Arabadub

Zeb aka The Spy From Cairo's new album Arabadub will be released on May 29 on Nickodemus's Wonderwheel Records

 12" vinyl sampler 

Tune: Alladin Dub by Zeb - The Spy From Cairo from Arabadub

Tune: Bodega Ridge (The Spy from Cairo's Bodega via Cairo Remix) by Delhi to Dublin 

Tune: No Soy Del Valle (Nickodemus & Zeb Remix) by Quantic's Flowering Inferno

Tune: Ruperta (Zeb Remix) by Novalima

Check out Zeb on this Sol Selectas release

Primavera Menu at Baru, New Orleans Monday April 30

Soul Cocina returns to New Orleans for one night to cook a very special Mexican Menu. 

We will serve some of our famous vegan dishes as well as dishes for all you meatheads with slow cooked Rabbit confit (scented with orange, cinnamon and ancho chiles), homemade green chorizo (pork belly and pork shoulder sausage spiked with fresh green chillies, clove and cilantro)

We will be serving this feast at the beautiful Uptown neighborhood Latin hotspot Baru Bistro and Tapas on Magazine Street.

As always, everything will be prepared fresh and by hand by chef Roger Feely.

Smoked Green Garbanzos ~ 5 VEGAN

Soul Cocina Pickled Veggies ~ 5 VEGAN

Sour Flour Mollete • Soul Cocina Chorizo Verde • Queso Fresco ~13
Sour Flour Mollete de Rajas • Salsa de Tomatillo ~9 VEGETARIAN

Rabbit Confit Chilaquiles ~14
Soul Cocina Chile De Arbol Totopos w/ Grilled Veggies ~10 VEGAN

Panucho de Pollo Pibil ~12
Cumin Scented Purple Potato Panucho • Pickled Onion • Achiote ~10 VEGAN

We recommend 2 – 3 dishes per person.

WHAT:

A Celebration of Mexico via Handmade Regional Cuisine using the bounty of the Bayou's Springtime ingredients by Soul Cocina 

WHERE: 

Baru Bistro & Tapas

3700 Magazine st., New Orleans, LA 70115

WHEN: 

Monday April 30 7pm - 9:30pm

Facebook RSVP

Soul Cinema

What: Screening of Miss Bala and a few short films with food by Soul Cocina

When: May 19 • Sundown - 10pm

Admission: $3 or donation of edible plant to plant in the Soul Garden

Where: Clandestine Outdoor Location in Pilsen, Chicago

(attendees will be emailed the location a week prior to the event when they rsvp on eventbrite)

Reserve your spot

Menu:

Halibut Ceviche • Plantain Chips ~$6

Bowl of Posole • Fresh Hot Tortilla Chips ~$7

Grilled Veggie Nachos • Soul Cocina Salsa ~$6

Carnitas Nachos • Soul Cocina Salsa ~$7

Add Guacamole ~$3

Paletas ~$3

Paleta Flavors - (Chile Mango • Pista Kulfi • Strawberry Basil • Tamarind Ginger)

Margaritas y chelas ~$3 - $8

Limited Space Available - RSVP today

Facebook RSVP

Vitumbuwas

Here are a couple of tunes I was turned onto this weekend in Lubbock, Texas

Tune: Karolina by Awilo Lonoomba

Tune: Aa Ante Amalapuram music by Devi Sri Prasad from the Telugu film Aarya

And another fun Telugu song from Devi Sri Prasad

Tune: Nuvvu Ready Nenu Ready from the film King

Here's a little mix I made in the airport on my laptop on my way home from Texas.

Willi Willi Dance - Pati feat Didi, Rico & Rynz

Shyo - Bigiano

Chipolopolo - Poli

Fula Torin - Subsuelo

Lapaz Toyota - Guru

Sorkode -Keche

Vitumbuwa - 2wo -1ne

Vitumbuwas are sweet fritters sold on the streets of Zambia!

To make these tasty treats at home, simply mix together some flour with a pinch of salt and baking powder and sweeten to taste with a little sugar. Whisk in cold water until you get a thick pancake batter and then deep fry till golden. This is a standard Zambian snack and a crowd pleaser. Who dosn't like fried sweet dough?

