Caribbean Recipes

Stewed Chicken

2011-12-05T03:22:00.001-08:00

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

2011-12-05T03:01:00.001-08:00

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

2011-11-20T02:51:00.001-08:00

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

2011-11-20T02:40:00.001-08:00

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

2011-10-24T02:16:00.000-07:00

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

2011-10-24T01:57:00.000-07:00

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

2011-08-03T11:38:00.000-07:00

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.

Beef Patties

2011-08-01T10:58:00.000-07:00

These are my version of the famous Jamaican patties. They fail in that they do not use orange pastry (comes from adding ruku an extract from a caribbean tree). Actually I use packaged puff pastry as I find it works fine and saves an enormous amount of trouble. They are very good as a snack though and thats what its all about.

1lb mince, 1 onion finely chopped2 garlic minced, one red pepper minced. About the same weight of potato as meat, cubed small and two small carrots chopped. I tbspn curry powder, one tspn cayenne. cup of chicken stock water, salt and pepper. Fresh thyme and parsley, chopped tomatro and tomato paste

Fry onion garlic and chopped pepper in oil for 3 minutes and then add curry powder and let it cook for 1 minute then add meat, potatoes and carrots, thyme and parsley and cayenne. Let this cook for a few minutes dry and add 1 chopped tomato and 1 tspn tomato paste and chicken stock and add water (mayeb 1/2 cup), the idea is it needs to cook in liquid covered, but then cook down to dry. its a balance to get the vegetables soft and end up with a dryish mixture. A NOTE, overseason a bit, i find I taste the mixture and think oh gosh too much pepper or too much salt, but it works, because the pastry takes some taste away. Let cool
roll out puff thin, and cut into circles using saucer. You should get about 12 patties out of a1lb of prepared puff pastry.

put some milk in a bowl and a pastry brush. Then it becomes a production line. You first brush with milk, then put dessertspoon of mix then fold over and use a fork to seal, finally put two fork points into pastry.

Bake in hot oven 200 USA 400 UK until cooked, about 15-20 minutes turning to ensure even heat.

Fish Cakes

2011-07-27T07:18:00.000-07:00

There are two favourtie fish cakes I like. both the same basic recipe. One is using fresh salmon the other dried codfish soaked. Both use about 6-8 oz fish plus 2 largish potatoes (about 6-8 oz), parlsey, thyme, salt pepper and egg to bind.

Its a one pot cook the fish and potatoes (although usaulaly I make the salmon with leftovers so don't cook at all, I would tend to cook the salmon for ony 5 minutes so put in when potatoes nearly done.

Sprinkle with finaely chopped par4sley and thyme, salt and pepper and mash up with a fork until well mixed. |Let sit for a while until cold and then add well beaten egg and mix. Beat another egg in a bowl. Take some flour and using a largish spoon scoop out mixture and make small patties and coat with egg first then flour or you can use fresh breadcrumbs. Let the pattie sit for a while in the fridge to set.

Pan fry until brown on each side and serve with your choiuce, chips, salad, boiled baby new potatoes, even fried rice all work well. I have them on a bun like a burger sometimes and they are delicious.

Corn Soup

2011-07-25T07:22:00.000-07:00

This nourishing and tasty soup is always available in Trinidad from roadside vendors, some of whom serve nothing else. To serve 4-6

6-8 full corn
onion chopped
2 cloves garlic chopped
thyme parsely salt pepper
4 oz split peas
for dumplings plain flour (6 oz) tsp baking powder tsp salt
2 pints of good stock
2 carrots 1 potato
1 scotch bonnet

saute onions and garlic in oil and add split peas, after 3 minutes then water (about 1 pint), let the split peas cook until soft (30 -45 minutes). Cool and blend. Add stock, thyme whole parsley chopped, half corn kernels cut from cob rest cut cobs into 1 inch pieces and add. Add sliced carrots and quartered potato salt and pepper. add 1 west indies pepper whole (don't break). Cook slowly for 30 minutes, then make dumpling mix using flour baking powder (not a lot) and good teaspoon salt. mix with cold water to a stiff dough. roll and cut into pieces or chop of 1 inch a time and roll in hand into flattened spear heads. Add to soup and contiue to cook for another 30 minutes very slow. The consistency should be thickish but not porridgy.

Steamed sea bass with soy and ginger

2011-06-26T01:03:00.001-07:00

This is a classic dish and it took me a while to get what made it work. The first part is obvious, take a nice cleaned whole sea bass and cut some diagonal cuts into the flesh both sides. Lay in a plate in a steamer (I use a plate made from foil) and steam for 10 minutes. Take it out of steamer and sprinkle 1 tspn sugar and 1 good pinch of salt over fish. Then finely minced ginger and spring onions. The final bit is what seems to make that incredible sauce. Heat 2 tbspns oil in a pan until its smoking and then pour carefull along the fish. The fish will sizzle madly and the ginger and onion will lightly cook and add to the flavour of the sauce. Finally pour over 2 tbsp light soy and serve with white rice and steamed vegetables. The sauce which combines the fish stock from the steamer, plus the ginger, onion and soy is really very nice, the sugar brings out the flavours.

Teriyaki Salmon or Chicken Breast

2011-06-26T00:54:00.001-07:00

2 tbspn dark soy
1 tbspn toasted sesame oil
1 tspn sugar or maple syrup
chopped ginger and garlic (3 heads and about 1/2 inch)
toasted sesame seeds
1 tbspn rice wine vinegar

mix all ingredients but sesame seeds in a bowl and marinate salmon or chicken for 2/3 hours or overnight turning occasionally. Pan fry in 2 tbspns oil until dark brown and cooked through then serve with white rice and sprinkle with sesame seeds.

Mild Chicken Curry

2011-05-23T07:27:00.000-07:00

2lbs Chicken parts skinned
2 tbspns coconut milk
1 tbspn turmeric. 2 tspns coriander, 1 tspn cumin, 1 tspn curry powder all ground
1 small piece fresh ginger about 1 inch
4 cloves garlic
1 onion
1/2 west indian pepper or a red pepper
salt and pepper

Throw chopped ginger, garlic and onions into a wok with a little oil
let cook until soft and add ground seasonings cook 2 minutes
add chicken parts and stir to coat, let cook for 5 minutes
add coconut milk and salt and pepper. cook with lid but lifted by a wooden spoon for 20 minutes. correct seasoning and serve with plain white basmati rice and salad.

Barts Spices

2011-03-30T01:35:00.000-07:00

Barts are the only bottled seasonings I would recommend. The quality of their products is as good as home made and their red curry and green curry sauce are superb bases for any Thai dish. They make a wide range of products, mostly with an Asian flair and all are wll thought out and tasty.
Their web site

Indian Mussels

2011-03-01T03:03:00.001-08:00

I hate to disappoint the French but they cannot cook mussels. This recipe is the best ever for mussels not only are they tasty but the "soup" at the end is delicious.

