Cooking in the Tropics

I’ve been living and traveling in the tropics for about 13 years – in and around Southeast Asia, to now in Sri Lanka, and the food is some of the most exciting, inventive, and downright brilliant in the world. 

Spices, flavours, textures, and the heat that the chilis bring is one of the reasons I have spent most of my adult life here. Food is not only important, it is the best way to appreciate and experience cultures that are not your own. Noodle soups and curries, tropical salads and the sweetest fruit, rice prepared 1000 ways, and the list goes on. Delicious. 

But sometimes, the taste of my childhood calls me to order certain dishes in a restaurant that can’t quite get the taste right, or my kitchen – where sometimes even I don’t get it right either. Many ingredients are hard or impossible to find; or cost a lot of money for a small amount with a large carbon footprint – it’s traveled half way across the world from its origin to stare at me on the shelf at a local supermarket. 

It doesn’t stop me from trying. As an American, much of my favourite comfort foods is a direct result of how convenient it is to buy. Burger and fries in every town! But there are specialities that never live up to expectations in restaurants outside of home: mac and cheese, lasagna, fried chicken (though this is debatable, fried chicken is pretty good all over Southeast Asia), bacon and eggs, and big salads with creamy dressing. 

Being married to a Brit, I would also like to note the lack of properly done pies and pastries, fish and chips, ales of any kind, scones, and a full cooked breakfast. So, when a delicious coconut curry or spicy tangy fresh bowl of noodle soup just won’t cut it, how does one replicate Anglo or American food in the tropics? 

First, pretend that you can’t get the imported stuff. Because in reality, you can get it in almost every city. If there’s a hotel, there’s usually a supplier. However, it’s just cooler to buy locally grown produce and products. 

One thing I almost never find is cornmeal.  I’m used to eating lots of food with cornbread, fried green tomatoes, fried chicken, corn tortillas, and grits. When I want to replicate these foods, I use semolina instead. It’s much more common in this part of the world and found in lots of desserts. It adds a bit of crunch that doesn’t go soft when cooked. 

Lots of times, in order to make what I want, I need to work from scratch. Buttermilk is not something I often find (it’s usually used in biscuits and pancakes), so that would have to be made. Barbecue sauce is usually difficult to find, but easily experimented with by using local ingredients like spices, vinegar and tomato sauce. 

And sometimes, it’s never going to be like home, and you’ve got to choose the speciality of the place to satisfy your cravings. Steak is not popular in the tropics – cows are not super keen on the heat. But pork belly or beef curry? Now that can be done beautifully. Go for that. Related to said cow, cheese is also not super popular, and the imports are expensive, so choosing to make a cheesy sauce using cashews or paneer – is a good alternative. 

Sometimes it’s about adapting tropical cuisine from a different part of the world – Mexican and North African food is easily replicated because so many of the same spices and veggies are used in Southeast Asia – cumin, coriander, ginger, paprika, peppers. Even breads morph as you travel around the equator – tortilla, pita, chapati, dosa – versions of carby deliciousness that can be dipped and mopped and pocketed to create delightful spoonful’s of flavour.

The most missed food on my list is probably Mexican. Taco Bell might be a franchise commonly found in the tropics, but it just doesn’t satisfy me the way a home-cooked Mexican or Tex-Mex menu would. Thankfully, the spices and flavours are possible to replicate with the amazing produce found in the tropics. After all, Mexico is a subtropical country and so many of the globes essential foods and ingredients originate from there – tomatoes, special chillis, avocado, sweet potato, and squash. Missing your favourite Mexican hot sauce? (Cholula is mine) – go for fresh chilis, dried chili flakes, or chilli powder.

Local hot sauces and chill oils rival the hottest and best spicy sauces globally. They will knock you off your feet, and you’re not complete until you try them. 

My husband is a vegetarian but so many good Mexican dishes are made with meat. So I have to compromise when cooking for my family. It’s a healthy sacrifice to make. Luckily, there is an exquisite meaty fruit that is common all over the tropics that mimics some of the best pork carnitas. Jackfruit absorbs all the good stuff when cooked and even rivals meat in texture. Cooking up Jackfruit carnitas tacos is a family tradition now.