But the Zanzibar version is what I really love. Made with rice flour instead of wheat flour and leavened with yeast instead of baking powder, the real beauty of the Zanzibar Vitumbuwa comes from the delicate infusion of cardamom and black pepper and the use of coconut milk in place of water.

Once I perfect the Soul Cocina sourdough Zanzibar Vitumbuwas, I will share the recipe.

Zyriabs Kitchen April 18

Who is Ziryab?

Soul Cocina will cook a menu inspired by the life and times of Ziryab. Ziryab brought many ingredients, cooking techniques, dining methods and culinary philosophies from Baghdad to Al-Andalus via North Africa in the ninth century. Many of these new styles of cooking and eating have contributed to the foundation of modern Spanish, North African and MIddle Eastern cuisines.

A family style feast at DODO created by Soul Cocina and inspired by the kitchen of Ziryab.

Wednesday April 18
DODO 954 W Fulton St
food served continuously from 6pm-9pm
http://ziryabskitchen.eventbrite.com/

ZIRYAB’S KITCHEN

Lamb Kibbeh

Fava – Chickpea Fritters

Muhammara (Syrian Pepper, Walnut,

Pomegranate Spread)

Kashkeh Bademjoon (Persian Eggplant Dip)

Ajo Blanco

Sangak

Cucumber Salad

Bastilla (Squash or Squab)

Freekeh Tabbouleh

Grilled Spring Vegetables

Fesenjan (Chicken or root vegetable)

Dates filled with Pistachio

Zalabias con Chocolate

Tickets Available via Eventbrite

Online event registration for Soul Cocina presents Zyriab's Kitchen at DODO powered by Eventbrite

rsvp facebook

Tune: Awshar by Nasser Shamma from Maqamat Ziryab

Fantasia X

UNFILMED FANTASIA from Mahamudra Collective on Vimeo.

Times Literary Carnival - Ad Film from Mahamudra Collective on Vimeo.

Guerriller@s

New LoCura video shot in the Mission and Marin Co. just debuted on the "What's hot" list of the National Geographic world music page.

Check out all the Mission fun. Fossil Fool's double decker pedal powered bicycle soundsystem "El Arbol" provides the audio!

The song Guerriller@s is on the LoCura album Caminante out later next month.

Be on the look out for the Bang Data remix of Guerriller@s which comes out next week as a limited time free download and features Deuce Eclipse on vocals.

Sangak

I was inspired to bake the Iranian bread sangak for Persian New Year after reading about it on the Anissa blog. The first step to baking sangak at home is finding small smooth pebbles to bake the bread on. This bread gets its name from the farsi word for little pebbles.

The next step is to make a natural bread starter. To cultivate yeast in a natural starter, you must combine wheat flour and water and allow it to sit at room temperature for a day. Then every day for a week you must feed your starter with more flour and water so the yeast can grow and multiply and create the gas needed to leaven your bread. When the starter becomes active you must continue to feed the starter to keep it alive. Your starter is now ready to use for baking. For more info and guidance on creating a natural bread starter, check out www.sourflour.org. We teach sourdough starter workshops in San Francisco and Chicago.

Sangak dough is wet. A 75% hydration will work beautifully. However, it can be tricky to work with if you are not used to baking with high hydration doughs. The key is to keep your hands and anything that touches the dough wet (bench, dough scrapper/cutter, bowl..). Combine together wheat flour, water, salt and your starter to mix the dough. The water should be 75% of the weight of the flour. Salt is 2.5%, and the amount of starter you add will determine how slow or fast the dough rises and how soon it will be ready to bake. I like to add just a little piece of starter for a slow rise. A slow rise will eliminate the need to knead the dough as much and it will also create a more complex flavor and will produce a superior crumb and crust. Sangak is traditionally made with a natural and slow sourdough leavening method.

After mixing the dough, allow it to rest for a few hours with a few short delicate kneading turns every hour or so. You will need to use wet hands when working with the dough to prevent sticking and tearing. After the final turn, form a tight ball and allow the dough to rest in a cool spot for about two hours. Then after it has proofed and relaxed, coat the dough with a little olive oil (I've heard they use peanut oil in Iran, but I like to use olive oil) and stretch the dough out to a long thin rectangle about 1/2" thick. You actually want it to tear a few holes in the dough in random spots and it is nice if the thickness is a little inconsistant to create diversity of texture when it bakes.