Chopped, 2 onions, 4 cloves garlic, 1 inch of ginger, 1 hot pepper
saute chopped ingredients in a little oil until softened add
1 tomato chopped, 1 tsp each of cumin, coriander, chilli let cook for 3 minutes
add cup of water and tsp salt let cook for 5 minutes
add cleaned mussels cook for 10 minutes
sprinkle with 1/2 cup chopped fresh coriander and half a lemon squeezed
stir and serve with crusty bread and butter or white jasmine rice

Pumpkin - Paquito

2011-03-01T02:54:00.000-08:00

Since we have been in the UK we have been looking to recreate West Indian pumpkin and roti as well as pumkin to use in dishes such as red beans and rice. We tried everything on the market and nothing worked until last week we found a squash called PAQUITO at Tesco which is in fact the best tasting pumpkin we have ever tasted. Its perfect in pumpkin and roti but also just roasted with Sunday lunch. A real find. Grown in Senegal of all places.

Asian/Chinese Prawns

2011-01-09T11:29:00.000-08:00

1lb raw prawns deveined and shells removed. If you have time and the right prawns you can make a little shrimp stock by boiling the heads and shells in 1/4 pint water, but if not use chicken stock.
Ginger, about an inch chopped fine
Garlic 4-5 cloves fine chopped
Two spring onions chopped
Barts red Thai Curry
Soy
Oyster Sauce
tablespoon cornstarch
Chopped 2 thai red peppers
2 tbpsp coconut milk

Marinate prawns in cornstarch, half the ginger half the garlic and the spring onions for 1 hour or even 30 minutes.
Cook the remainder of ginger, pepper and garlic for about 2 minutes in a hot wok and then add red curry paste (2 tsp), stir and let flavor develop for a minute then add seasoned shrimp and cook quickly tossing gently until cooked through just. Add coconut milk and tbsp stock, plus tbsp oyster sauce and tbsp soy and stir 1 minute to make a sauce and remove immediately from heat. Serve with white jasmine rice and stir fried Chinese greens

Deep Fried Haggis

2010-11-01T05:27:00.000-07:00

I never thought I would have this recipe on my site. But we visited an old Inn in the Highlands and they had this on the menu and we were overwhelmed by the taste. We had tried Haggis and said "well ok thats interesting" but this recipe is a knock out.

Best to buy the sausage shaped haggis and don't forget to take off the skin. Slice into pieces about 1 inch by a half inch.

Make up a Japanese tempura batter, 2 oz rice flour, 2 oz plain flour, pinch of salt, pinch of baking powder. Mix just before you cook with cold soda water into think paste (don't mix too much). They sell tempura mix also in most supermarkets

Dip and fry in deep hot oil until golden brown.

Serve with Onion relish or marmalade and a leaf salad with a balsamic dressing.

Thai shrimp

2010-08-18T01:14:00.001-07:00

1lb raw shrimp cleaned
Barts green and red thai paste (Barts is the only paste I will use, otherwise I make my own, but they are very good).
Onions, garlic, ginger
Tamarind juice
seasoning

Fry finely chopped onion, 3 garlic cloves and 1/2 inch ginger chopped in a wok until onions soft but not browned.
Add shrimp and cook until just pink
Add 1tsp of green and red curry paste
Stir and let it color shrimp 1 minute
Add 1/2 cup of tamarind plus 1/2 cup basil and cilantro finely chopped
Stir in and let cook for 1 minute.
Serve with white rice and cucumber

Dhalpuri Roti

2010-01-25T02:02:00.000-08:00

I make roti every week. The ingredients and method are simple. 1.5lbs Plain flour, generous salt (1 tbsp), teaspoon of dry yeast, 2 tspns baking powder, 2 oz of butter or margerine, water to mix to firm dough. knead for 5-10 minutes, pour oil over, cover with cloth, and leave to rise for 2 hours at least. Makes aabout 6-8 roti enough for 4-6 people.

For dhalpuri these are the additional steps. Soak 1/2 lb spilt peas overnight and boil with water and a pinch of curry powder and a garlic clove plus some salt until cooked through. Strain and let dry. Pound with a mortar until mush. Fry in oil with some garam masala or curry powder, salt and pepper to taste and turmeric until dry, don't let it burn. Let it cool.

When making roti roll out each one to about 8-10 inches and put a couple of tbspns of pea mix in centre, fold roti over and put aside.

Get a flat pan or flat griddly very hot and roll out roti carefully trying not to break skin. Put roti on surface and have a bowl with a mixture of oil and butter melted and a brush. Brush the roti with the mixture and as soon as small bubbles form turn and brush the other side. The roti will rise into a ballon shape. Tap the edges and remove after 2 minutes.

Pak Choy with Garlic Sauce

2009-09-27T01:18:00.000-07:00

Ingredients
3-4 heads of pak choy, washed and choped into 1 inch pieces
tspn ginger chopped fine
tablespoon garlic chopped fine
tablespoon onion chopped fine

cup containing
half cup water
half cup light soy
tsp corn flour
tspn salt
tspn ground pepper
tsp oyster sauce

Method
Put wok or frying pan whith a cover available on high heat with tbspn of oil
when hot fry quickly the ginger, garlic and onions (1-2 minutes)
add pak choy, stir and cover, turn down heat a little and cook pak choy for about 3-5 minutes maximum shaking occasionally until the green leaves look a little wilted

turn heat low, push pak choy to one side and add liquid from cup let it wamr through and go transparent then mix into pak choy to coat and serve hot.

Very Good Muffins

2009-09-27T00:52:00.001-07:00

I have been trying different recipes to find the best and this one is pretty close. It makes a dozen large muffins.

2.5 cups flour
3 teaspoons baking soda (if you use self raising flour cut this to 1.5 tspns)
half a cup of sugar
1 tsp salt
just over half a cup of butter (about 3 oz)
2 eggs
cup of milk
1 tsp orange zest

1.5-2 cups of some filling, blueberries, raspberries chocolate chips etc

Topping
zess of one lemon (or orange or lime)
qtr cup sugar
mix until sugar turns the colour of the zest

Preparation
Heat oven to 400
Put flour, sugar, salt, baking powder into a bowl and cut in butter to crumb
Seperate eggs from white into two bowls.
Add milk to yolk and beat lightly
Beat whites until fluffy
Put berries on a flat plate and sprinkle icing sugar or sugar
put berries in flour micture and using wooden spoon gently mix
then add all liquid and mix very carefully, basically your folding it until its just moist (not stirring)

Grease your cups and divide mixture and add lemon topping and bake for 20 minutes until golden brown

remove from pans onto a rack if possible and let cool before moving to plate.

