Cooking like prison residents
Thanks Diana for this recipe and your gorgeous platter
Last night, we ate like prisoners. No, not their state-issued meal. Prison residents regularly get together to create “spreads” as they call them. One brings a tomato. Another a can of mushrooms he bought through their canteen. Another a jar of peanut butter sent by family. And together, doing with what they have on hand, they craft a memorable meal.
Some of them are great cooks, even with their limited access to ingredients, and get their fellow residents salivating. We regularly hear of the recipes they conjure. Making soups in their hotpot that doesn’t boil. Using Kool-Aid as a ramen seasoning. Seven-layer birthday cakes of cookies and cream cheese.
Well, in this season of not-getting-together, a Columbian-Australian friend from Thailand’s Peace Fellowship and I shared in a lunch/dinner, together with our partners. Peering into each other’s worlds through our devices, they were having lunch 17 hours ahead of the dinner we were eating.
It’s our dinner prep that resembled the prison residents’. Diana had previously sent a recipe for Peruvian Arroz con Pollo so that we’d be eating the same thing on both sides of the world. And, to avoid a trip to the grocery store, we chose to prepare the dish with what we had on hand. The whole chicken became two oversized chicken breasts. The red onion was actually yellow. The coriander became cilantro. The choclo grains became canned corn. And the yellow chili chopped in julienne was actually canned green chili.
And just like the prison residents, we feasted on our quarantine arroz con pollo! And if your quarantine feels like prison, you might enjoy the recipe below for Prison Tamales, given by our team to our newsletter readers in April 2019.
Invitation: Make the recipe below. Or make a meal with the funky stuff in your fridge and pantry.
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Prison Tamales
Bag of corn chips or tortilla chips
Refried beans (residents get these dehydrated)
Sausage or other meat, pre-cooked, cut into bite-sized pieces
Vegetables - peppers and onions
Seasoning of your choosing
Crush chips in bag
In chip bag, add and mix all ingredients. Shake well to ensure it’s properly mixed
Add a little water at near boiling temp (that's the hottest water gets in prison), but not too much so it doesn’t get soggy
Roll in chip bag to form tamale shape
Add cheese and hot sauce
Enjoy!
This is part of a series. You see, on April 1st, I realized that I have a unique perspective into confinement thanks to my past 4.5 years engaging several times a week with the world's leading experts on confinement: prison residents. For the month of April, I will provide a daily lesson learned in prison that will hopefully help us to survive and even thrive while confined to our homes. Go forward and back to enjoy each daily lesson.