The oven should be preheated to as high as possible. Ideally, a wood burning oven at 700 degrees. But a home oven preheated with a thick baking stone will work. Smooth little pebbles, preferably smoothed out from time spent under the flow of a river, are spread out on the stone and preheated as well. After the dough is stretched out, it is flipped onto the preheated stones. In a home oven, bake until the bottom is golden and crisp then flip and continue baking briefly until the other side gets some color. Be careful, because at such high temperatures, this will happen quickly. In a wood burning oven, there is no need to flip the bread, as the radiant heat from the fire will bake the top as the bottom bakes from the conductive heat of the pebbles.

After removing the sangak from the oven, the pebbles will easily brush off. This bread is best served fresh.

I have made quite a few rounds of sangak this week. It is a wonderful bread.

Oldest mention of Sangak bread dates back to 1651

This tune by Barobax was inspired by Kourosh Yaghmaei's Havar Havar that was also remade in Urdu and the Bollywood tune Pyar Ki Pungi was a remake of this Barobax tune "Soosan Khanoom". Barobax is notorious in Iran for rewriting old Iranian classics and also using old children songs as inspiration. Like many other artists, filmakers and musicians, much of their work is censored and banned in Iran.

Tune: Ghazal and Del Dareh Pir Misheh (My Heart is Getting Old) both by Kourosh Yaghmaei

Tune: Soosan Khanoom & Oon Manam by Barobax

Tune: No Bread by Fela Kuti

Tune: Nemiyad by Googoosh

Tune: A great tune from the Qalam Kar album by Trio Chemirani

Tune: Wish I didn't Miss You (Nuffwish Dub) by Angie Stone

I served the sngak with borani-e badamjan (yogurt-eggplant dip) which is basically an Iranian version of baba ganoush. This recipe is adapted from the extraordinary book on Iranian cuisine and culture "New Food of Life" by Najmieh Batmanglij

Borani-e Badamjan

2 large eggplants

½ cup extra-virgin olive oil

1 medium yellow onion, thinly sliced

3 cloves garlic, minced

3/4 cup labneh, greek yogurt, or thickened strained yogurt (hung curd for my Desis out there)

Sea salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste

¼ tsp. crushed saffron, soaked in 1 tbsp. hot water

1 T fresh chopped mint

½ cup chopped walnuts or toasted sesame seeds (optional)

~I also added roasted bell pepper strips and lemon juice for my own variation.

Roast the whole eggplants in a 350 degree oven until very soft. Cool and scrape out the flesh, discarding the skin and stem.

Sautee the onion and garlic in the olive oil until soft and fragrant. Allow to cool.

Mash all the ingredients together and enjoy with fresh sangak.

Chicago Pop Up

Click here to view the menu and for more information about this dinner

A few SF Chefs on Vice TV

Streets of Bombay dinner at Dodo

Soul Cocina Streets of Bombay

Vegan and Omnivore Menus

March 31

7pm & 10pm

Dodo

954 W Fulton St, Chicago

Menu

Bhel Puri

Goat Curry Pao • Mango Pickle

or Pav Bhaji

Pani Puri • Sprouted Fenugreek • Blood Orange

Aloo Gobi Samosa • Tamarind & Mint Chutney

Pork Sorpatel Kati Roll • Chicharrones • Guasacaca

or Holy Cow Kati Roll • Plantain • Kala Chana • Braised Dandelion Greens • Pickled Onions

Royal Faluda Kulfi

Real Food • Hand Made

Dodo will present a bar menu to add to the theme!

Reserve your spot today for 7pm and 10pm

Tickets available on eventbrite

Here is a breakdown of the menu:

Bhel Puri?

Soul Cocina has been serving bhel puri at Indian weddings and street food festivals for a while now. Puffed rice is dressed with fresh mint and tamarind chutneys and tossed with boiled potatoes, green mango, crispy fried lentils and roasted peanuts among other fun ingredients. This sweet, salty, tangy, spicey, crispy, luscious treat is served in Indian newspaper, just like on the streets of Mumbai.