Buljol

2009-08-09T02:53:00.000-07:00

Buljol is one of the best snacks, either for breakfast or in an evening as a late supper. You must have avocado.
1 Avocado
4 medium Tomato
1 Onion
2 Garlic cloves
2 tbsn Olive oil
1 Peppers (WI)
1/2lb soaked, cooked boned codfish
1 lime or lemon

Soak codfish overnight then cook in water for 10 minutes and then drain and shred. Skin and finely chop 3-4 tomatoes and mix with finely chopped onion garlic and hot peppers and add to saltfish. Add avocado cut into cubes, and salt and pepper (may not need salt if fish still salty) , then mix with squeezed lemon and virgin olive oil. Let it sit for a while for the flavours to mix and then serve as is on fried bakes, toast frh rolls or even crackers.

Jamaican Rice and Peas

2009-06-17T04:12:00.000-07:00

The essence of this dish is the heavy (and I mean heavy) use of fresh thyme in both the peas and the rice.
The Peas
Half a packet of dried red beans (or you can use blackeye peas for a different taste)
carrot, celery onion, lots of fresh thyme
Soak red bean overnight. Biol covered with water to cover plus vegetables for 1-1.5 hours until soft.
The rice and peas
Use longgrain rice about 2-3 cupfulls
Coconut milk, salt
Measure water cocunut water and bean water roughly to 3 cups water to one rice.

Add all ingendients and cook slowly monitoring the water for about 20 minuets until rice cooked. You may have to add some water towards the end.

When cool this will set and you will almost have to cut it with a knife to reheat but that normal. Keeps 4 days at least in the fridge. Heat either microwave or as my wife does in a steamer.

Thai Chicken Family style

2009-06-02T01:47:00.000-07:00

Ingredients
2 Chicken breast fine chopped to be almost like ground
1 Onion (fine chop)
3 cloves garlic (fine chop)
3 hot thai peppers(left whole)
2 tspn ginger (fine chop)
whole packet of Basil (rough chop)
half packet of Coriander (fine chop)
1 tbspn fish sauce

Cook onion, garlic, pappers and ginger stirring constantly on high heat for 2 minutes
Add chicken and let cook stirring for a few minutes until cooked.
Add basil and coriander and fish sauce and stir and cover and let cook for 3-5 minutes until herbs cooked down. Serve with plain white Jasmine rice and if you wish some stir fried pak choy.

Bermuda Breakfast

2009-06-02T01:34:00.000-07:00

This recipe is used by most families in Bermuda and is served as a brunch or late breakfast on Sundays. I used to go to my old friend Eugene Harvey (now in Washington) house where his mother cooked for about 20 children and aunts and uncles and cousins. Their house overlooked the Sound, clear blue waters. They were an interesting family, originating in Guyana but in Bermuda for years. All very bright children, a big old house with lots of land, kept bees and planted, nice old fashioned family with good values)
Ingredients
Salted Codfish (soaked overnight in water)
Whole potatoes
Eggs (1 each)
Bananas (1 each)
Avocado
Tomatoes (tinned quality plum)
Onions, garlic, peppers, salt and pepper
Optional Green peppers
Put the pototoes, codfish and eggs in a big pot and boil until potato done (about 15 minutes)
Drain and seperate
Take a frying pan and cook the onions and garlic slowly until soft and transparent. Add tinned tomatos chopped or rough blend and the sliced green pepper and cook covered on low heat for 15 minutes or so. Then add flaked fish and salt and pepper to taste.
To serve
Put potato, sliced banana, slice of avocado, and halved egg on plate and spoon fish and tomato mixture on side.
It is important to eat a little of each and you will be amazed how these flavour complement each other

Turkey Pilau

2009-01-21T07:52:00.000-08:00

see http://trinidadrecipes.blogspot.com/2008/03/pelau.html for my chicken Pilau. Use leg and thigh parts rather than breast meat, and you will find the Turkey Pilau is actually nicer than Chicken. One thing to watch though is that turkey does not spring water like chicken so the meat gets browner quicker and takes on a lovely roasty flavour.

Oriental Salmon

2009-01-16T04:07:00.001-08:00

We are now in the Scottish Borders and getting lovely salmon. This recipe worked a treat. I got a tail of Salmon and baked it in foil at 350F with just some butter, salt, pepper and parsley for 30 minutes. Then I skinned it and split off the four main fillets. I served it with a stir fry (pak choy, mushrooms carrots onions and baby corn) and plain Jasmine rice, and at the last minute fried some garlic and ginger and spring onions chopped and added that to a qtr cup of good soy and poured it over the fish fillets. Very nice

Curry Cabbage and Salmon

2008-07-30T05:26:00.001-07:00

I suspect this would work extremely well with fresh salmon, although I have only used tinned. Chop a cabbage finely, open salmon and clean (pick out bones and skin). Heat a coverable pot with a little oil (frying pan, wok or Caribbean round bottomed pot). Take curry powder and mix with a little water to make a paste (2 tablespoons). Pour this in the hot oil and let cook for about 5 minutes. Throw in an onion chopped, 4 cloves of garlic chopped, a piece of WI pepper, let cook for 2 minutes then add cabbage stir cover and leave for 10-15 minutes until cabbage has fallen. Add tinned tomatoes, salt and pepper. stir and serve with white rice.

Fried Cabbage

2008-07-30T05:23:00.000-07:00

SLice up a cabbage finely. Heat afrying pan (with lid) and oil. When oil hot add onions, garlic and pepper let cook a little and throw cabbage over top, stir and cover and leave for 10-20 minutes checking occasionally until cabbage has cooked down. Serve with Sada Roti as a breakfast or snack.

Aloo and Egg

2008-07-30T05:18:00.000-07:00

This was suggested to me by one of my coworkers. Boil the egg and then cool and chop up. Take potato and peel and slice and begin a curry by putting some oil in a pot aqnd mixing two tablespoons of curry with a little water to make a paste. When the olil is hot put in the curry and let it cook down a little (5 minutes) then add the potatoes and some onion, garlic and pepper chopped. Let this cook. Meanwhile fry the chopped egg in a little butter until it browns and goes a little hard. Whewn the potato curry is cooked add the egg and stir in and serve with white rice.

Pizza

2008-07-04T10:43:00.000-07:00

Pizza
The secret of good Pizza, is the length of time it gets for the yeast to act on the flour and the quality of the flour. It is essential to leave the dough overnight before second proof. If you do it in one day you just won't get the flavor or texture. So basically the recipe is:

2lbs of high gluten flour wholewheat or plain to your choice, although if you are doing wholewheat I would mix it 50:50 with white to get a lighter loaf
1 teaspoon yeast
2 teaspoons salt
½ cup olive oil
Cold Water

METHOD
Put the flour salt and fresh yeast (open a pack a week) in a bowl and mix with oil then add water you just have to add enough I cannot tell you, it will be about 2 cups but maybe more. You want a firm but elastic consistency and you need to knead it for about 8-10 minutes. Take the dough and separate into pieces about 10-12 oz each. Place in oiled bags in the fridge overnight. This will make about 6-8 large pizzas and the dough can be placed in an oiled bag and kept in the freezer.
To cook heat oven to 500degrees or more if you can. Take out the dough an hour before to warm. Stretch the dough carefully using fingers on a greased pan until thin enough and covering. Put ingredients on top in order...sauce, cheese, toppings, cheese. You will need at least 1lb of mozarella and then other cheeses to suit. Drizzle a little olive oil on top and bake for about 12 minutes until top is bubbling.
Sauce
Cup of chopped onions
half a full head of garlic chopped
olive oil to fry
2 tins of best quality whole tomatoes
tablespoon Italian seasoning
salt
black pepper
Cook garlic and onions slowly until soft and add other ingredients. Cook for 30-40 minutes. Cool and blend. This will keep for a week or more in the fridge.

