Gashneetch Convention

Wash the cilantro thoroughly. Give it a good soak.


Main ingredients. Minus vinegar. (It's around here somewhere.)

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To make "Gashneetch" you will need a couple of large bunches of cilantro, some assorted chiles--depending on heat, I like to use one large jalapeno and 2-3 serranos, though I've had success with thai bird chiles here, as well as habaneros, and many diff. combinations of all of the above. If only one chile is available, go with the serranos--, kosher salt, vinegar (cider, red, or plain white, or a combo), a few fat cloves of garlic. An optional addition is walnuts--traditional, but I rarely use them.

The method is simple. Whir some of the vinegar with the garlic in a blender or food processor. For 2-3 bunches of the green, I add 3-5 large garlic cloves. You want to taste the garlic, but it shouldn't overwhelm the sauce. Add the chiles, coarsely chopped, and whir again until combined. Add a big pinch of salt, and then begin adding the cilantro in small handfulls, fully processing each time. Taste frequently. It should be sour, dark green, redolent of cilantro (that is, smelling and tasting of its main ingredient, tasting of itself) with a backnote of garlic. It should be fairly hot.

One variation is to add a few walnuts at the end. If you do this, the proportion of vinegar to cilantro should be increased, as the walnuts add extra thickness to the sauce. You may also increase the number of chiles if it isn't hot enough. I taught my ex-roommate Marty the Hippie* to make this sauce and he made the regrettable mistake of adding onion to the recipe. Please don't. It muddies the flavor most disagreeably. Another variation is to add some sugar to sweeten it. I don't do this often, but it's a nice change from time to time. A dip for samosa, sambousek, sambosay goshti, and bulaunees can be made by mixing equal parts gashneetch and plain yogurt.

This sauce is traditionally served with kabobs and flat bread. I keep it in my fridge to eat with pitas or homemade flatbreads. It is also good as a dip for tortillas, on bagels, and especially on grilled cheese sandwiches. Sharp cheddar on sourdough with gashneetch. Heaven. This stuff lasts for months in the fridge, though it never lasts that long in mine as I eat it nearly every day.

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* I also taught Marty to make falafel once. He became addicted and ate only falafel for weeks. He'd make a bowl of the mix that colonized the entire bottom rack of the refrigerator, where it would remain for a couple of weeks. Falafel in large batches, yo. This is the same roommate who once ate my chicken fried steak while I was out drinking, dreaming of coming home to some leftover CFS.