Goat Curry Pao • Mango Pickle? What's that all about?

We slowly braise goat legs with fire roasted tomatoes, ginger, garlic, aromatic spices and chiles in banana leaves. The meat that falls off the bones and the sauce that we make from thickening the braising liquid with almonds, onions and sesame seeds is served with Soul Cocina mango pickle on a Goan style Portuguese Pao bread.

Pav Bhaji?

Pav Bhaji is a popular street food sandwich in India made with tomotoes and onions cooked down with other veggies and spices to make a succulent filling. Our version is Vegan!

Pani Puri • Sprouted Fenugreek • Blood Orange?

We make our own golgappas at Soul Cocina to ensure a crisp and fresh vehicle for our tangy tamarind water and spiced garbanzos. We sprout fenugreek seeds and add fresh blood orange segments to the mix. For folks that are familiar with this staple of Indian street food, they will be excited to sample this exciting version. For newcomers to this treat, one bite and they'll be hooked!

Aloo Gobi Samosa • Tamarind & Mint Chutney

Potatoes and cauliflower roasted with coriander and fennel are wrapped in a handmade pastry spiked with ajwain. With traditional mint and tamarind chutneys, this street food classic is a sure shot.

Pork Sorpatel Kati Roll • Chicharrones • Guasacaca?

The Adobo Hobo in San Francisco took their famous Filipino sisig and wrapped it in a taco with chicharrones. We were inspired by this and have decided to make a kati roll from the Goan pork dish, sorpatel, and wrap it in a paratha, just like a Calcutta kati roll. We make our own chicharrones with a process that involves boiling, dehydrating and frying, then we dress these tacos with guasacaca, the ubiquitous Venezuelan late night street food condiment made from avocados.

Holy Cow Kati Roll • Plantain • Kala Chana • Braised Dandelion Greens • Pickled Onions?

Our vegan kati roll is filled with Plantains and black Indian garbanzos (kala chana) and dandelion greens braised with brown cardamom and ginger. Plus Soul Cocina lime pickles.

Here are some videos I shot at ACE and Cidade de Goa of chefs making parathas.

Lo' Juimo

What are you waiting for? Bondi Blaster just released new music. Lo' Juimo came out yesterday. Today is today. Tomorrow will be tomorrow. OK?

Get the inside scoop on this tune and the video from The Hard Data.

I know Juan Data in the real world from crossing paths around town from time to time, but I really know Juan from his persona as the masked man behind the keyboard of The Hard Data blog. The Hard Data is a great source to discover new music, usually "Latin but cool". He also features classic vintage tunes on occasion when he finds some interesting 45s, which is always a treat. But his real passion seems to be in the modern evolving musical movements of the Latin diaspora. Especially cumbia. Juan once wrote on his blog that he often prefers listening to new cumbia because there is more he can relate to in the modern context of the lyrics as opposed to old songs about fishermen, a common theme in classic cumbias.

The beauty of The Hard Data is in the words. He is an actual journalist and not just a kid with a tumblr or blogger account. The blog focuses on unveiling new talent and sharing his view of new sounds through reviews and commentary. Juan Data not saturate and overcrowd his blog with all the videos, free downloads, bells and whistles that you get in many blogs like this blog you are reading right here. Juan’s writing is filled with humor and sarcasm alongside very opinionated real talk. He has continued to feature cumbia heavily on his blog after most bandwagon blogs have left cumbia behind for the next new kuduroton fad. But it's not the same old cumbias, it is the ever developing modern cumbia movement with Afro Caribbean roots and forward marching sounds. And sometimes those sounds come from the man himself. His mixes have transcended boundaries to tell sonic stories of intergalactic urban luchadores who fight the big pop machine. I listened to one or two of Juan Data's early productions from a few years ago and I was very excited with the direction and aesthetics of the sound. However, the music was missing something and the tracks got lost in my digital collection,

racking up very few play counts. But like a comic book superhero, Don Data has kept grinding, and has delivered 100% on his most recent productions under the name Bondi Blaster on Stronghold Sound records. Maybe he sold his soul to the Devil at the crossroads? But unlike Robert Johnson's deal with the devil in Mississippi, Juan Data's crossroads is where hawkers from a flea market in Mexico City travel on a bus with fishermen from Baranquilla and street musicians from Bolivia on their way to a jamaican dancehall carrying large speakers and wearing masks. In reality, Juan Data took his ideas into the studio with the equipment and know how of Dub Snakkr and a few other collaborators to create the sounds of Bondi Blaster.