Family French bread

2008-07-04T10:42:00.000-07:00

The secret of good bread, whether French or other is the length of time it gets for the yeast to act on the flour and the quality of the flour. It is essential to leave the bread overnight before second proof. If you do it in one day you just won't get the flavor or texture. So basically the recipe is

2lbs of high gluten flour wholewheat or plain to your choice, although if you are doing wholewheat I would mix it 50:50 with white to get a lighter loaf
1 teaspoon yeast
2 teaspoons salt
Water

METHOD
Put the flour salt and fresh yeast (open a pack a week) in a bowl and mix with water you just have to add enough I cannot tell you, it will be about 2 cups but maybe more. You want a firm but elastic consistency and you need to knead it for about 8-10 minutes. Put in a large bowl with 1tbspn of oil in the bottom and roll the bread around to cover then put plastic wrap and a cloth over and leave for about 90 minutes or so until its clearly risen about double. Then punch it down flat again and wrap in oiled wrap and put in the fridge overnight.
The next morning take it out and put it in a bowl again covered until it warms and starts to rise, about 1 hour to 90 minutes. Add the same ingredients again PLUS 2 eggs and a cup of melted butter. Mix first and then add eggs once its formed up a bit and then butter last. Be careful as the butter and eggs will act like water so add much less water this time. Put the new larger load into a pan again oiled and cover as before for about 2 hours.
Then split it and shape into 4 loaves either 4 1lb bread tins or shape into 4 “boules” which are basically a round loaf. Cover with oiled film again and let rise for 2 hours.
Heat the oven to 425 degrees. Place the bread in the oven. The bread should be done in about 30-35 minutes. Let it cool before cutting. In strictly bakers terms what you have done here is created a pre-ferment with the first batch, which then flavors the second. This is a nice loaf for sandwiches. It is important to put any wholewheat in the FIRST batch to allow the yeats to work on it as long as possible.

French Bread (baguette)

2008-07-04T10:41:00.000-07:00

French Bread (baguette)
The secret of good bread, whether French or other is the length of time it gets for the yeast to act on the flour and the quality of the flour. It is essential to leave the bread overnight before second proof. If you do it in one day you just won't get the flavor or texture. So basically the recipe is:-

2lbs of high gluten flour wholewheat or plain to your choice, although if you are doing wholewheat I would mix it 50:50 with white to get a lighter loaf
1 teaspoon yeast
2 teaspoons salt
Water
and that is it for French bread, no additives at all, no fat.

METHOD
Put the flour salt and fresh yeast (open a pack a week) in a bowl and mix with water you just have to add enough I cannot tell you, it will be about 2 cups but maybe more. You want a firm but elastic consistency and you need to knead it for about 8-10 minutes. Put in a large bowl with 1tbspn of oil in the bottom and roll the bread around to cover then put plastic wrap and a cloth over and leave for about 90 minutes or so until its clearly risen about double. Then punch it down flat again and wrap in oiled wrap and put in the fridge overnight.
The next morning take it out and put it in a bowl again covered until it warms and starts to rise, about 1 hour to 90 minutes. Then split it and shape into 4 loaves about 18-24 inches long. Cover with oiled film again and let rise for 2 hours, if you wish with a very very sharp knife slash the top to duplicate the look of a baguette.
Heat the oven as hot as it will get, 500 degrees or more. Place the bread in the oven and take a water spray bottle such as you use for laundry and spray the sides of the oven 3 times, once a minute for the first 3 minutes, this helps provide crust. The bread should be done in about 25-30 minutes. Let it cool before cutting.

Bahamas Johnny Bread

2008-07-04T10:40:00.000-07:00

1 Cup flour
3/4 cup cornmeal
3/4 tsp. salt
1 egg, beaten
5 tsp. baking powder
1/3 cop sugar
2 Tblsp. vegetable oil
1 cup milk
Preheat oven to 350F. Mix all dry ingredients together. Add egg, milk and oil to dry mixture and blend well. Pour into 8 inch square pan. Bake 30-35 minutes until slightly brown on top.

Bahamian Fish Soup

2008-07-04T10:38:00.001-07:00

I had this recipe in an authentic local restaurant in Grand Bahama with Johny Bread and its the best breakfast i ever had in my life. Who would think of soup?

4 fair sized grouper steaks
2 large onions diced
4 strips chopped bacon
6 diced potatoes
2 celery sticks chopped
1 or 2 bird peppers
1 lime cut in half
1 qt good clear fish stock

Cooking instructions: You will need a relatively large cooking pot. Combine both onions and bacon in the pot. Cook until onions soften, stirring regularly. Remove from heat. In a medium size pot, bring potatoes to a boil, cooking only 1/2 way, remove from heat, strain. In the large pot, add stock to onions and bacon until pot is about 1/2 full. Combine and add the following ingredients. Potatoes, salt, celery, bird peppers, and squeeze 1/2 lime into mixture. Bring to boil for about 10 minuets. Add grouper fillet, boiling for 5-8 minuets before removing from heat.
Total cooking time: 35 mins Serves: 4

Real Bread

2008-03-13T04:45:00.000-07:00

I have spent 15 years trying to get bread right and for the last two years my family only east home made bread. I make 4-6 loaves a week and freeze them. It took me a long time to understand bread, its tricky stuff. Firstly the flour is one of two most important things. In Trinidad the best flour is only available from the shop inside National Flour Mills on Wrightson road. It is called "high Gluten" and is not sold in shops. Its about TT$115 a 100lb bag. A sustitute is NFM bread flour sold in 30k bags in supermarkets. Bread called "bakers flour" is not as good, it just isn't I have tried numerous experiments. Having said that I am still miles from satisfied I understand the combinations of flour and what they achieve. I think it might be lifetime chellenge.

Cleanliness

2008-03-12T12:47:00.000-07:00

An example can be made in chicken preparation. Chicken is a favourite food and is cooked in many ways in Trinidad, all of which are delicious and will change the way many people feel about "boring chicken".

Try to purchase a chicken with giblets. Supermarkets certainly in Britain do not give giblets as a rule. Sainsburies is the exception. Giblets, particularly the neck and liver are delicacies of the meal, that children and adults in Trinidad fight over.

In these days of Salmonella and factory chickens it is may not be wise (however tasty) to use giblets. I now try always to buy free range chickens.

