Stewed Chicken

I can't believe this recipe was not in my list.
Chop up a chicken into pieces, remove skin, seperate thigh and drumstick, wing parts and chop breast into 3 and back into 3-4 pieces.
wash thoroughly and put in a bowl with
1 tbspn dark soy
salt and black pepper
1 onion finely chopped
1 whole garlic skinned and chopped (not a clove a whole garlic)
a bunch of fresh coriander chopped
1 tbspn of intense sun dried tomato paste and or tomato paste and 2 tomatoes chopped.
mix well and leave to season for 2 hours or more (overnight is fine)

Heat 2 tbspns of oil in a wok with a good dessert spoon of brown sugar until sugar caramalises and starts to smoke (don't let it get very black but make sure all sugar is caramelised).
Throw in chicken and stir swiftly to coat. Let simmer on high heat for a few minutes until the sauce generated is bubbling and then lower heat to moderate and cover. After about 5 minutes add about a cup or so of water (usually I boil water and swirl it round in the seasoning bowl to get all the left over seasoning). Let it simmer for another 10-15 minutes. At this point the chicken should be dark brown and the sauce looking dark and bubbly and slightly thick. At this point taste and adjust (usually means add salt and maybe pepper and I usually add a tspn of dark soy). If there is too much liquid let it boil down a bit, but you do need sauce with the chicken. The taste should be brown and slightly sweet and rich.

There is no doubt in my mind that this is the best chicken in the world.

Trinidad Sunday Lunch

Sunday lunch in Trinidad homes is usually stewed chicken, red beans, rice, and calalloo with in addition depending on household, macaroni pie, cressels (water cress) and also boiled plantain and dasheen or eddoes slices. Its quite a big plate really, but typically would only have say one piece of meat. The picture does not show calalloo as we can't get it in UK, or ground provision as again its difficult, we can get in Newcastle but that a 2 hour drive).

In fact Trinidad meals in general are light on meat and even fish, being heavily weighted on sides, macaroni pie, macaroni salad, boiled ground provisions, rice, green salad, water cress, sliced cucumber in lemon and salt and pepper. Some homes will also probably add curried mango. All the main ingredients are in my blog somewhere as recipes except:-
RED BEANS
The red beans are usually cooked as follows. Fry slowly an onion chopped and a green pepper sliced until soft and then add a cup or so of water and a tomato plus some tomato paste a few slices of pumpkin, and a tin of red beans drained (you can get very authentic and soak dried red or pink beans overnight and cook with carrot, onion celery and pumpkin until soft, in this case use the beans water instead of plain water). Let it cook for 10-15 minutes and then mash up some of the beans with a fork to get a thick gravy and add salt and ground pepper. Things are added in different households. Some may add some pig tail, some may add a bit of bacon, some vegetable or chicken stock rather than water, its a taste thing.
BOILED GROUND PROVISION
Although apparently a bland thing, these add a lot of value and flavour. Cut a well ripened plantain in 3 (in the skin) and add to water with chunks of any other you can get dasheen, eddoes, yellow yam white yam. When cooked slice and serve plain. The plantain brings sweetness, the others add texture and a homey warm goodness taste.

Guinea Fowl

Always use this instead of chicken for a real good curry. Guinea fowl is a close a taste as one can get outside the Caribbean to what is known there as "yard fowl". Yard fowl is a chicken in the yard which runs around a lot and is killed quite old compared to supermarket chickens and thus is tougher and tastier and cooks well in a curry for a longer time thus absorbing more flavour. The guinea fowl gives you a really wonderful flavour but cooks about the same as a normal chicken. The meat is reddish and very tasty. Since we tried it we only cook this now for most chicken meals.

Secret Ingredients

I guess all cooks have their secret ingredients, the thing which adds zing to their dishes. I thought I might give some of mine as one often forgets them when listing ingredients in recipes.

• Curry - always add 1-2 tspn brown sugar
• Spaghetti sauce  and Chilli - Always add 2 tspns of concentrated sun dried tomato paste in addition to tomato paste
• Jamaica pattie mix - add 1 tsp sun dried tomato paste
• Seasoning chicken, beef or lamb for stewed chicken etc- Add 2 tspn sun dried tomato paste
• Curry - use1tablespoon of ginger chopped fine
• Curry - shot of good rum or half cup of brown strong beer (not Guiness)
• Any stews - Add one or two small tomatoes chopped when cooking meat it enriches the gravy and/or sun dried tomatoes which are sweet and add a lot of flavour
• Fresh herbs just before finishing especially coriander always adds a freshness to a dish but according to the dish, parsley also good, not so much thyme as that needs to cook down.
• I use coarse sea salt all the time in anything cooking a long time as its much nicer flavour
• I use coarse sea salt on chops and steaks along with ground black pepper just before cooking, the sea salt gives you pockets of sudden sharpness as one eats the meat which normal salt cannot do, also on roasting a chicken use coarse ground salt and coarse ground black pepper as a skin rub.
• When stewing chicken Caribbean style, always use dark soy for the seasoning and even add some to the pot about half way through cooking as it makes the chicken darker and also adds a richness to the gravy.

Sardines West Indian style

THis recipe is much like Buljol. It makes a basic tin of sardines into a real treat.
1 Lime or lemon
1 tin sardines
2 tomatoes
1 onion
2 garlic cloves
1 wi pepper

Chop all the ingredients finely and add to the sardines which should be drained and put in a bowl and lightly broken
add 1 lemon squeezed and olive oil (1 tbspn). plus salt and ground black pepper to taste
Ma\kes a great snack with toast and is very healthy

Easiest Pineapple upside down cake

This is an outstanding recipe that is so simple it shocked me when it came out the best cake I had made and my family eat it all up the same day. It is remakrable in using one egg and not requiring beating butter and sugar first, so very simple.

2/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup softened butter or margerine
1/2 cup milk
1 egg
salt
vanilla
1.5 cups s/r flour
2 tspn baking powder
fresh or tinned pineapple
brown sugar and butter for caramelise

Take a metal baking pan, I used an 8 inch pie dish
Smear butter over base and sprinkle with brown sugar
place the pineapple on top and heat slowly over flame until sugar and butter caramelise and brown around the pineapple.

Mix the other ingredients in a bowl with a wooden spoon and pour over, should be consistency of thick pancake batter so it covers without too much need to spread. If too thick add a touch more milk.

Bake at 325 for 25 minutes and then take out cool and turn over onto plate. This would work as well with apples and produce a sort of simple Tart Tatin.

Beef or Pork ribs Asian Style

2-3lbs ribs cut into 2 inch pieces. Garlic ginger and hot pepper, about a tbsn each finely chopped. Toasted sesame seeds (do in a dry pan until they brown) about 2 tbspns. Tbspn dark soy 2 tbspns light. 1/2 cup rice wine. 1 cup water or chicken stock hot.

method
fry ribs in wok until well browned adding salt and fresh black pepper. Add all ingredients stir cover and simmer for 45 minutes to 1 hour (beef may take a bit longer as they are more solid). Check water now and again and add a little if getting too low. Then add a little water and conflour (tspn) mixed to thicken and serve with thai white rice and cucumber salad (finely sliced cucumber, salt pepper and lemon juice).
There should be a sauce, thick and rich with sesame ginger and soy, but not a lot if it worked out right.
These ribs came from a book by Charmaine Solomon but I modified them a bit and they are a super tasty alternative to barbecue.