Juan Data shot some pretty raw footage from the SF Street Food Festival in the San Francisco Mission District. Only in SF can you get a sisig taco from a truck, a crème brûlée from a carpenter in a chef hat and get your freak on to a cumbia DJ in the middle of the street.

Bondi Blaster - "Salchichón Primavera" (Sonidero Choridub) from Bondi Blaster on Vimeo.

Soul Cocina recently caught up with Juan Data to find out what goes on behind the mask

Soul Cocina: I notice the Salchichón Primavera video was shot at the SF street food festival. What food do you remember sampling at the fest? Did you join in the street dancing that day?

Juan Data: I was actually there for the whole day. I was assigned by a newspaper to cover the event so I went there very early to meet and chat with many of the food cart people and I got to sample a lot of amazing food. I think the highlight of the day was the ice cream with caramelized worms from El Buguito. I didn't join the street dancing but as soon as I saw it happen, I pulled out my camera and I knew that'd make a great video for my song.

Soul Cocina: Do you have a signature dish you like to cook? (extra credit for recipe)
Juan Data: My beef empanadas are legendary. I can't share the recipe because it's a family secret, I'd either have to kill you or marry you if i told you.

Soul Cocina: Dang! add another soldier to the empanada wars of SF

SC: What are your favorite restaurants?
JD: I don't really have any, I prefer trying new things every time rather than going back to the same one.

SC: What is in your refrigerator right now?
JD: A lot of tomatoes, some beef, tilapia, chicken breasts, celery, onion and a couple of containers of frozen bean barley soup I made last week.

What do you miss most from Argentina?
The fact that you can go to any restaurant at midnight and it's packed, and after you're done eating they don't kick you away to clear the tables fast like they do here, you can stay and talk with your friends for as long as you want.

Are there any musicians, producers or DJs that are under the radar that we need to know about?
My full time job is trying not to let anybody worth knowing fly under the radar. Whenever I discover an artist that nobody else is talking about, I'm the first one to go online and share it with the world, either through my personal blog or my regular contributions to Remezcla.com

Have you ever worked in porn?
Yes. But shhhhh, don't tell anybody.

Where can we hear/ buy your music online?
Bondi Blaster's debut EP, ¡Lo Juimo! is available right now in pretty much every digital vendor that I know of, iTunes, amazon, Emusic, CDBaby, etc. You can also stream the whole EP for free on soundcloud.

Bondi Blaster - Lo Juimo!

Will your new music be released on vinyl?
I really want to. I mostly just play vinyl on my DJ sets, so not having my music on that format sucks because I can't play it at the parties. However, pressing vinyl is extremely expensive and unless we can guarantee some considerable amount of sales, I don't think the label will be doing such an investment.

Where can we find your written work besides The Hard Data?
I freelance write for many different publications, both in Spanish and English. I have many blogs, some of them are anonymous and I'd rather they remain that way, the rest you can find them easily, simply by googling my name.

I remember long ago I read on your website that you do not like to play cheesy merengue. Do you have any examples you can share with us of non cheesy merengue?
I don't. I don't really like merengue and I prefer not to include any of it in my DJ sets. But I'm also a mercenary and if people hire me to play a cheesy horrible music party and the pay is good, I'll play any crap they want. I don't give a fuck.

How do your roots inspire the music you create? How does SF inspire the music?
Your roots are always an influence, even if you don't recognize it. I always say that my musical roots, the music I grew up listening to are very contradictory and include '90s hip-hop, early punk rock, lots of Brazilian music, '80s synth-pop, and Argentine rock. Cumbia was always there, in the background, but I never paid any serious attention to it growing up, it was music for maids and busdrivers, not for private school boys like myself.
Moving to the US and in particular to San Francisco completely changed my paradigm because here I was part of the immigrant working class living in The Mission making minimum wage and all of a sudden I felt that cumbia represented me too and I found in cumbia a common language, a sort of musical lingua franca, that I could use to communicate with all other Latino immigrants from many different backgrounds.