The chicken should be skinned and then cut up. The feet below the knuckle are cut off as are the wing tips and the parsons nose and thrown away with the skin. The drumstick and thighs can be cut in two with a cleaver as would be the back (into three). At the end of the process you will have a pile of meat cut into pieces to roughly match the size of half the thigh.

As you cut the pieces examine them for blood clots etc, and carefully remove, also scrape the inside of the chickens body carefully removing as much as possible of the very dark meat and bits.

Take a bowl and put the chicken in the bowl, cut a large lemon in two and lightly crush one half over the chicken. Using your hands work the lemon juice into the chicken. Then add some water, rinse around and drain. Squeeze the rest of the lemon onto the chicken and leave to rest for a while before draining and rinsing again. The lemon juice has the effect of cutting the fat and provides another dimension to cleansing the bird.

Take your seasoning and put about two generous tablespoons onto the chicken. Add one or two tomatoes from a tin, salt and pepper and about a tablespoon of soy sauce. Break up the tomatoes with a wooden spoon and mix all the ingredients thoroughly.

Leave to marinate in the fridge for as long as possible, even overnight if necessary, although half a day is sufficient. You now have "seasoned" chicken, ready to use in several recipes.

Fish

In England cooking fish Caribbean style is difficult as English fish are generally not usable. In the USA the situation is better as snapper and yellow jacks etc are usually in most fish sections at the market.

In London, Brixton is the only area which regularly sells fresh fish that match Caribbean needs. Get red fish, or snapper, perhaps one of the nicest is Jamaican fresh water snapper, which is orange with black marks. Another favourite is St Peters fish.

Mullet would be the nearest European fish, round white fish being rare. Most European round fish are oily like mackerel. But Mullet is not good, it is black inside and does not taste well. The Chinese use sea bass, and that will work for all the recipes.

The fish must be washed thoroughly and then scaled. All fins as well as the tail and head should be removed. The inside of the fish should be gently scraped.

Proceed with the lemon as described for chicken.

Cow Heel Soup

2008-03-12T12:43:00.000-07:00

From the African side of Trinidad this wholesome soup that is very good for you. In England they used to serve invalids Calfs foot broth which is not that far away from this recipe.

2 pack of cow heel (about 2lbs), 3 tablespoons of split peas. Boil for 2 hours with 4 pints water. Then add Potato quartered, carrots sliced and salt and pepper. Make up some dumplings from flour (1 cup), water, salt and sugar and drop in teaspoon size pieces.

You can add dasheen or Eddoes or sweet potato but they do change the flavor a bit.

Cook for another 25 minutes slowly. Tasted better to be honest than all the ones we have had at restaurants...serves 4-6 depending on your appetite

Anchar

2008-03-12T12:40:00.002-07:00

This is the dish that makes Trinidadians go back to Trinidad year after year. This is the dish that every Trinidadian would be killed by his own family if he didn't bring it back from "home".

2lbs green mangoes
1 whole garlic
half an onion
sugar
1 WI Pepper
salt
Anchar Massala (buy it from a West Indian store)

Wash and cut the green mangoes into pieces taking out the seed, which should be white and fairly soft. Mash up the garlic in a mortar and pestle. Heat 2/3tbpns of oil in a pot add 1 teaspoon of sugar and let brown. Add garlic, onion salt and pepper chopped. Add mangoes, anchar (1 tbpn) and 2 tbpsns sugar cover and cook on medium heat for 5 minutes. Uncover and add half a cup of water and cover and let steam for 5/10 minutes more. Let cool and enjoy.

Plantain

2008-03-12T12:40:00.001-07:00

Ingredients

1 Plantain
salt
1 Tbspn Oil

Choosing a plantain can be difficult for people not used to them. As they get riper they begin to get black patches and marks on them. Choose a ripe Plantain, if its not ripe you will get plantain tasting like french fries, if its too ripe it will be very sweet and fall. But just right and it has a soft consistency and tastes wonderful. If there is green on the end of the plantain its not ripe.

Peel and slice in half lengthwise. The cut each half into three equal pieces and place on a plate and sprinkle with salt.

Leave for a moment while heating the pan with oil until fairly hot. Again the temperature is a bit tricky, a bit like pancakes really, too hot and it burns without cooking, too cool and it cooks too slow and absorbs too much oil. Cook until brown on both sides.

Place two paper towels on a plate and lay the plantain on this. Cover with another towel and place a heavy saucepan on top. This will absorb as much as possible of the oil. Without this the plantain can be a bit greasy.

Serve with parathas or roti.

Sada and Paratha Roti

2008-03-12T12:39:00.000-07:00

Paratha is a version of roti not a different thing. The ingredients are basically the same but the method differs.

Ingredients

Half a pound of self raising four (or plain flour and plenty of baking powder)
1 tablespoon of Flora or butter
Pinch of salt
Pinch of yeast (if you have the time to let it rise a little)
Cold water to mix

Method

Mix flour salt and cornflour with flora or butter using your fingers then add a little cold water at a time working in until a soft dough is formed and all flour is absorbed. The consistency should be softer and moister than pastry. Knead for several minutes until the dough has the texture as bread dough and removes the flour from your fingers. Let this rest for few minutes.

Break off lumps about the size of a peach. Role out in a circle to about the size of a bread plate (8").

Roti

This is a roti and you can cook this as is on a fairly hot frying pan surface or griddle which has been just brushed with oil. If the pan is too hot it will get brown patches without cooking. Cook both sides, when doing the second side if you did a good job the roti will swell a little with bubbles. Those of you with gas can at the end hold the roti over the flame a second and it should puff up. This is not necessary, but traditional and helps if you want to use the roti as a holder like Pita bread.

Paratha

For these eminently more delicious versions of roti start at the point where you have rolled the circle.

Carefully put a thin layer of flora on the top of the roti and using a sharp knife make a cut (see illustration) from the centre to the edge. Then roll the roti up as shown around the circle to make a cone and fold the last corner over the top and pat down to make a shape like a thick round biscuit. Do this to all the roti and then carefully roll each one again into a flat circle.

Fry as roti but while cooking brush a little oil over the roti and turn over. brush a little more on the other side. Then using a spatula flatten the edges of the roti around. This has the effect of keeping the fat you spread over the roti (when rolling) inside and as it gets hot it will cause the roti to swell.

When cooked on both sides (turn paratha several times unlike plain roti) take out of the pan and wrap in a cloth then hit the paratha several times edgeways to crush it up a bit.

Paratha are slightly sweeter than roti (because of the extra fat) and go really well with fried plantains or apple bananas, or pumpkin.

Potato and Aubergine

2008-03-12T12:38:00.003-07:00

Ingredients
1lb new potato
1 Aubergine
Half a hot WI Pepper
Half an Onion

Take firm potatoes (like new potato) and peel and slice thinly. Heat five tablespoons of oil in a pot and add chopped onion and pepper and then potato. Leave on high heat and cover. Uncover every five minute and stir. After about ten minutes add aubergine sliced thinly into pieces about 2"x1"x a quarteralso add salt. Cover and leave for ten minutes.

