young friends with the evenings entertainment on my first bite. Not that the salmon was distasteful. Oh no, it was wonderfully fresh and rich, but the heat! Though the food itself was not hot, my mouth felt as if on fire. Now I know more about chiles, I suspect the whole group was anticipating my reaction. But they good naturedly offered me bread and wine to cool my mouth, and cook produced a milder bowl that he had secretly set aside for me.
For those wishing to try this exotic dish, the Eldritch Lantern in Grytack has recently been serving a version of sebiche that the teteyaotla's cook described as "not bad, but a little bland."
More adventurous folk may want to try the real thing by giving their patronage to the newest eatery, the Sleeping LLama, located at the main caravanseri on the Triboar trail near Grytack Ford.
Llama Teteyaotla
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