You used to roll deep in the Hip Hop en Español scene. Are there any Mangaka tunes out there we can hear?
I was deeply involved in the South American hip-hop scene for many years but mostly as a journalist, event promoter and to a lesser extent beat producer. I always rapped, on the side, but never took it very seriously because I recognized, coming from a white middle class background I had absolutely no street-cred. I did release an EP as Mangaka in the year 2000, I posted it once on my blog and it's probably still posted on some other blogs. It's not stuff that I'm very proud of.

What was the first record you bought?
I didn't start buying vinyl records until I moved to the US in 2001. Back in Argentina I didn't have turntables and records where too expensive. I don't remember which one was the first, but probably some underground hip-hop, I think a 12 inch single by Afu-Ra.
I do remember the first cassette tape that I bought, when I was 10 years old, it was a cheesy compilation called FM USA, that had all the alleged current hits of top-40 radio in the US, which at that time meant Tears For Fears' "Shout" and other songs of that kind.

What’s the last record you bought?
Danay Suarez, Habana Cultura Sessions produced by Gilles Peterson, 12 inch EP. Oh, and a bunch of Panamanian 45s.

We're sharing some sounds of 45s from Panama here, these are not the records Juan Data recently bought.

What first turned you on to cumbia? How has cumbia/ nucumbia changed since then?
I always thought cumbia was funny, but in a ridiculous, ironic way. Because of the low-brow kitsch factor. That's what cumbia is associated with in Argentina, and most of Latin America. It wasn't until I got really deep into the real Afro-Colombian cumbia that I started taking it a little more seriously and noticing the connections with all the other rhythms of the African diaspora.
I did some bedroom experiments with cumbia back in the '90s, but it was mostly as a joke and they never left my computer. I always kinda knew that cumbia was very compatible with hip-hop and that merging both styles would be a great idea, but I don't think anybody managed to do it right until Ozomatli came out with "La Cumbia de los Muertos." That was a game changer for me at least. The first time I listened to prestigious hip-hop DJs mixing cumbia into their sets, was with this particular track. That was in 1999. Since then it's been evolving more and more and taking over the whole Latin music spectrum.
The first time I did something with cumbia, in public, was in 2001 in Los Angeles. My roommate was the singer of a local rock-en-español band that sounded very much like Ozomatli and they too had a cumbia and they wanted to have somebody rapping a verse on it so they invited me to do so. We never recorded it, unfortunately, but we played it live many times. The first time was at The Roxy, in Hollyhood, opening for Bersuit, an Argentine band that's quite a pioneer when it comes to mixing cumbia with party rock. That was a memorable night because it was also my debut as a DJ, playing between sets.

Where can we hear you spin records?
Every first saturday at The Layover, in Oakland we have the Stronghold Sound night with myself and DJ Diet, and sometimes other guests.

What other projects are you involved with? What does the future hold for Juan Data? Bondi Blaster?
I'm currently working with Gabriel Navia on producing some new Bondi Blaster tracks. But it goes very slow. I don't know. I never make long term plans.

What artists do you dream of collaborating with (porn or musical lol)?
I don't dream of collaborating with any porn artist. I retired from that business over four years ago and I have no intentions of going back. Plus I'm married now and I don't think my wife would approve. Musically, I'm down to collaborate with pretty much anybody out there. I want to bring more African roots and Brazilian stuff into my music so I'm kinda looking into that direction now see who can I find and drag into the studio.

What kind of food goes best with your music?
I don't know. I never ate listening to my own music. I don't think it's the type of music I'd ever play while having dinner. Unless you're having a greasy bacon-wrapped hotdog in the corner of 19th and Mission, or something like that.

What are 3 things people don’t know about Juan Data?
Most people didn't know about my porn background, but you already revealed that, many people didn't know that I'm married, but I already said that too. I guess the only thing left to say is that I don't know how to drive. I'm 35 years old and I've never driven a car. Bicycles rule.