When you next uncover and stir the aubergine will have begun to fall and the potato should be cooked and browning nicely. It may require another five minutes or so to finish. When all cooked, turn off heat and pull ingredients to one side ofthe pot to let excess oil drain off. Serve with roti, and for a special treat add thinly sliced fresh avocado.

Pumkin and Roti

2008-03-12T12:38:00.001-07:00

Ingredients

1lb of Pumpkin cleaned and peeled and chopped into pieces 1 x 1 x 1/8.
1/2 small onion chopped.
1/4 yellow hot WI pepper chopped.
4/5 cloves garlic chopped finely.

Method

Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a wok and when hot add onion, garlic and pepper , fry for a minute or two. Add Pumpkin and 1 teaspoon of sugar and 1 teaspoon salt. Let cook on medium heat for twenty to thirty minutes until fallen to consistency of apple sauce After 5 minutes add a little (1/2 tablespoon) water).

Pak Choy, Split Peas and Rice

2008-03-12T12:37:00.002-07:00

Ingredients

2 lbs of Pak Choy
oil
1 onion
Half a WI Pepper
2 oz of Garlic ( about 8 cloves - yes really!)
6 oz yellow split peas
curry powder

Method

Weigh 6 oz yellow split peas, wash and boil with water and 3/4 tablespoon of curry powder and 1 dessertspoon of crushed garlic. Cook until done 30/40 minutes. Blend for a few seconds and return to pot. Heat a ladle or large spoon over direct heat with a little oil in it until oil smokes. Add 3/4 tablespoon crushed garlic and let cook until dark brown. Plunge ladle into split peas taking care not to get splashed.

While peas are cooking take the 2 lbs of Pak Choy washed carefully and finely chopped. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a wok on high heat and add 1 small onion chopped and 1/2 a hot WI pepper and 1 dessertspoon crushed garlic. Add Pak Choy after a few seconds and stir. Salt well and cover and cook for 30 minutes. It is important to keep heat fairly high to help liquid from Pak Choy evaporate.

Serve with plain boiled rice. Pour some split peas over rice and put a little Pak Choy on top.

Fried Rice

2008-03-12T12:37:00.001-07:00

2 Breasts of Chicken cleaned and seasoned.
1 cauliflower
1 green peppers
1 red pepper
3 large carrots
1 onion
8 oz rice
oil salt and pepper
soy sauce, seasoning and browning.

This is a festive dish and is always served at Christmas (along with a mountain of other things of course!). Its very good as a light diet meal, with a side salad.

Cook rice as normal (see boiled rice) but drain while still a little undercooked.

All vegetables must be sliced and chopped into small cubes. The cauliflower must be cutr from the centre out so that the remaining ingredient to cook is just the very top of the flowerets. This is a time consuming process, but essential as the stalks of the cauliflower are watery and will leave you with a soggy fried rice!.

Heat 3 tbpns oil in a wok on high heat. and add 1 teaspoon brown sugar. Wait until sugar melts and bubbles and turns dark. Add sesoned chicken stir and cover. Leave on high heat for 5 minutes. Uncover, and add carrots and onions and covering let cook for further 5 minutes. Uncover and add salt and soy, cauliflower and cover for another 3 minutes. Stir and add 1 tbspn of seasoning and pepper, Finally add pepplers stir and cover for two minutes. Uncover and add rice and stir vigorously. Add 1 teaspoon of browning and stir to mix and colour ingredients well. Add 3/4 oz butter and stir in gently. Remove from heat and mix again.

Plain Rice

2008-03-12T12:36:00.002-07:00

I know it sounds strange, and like me you probably thought you could cook rice,... well read on.

American Long grain rice, water, salt

About 3oz per person

Wash rice thoroughly in cold water, running your fingers through the rice to remove the film from each grain.

Boil a kettle full of water. Put the rice on the stove on high heat and add the boiling water, add salt. Keep the pot on fairly high heat, uncovered until cooked. Check rice by removing a few grains on a wooden spoon and use your nail to test consistency. Keep plenty of water in the pot.

Before draining skim the surface of the water which will be covered in a scum of the starch.

Drain into a colander, place the colander over the pan and cover, allow to settle for a few minutes before serving.

Rice cooked this way is less starchy, does not stick and is better for you.

The secret is the large volume of water to rice (rather like cooking pasta), and skimming the starch off before straining.

Saltfish, Potato and Aubergine

2008-03-12T12:36:00.001-07:00

Ingredients

quarter pound saltfish
oil
half onion chopped
half WI pepper chopped
8 oz potato
1 Aubergine

Method

Wash a small piece of saltfish (1/4 lb) and cut up very fine. Heat 3 tablespoons oil in a wok and add saltfish. Cook until brown. Add 1/2 onion chopped and 1/2 hot WI pepper chopped. stir and leave cooking for a few minutes. Add 6/8 oz potato cut into thin chips cover and cook for 3/5 minutes. Peel aubergine and slice thinly into pieces 2 x 1 x 1/8. Add aubergine cover and cook with reduced heat for 25/30 minutes stirring occasionally.

You will need to use a metal spoon for this as the fish will stick and a wooden spoon will not scrape effectively.

Serve with parathas or roti.

Salmon and Rice

2008-03-12T12:35:00.001-07:00

This recipe use tinned salmon and is easy and very quick. The whole meal including the rice is ready in less than half an hour. Tinned salmon will suddenly assume a role of much greater importance once you have tried this delicious recipe.

Ingredients

1 tin salmon (8 oz or 250 grams )
2 fresh tomatoes cut up
half a small tin of tomatoes
Half a small onion chopped
Quarter of a WI pepper chopped
1 tablespoon seasoning
Salt and pepper

Method

Heat one tablespoon of oil in a wok or pan until hot and add the onion and pepper. Stir for a minute and add tomatoes but not juice and salt, stir and cover. Cook on medium heat for 5 minutes. Open salmon into a bowl and clean off the skin and bones keeping the liquid.

Add the salmon and juice of slamon and tomatoes to the pan and pepper and seasoning. Cover and continue to cook on high heat for another 10 minutes.

Serve with white rice and cucumber sliced.

This dish is especially good if you have it the day after Pak Choy (see recipe), as you generally have some split pea dhal left over and this poured over the rice before the salmon is delicious.

Curried Prawns and Aubergine

2008-03-12T12:34:00.000-07:00

Ingredients

1lb fresh prawns (uncooked)
1 8/10oz Aubergine
Half an Onion
Quarter West Indian Pepper
1 tbspn seasoning
salt and pepper
1 Tbspn Curry powder
1 Tbspn Oil
1 Tbspn Soy Sauce
Half a lemon
1 small tin Tomatoes

Peel and clean prawns as above and place in a clean bowl. Squees the juice of the lemon over and mix well rubbing the juice gently into the prawns. Add water and rinse and drain.

Add Soy sauce, half the seasoning, salt and pepper, and one tomato and some juice from the tin. Mix well and leave to marinate overnight or for at least 4 hours.

Chop the half an onion and the pepper, and fry in the hot oil in a wok for a few seconds. Add the curry powder and let this cook for a few seconds stirring. Then add the prawns lifting them out and leaving the marinade. Cook stirring for two minutes.

Remove prawns and add the aubergine which has been peeled and sliced into pieces 1 x 1 x 1/8. Add rest of tin of tomatoes and seasoning salt and pepper. Put about half a pint of bioing water over the marinade and add this. Cover and cook on high heat for 10 minutes. The aubergine should be almost dry and cooked so that it is almost losing its shape. Add the prawns stir and remove from heat allowing the heat from the aubergine to finish cooking the prawns slowly.

Serve with Paratha or white rice.

Curried Fiush and Tomato

2008-03-12T12:33:00.002-07:00

Ingredients

1lb fresh water snapper or similar
Curry powder
Oil
salt and pepper
small onion sliced
8 oz of fresh tomatoes chopped plus half an 8 oz tin Italian tomatoes.

Method

After cleaning thoroughly, cut into even pieces and place in a bowl. Squeeze half a lemon or lime over the fish. Cut the squeezed lemon half into pieces and scatter on fish, leave for half an hour.

Drain fish, add one and half tablespoons of seasoning, salt, pepper and one tablespoon soy sauce, let marinate for a couple of hours up to a day.

Heat a pan with one tablespoon of oil, and lightly flour each piece of fish ( keep the seasoning bowl), then fry them a few pieces at a time quickly until lightly brown. As they colour lift out carefully onto a plate.
.

Cut up about 4 large tomatoes in a bowl and add 1/2 tinned tomatoes and some liquid from the tin. Chop up a small onion and half a WI pepper. Put one tablespoon of curry in hot oil and fry on high heat for a few seconds then add onions and pepper and fry for a minute more before adding Tomato mixture. Stir and reduce heat slightly, now add the liquid from the seasoned fish, salt pepper and cover and let simmer for 20 minutes.

Then gently add the fish and with the minimum stirring leave to cook for another 5 minutes.

Serve with white rice and a salad. Also very good is to serve this with dasheen, or boiled green banana.

Curried Fish

2008-03-12T12:33:00.001-07:00

Ingredients

1lb fresh water snapper or similar
seasoning
2/3 Eddoes peeled and cut into 1 inch cubes
Curry powder
Oil
salt and pepper
Soy sauce
small onion sliced
8 oz tin Italian tomatoes (or a mixture of fresh and tinned, but the tinned must be there)

Method

After cleaning thoroughly, cut into even pieces and place in a bowl. Squeeze half a lemon or lime over the fish. Cut the squeezed lemon half into pieces and scatter on fish, leave for half an hour.

Drain fish, add one and half tablespoons of seasoning, salt, pepper and one tablespoon soy sauce, let marinate for a couple of hours up to a day.

Heat a pan with one tablespoon of oil, and lightly flour each piece of fish ( keep the seasoning bowl), then fry them a few pieces at a time quickly until lightly brown. As they colour lift out carefully onto a plate.

Peel 2/3 eddoes and chop into pieces about 1 inch square. Also slice half an onion thinly.

Using the same pan and fat reheat and add one tablespoon of curry powder and let cook until dark. Add the eddoes and onions and stir briskly until well coated. Add the marinade mixture the fish were in being careful of splashing from the hot oil. Put a cup of boiling water in the marinade dish and make sure you get as much of the mix as you can dissolved into it then pour this into the cooking mix. Add a couple of canned Italian tomatoes and some juice from a small can. Also add salt and pepper again now, for the new ingredients.

Stir and bring to the boil, then simmer for 20/30 minutes until eddoes begin to fall. This is tested by using the back of a wooden spoon to test if they squash.

Add the fish(and any juice in the plate) carefully back to the pot, cover and continue simmering for 10 minutes more.

Serve with rice or for a special treat with green bananas and yellow yam (see recipe number X). This dish is also good with dasheen peeled and boiled, and served with the rice.

The gravy with the fish is very good, when eating mash up the eddoes and dasheen with your fork so that they will absorb the gravy, you just can't seem to get enough.

Pelau

2008-03-12T12:32:00.003-07:00

Prepare and clean chicken as above but season as below. Use 1/1.5lb of cleaned chicken for 2/3 people.

Preparation of Pilau is in three stages, seasoning, cooking the chicken, and preparing the rice.

Season the chicken as above.

Ingredients

teaspoon of sugar
gravy browning
One and a half Onions sliced
Tomato Ketchup
Half a WI Pepper
A Tin of Tomatoes (8 oz)
Soy Sauce
Salt and pepper
1 Tin Gungo Peas
Butter

Method

Heat 1.5 tablespoons of oil in a wok or pot with 1.5 teaspoons of sugar. When sugar melts and turns dark brown (almost black) add chicken. Spoon chicken into pot reserving the liquid from the seasoning for use later. Add half a teaspoon of gravy browning and stir thoroughly. Cook on a fairly high heat covered for 10 minutes.

Uncover and add a small onion sliced finely and 1 tablespoon of tomato ketchup, cover again and allow to continue cooking for about another 10 minutes stirring regularly. A lot of the liquid will be absorbed. Remove the chicken with a spoon to a dish, ensuring that you remove only the chicken leaving the mixture and oil, the resulting chicken will be dark brown and almost dry. Drain of almost all of the liquid into the reserved liquid from the marinade.

Rice

Into the pot that the chicken was cooked add half an onion sliced finely and half a pepper chopped with a couple of sliced spring onions. Cook for a few seconds. Add rice and the other half tin of tomatoes and stir briskly also adding another half tablespoon of seasoning. Add half tablespoon of Soy sauce and 2 teaspoons of salt and half a teaspoon of pepper and continue stirring. When the mixture starts to stick pour 1 cup of boiling water onto the reserved seasoning and mix in then add to mixture. Also add 3 cups of boiling water and stir to mix.

The balance of rice to water is critical to success and water must be added sparingly throughout. Too much water and the result is soupy, too little and the Pilau is dry. Let mixture cook on fairly high heat partially covered for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile open a can of green gungo peas(Grace or Dunns River are popular makes) and wash and drain in a colander.

Uncover pot and add 1 tablespoon of soy sauce, peas and 1 teaspoon of browning and stir in gently. Reheat slowly and let simmer for 2/3 minutes.

Finally add 1 oz of butter and chicken and very carefully mix in. Cover and remove from heat and allow to settle before serving.

Pilau is very good served with a crisp cold mixed salad with no seasoning.

Soup

2008-03-12T12:32:00.001-07:00

Ingredients

2 oz yellow split peas
12 oz seasoned chicken
oil
brown sugar
ketchup
2/3 green bananas peeled
three quarters of a pound of yellow yam
half a pound of sweet potato
half onion chopped
seasoning
8 oz tin tomatoes
plain flour
salt pepper and browning
butter

Method

Take 2 oz yellow split peas wash and boil in plenty of water for 30 minutes.
Using 8-12 oz seasoned chicken. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a wok with 1.5 teaspoon of sugar until sugar goes caramel. Put chicken into pot and cook for 20 minutes. Drain most liquid away and reserve. Add 1 tablespoon of ketchup cover and continue to cook for 5/10 minutes. Take out of pot and save.

Take 2/3 green bananas and 3/4 lb of yellow yam and 1/2 lb sweet potato peel and chop into cubes about 1 inch. Put a tablespoon of oil in the wok on high heat and add 1/2 an onion peeled and chopped. Add vegetables, then drain split pea water into chicken water and save, and add split peas to mixture in pot and stir. Cook for a minute or two then add 1 pt boiling water (cold water makes the vegetables go watery). Add the other liquid saved and salt and teaspoon of seasoning and half a small tin tomatoes. Bring to boil and simmer.

Make some small dumplings with plain flour and water. Pull off small lumps and roll in the hand then flatten into a shape like an African shield. Put these into the soup after 25 minutes. At the same time add pepper, a few drops of browning, check salt and also add a knob of butter. Cook for another twenty minutes or so, check vegetables are cooked.

Chicken and Aubergine

2008-03-12T12:30:00.000-07:00

Half a chicken seasoned,
One large (1lb) or two small Aubergines,
Oil, Curry powder
Half an Onion and half a WI Pepper and an inch of ginger plus 1 tspn sugar
2 Tomatoes chopped

My own experience with Aubergine, is that its an OK vegetable but one that I would not bother cooking myself. I have had it cooked several ways, including the french and Italian.

If this is your experience, be prepared for a truly remarkable use of Aubergine that will change you to an enthusiast immediately.

Heat two tablespoons of oil in a pan on high heat, and when its hot add 1 tablespoon of curry powder, ginger and garlic. Let this cook for about 30 seconds only and then add chicken slowly using a spoon. Reserve the seasoning liquid

Let fry stirring regularly for a few minutes and then cover and let cook.

After 5 minutes add half an onion, a tomato cxhopped and half a west Indian pepper chopped (no seeds) finely and tspn sugar, stir cover and continue cooking at high heat.

Peel Aubergine and cut and slice into pieces about 2 inches long by 1 inch wide by a quarter of an inch thick.

After chicken has cooked for 10 minutes put reserved liquid into pot, add aubergine on top without stirring sprinkle lightly with salt and cover and cook for another 15 minutes turning heat down to medium.

Then uncover and reduce for another 5 minutes or so until the mixture has virtually no liquid.

The aubergine will have fallen almost completely.
Serve with white rice and salad.

VARIATIONS
add some small potatoes about ten minuets befor it finishes
Some people add a tomato cut up at the same time as the aubergine

Ingredients

2008-03-12T12:27:00.000-07:00

If a food can be said to have a key which unlocks its secrets, then the key of this cuisine is "seasoning".

The concept of this seasoning needs careful explanation.

There are parallels in the foods of Asia; Taaza Masala in India for example, is roughly similar, as is Krung Kaeng Khieu Wan in Thailand. The ingredients in each are different, but most important is the emphasis.

Seasoning is fundamental to Trindad Indian cuisine, not just "another" interesting idea. Without it, as you will see from the recipes almost nothing can be cooked.

To a Trinidadian Indian, seasoning is generally made fresh for each meal. This is a very time consuming process involving a mortar and pestle. I have found that made up in batches and kept in jars in the fridge is the only practical way to always use seasoning. In fact this tastes superb, and keeps for a month.

In some dishes absolutely fresh seasoning creates a totally different taste, I have indicated these dishes.

Seasoning

Unless you are prepared to create your own seasoning, you will never recreate the authentic taste of this cuisine. It is not hard to do, and believe me is worth its weight in gold.

Seasoning can be made up in batches and stored in jars to be used as required. I have successfully made it in London. I am sure all the ingredients did not match those used in Trinidad, but are close enough to work the same magic. In Trinidad it is most often made in a mortar and pestle, but I have had excellent results using an electric food processor.

It must be kept in the fridge and will keep indefinitely. In large families in Trinidad it is made fresh daily, having made a batch you will appreciate why women had to spend all day on food in the past!

The ingredients to make up about three to six months supply are:-

1 Bunch Spring Onions (shallots)(8 oz)
1 Bunch Parsley (4oz)
1 Bunch Coriander(4oz)
4 oz Hot west Indian peppers, mixed red, green, and yellow
1 Bunch Thyme(4oz)
2 whole large garlics (4oz peeled)
3 oz White Vinegar

Preparation

Wash everything very thoroughly.

Add gradually to a food processor using as little vinegar as possible, consistent with the mixture actually processing. It will end up the consistency of bottled mint sauce. Bottle it and store in the fridge.

The mixture will keep indefinitely. Used fresh it imparts a very different flavour which is especially good with fish.

Sugar Caramel
This is another essential item for success whose origin is West Coast African.

Many Trinidad Indian dishes start with a small amount of oil in a rounded pot (a bit like a Wok) to which brown sugar is added (about a dessert spoon). The stove is turned high and as the oil gets hot it gradually turns the sugar to caramel.

When the sugar has turned brown and bubbles the food is added. This has the affect of darkening the mixture as well as flavouring.

Other ingredients

Each recipe will describe it own needs, but a general list would include:-

Tinned Italian tomatoes
Spring Onions
Onions
Hot peppers (red green and yellow, and round)
Chillies (long and green or red)
Curry powder (Rajah mild Madras if you want it right)
Soy Sauce (a good naturally fermented if you can get it, dark and tasty)
Crosse and Blackwells Browning
Sugar, salt pepper
Coriander seeds

Preparation
If you want to cook food that will authentically replicate a Trinidad Indian home, you must be prepared to spend time on preparation.

Cleanliness is as much a key ingredient as seasoning. A Trinidadian Indian seeing the way Europeans cook would be horrified by the lack of cleanliness.

Styles of Food

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The food cooked and eaten by the descendents of the Indian immigration is an interesting mixture of the food of the region they left, and their attempts to replicate it, and the exposure they have had to the African and Chinese peoples of Trinidad, and the food they eat.

There are then at least four distinct cooking styles in Trinidad.

The European cooking of the planters, adapted for local products, this is not very much mixed with African or others, the food following the society.

The East Indians who mixed with the African and absorbed more of their style. This was not by desire, one of Trinidad's major race problems is between Indian and African descended people. But the jobs they were brought to do, field labour, forced close contact. In addition the Africans had learned to adapt their food to the local vegetable and herbs. They had cultivated these particularly the roots, such as sweet potato, yams and dasheen.

The Chinese mixed a little with both, but their cooking style has remained fairly distinct.

Finally the African cooking which is the most common and most written about of all Caribbean styles. African cooking evolved the most, they were exposed to European food as slaves and absorbed this, as well as the Indian and Chinese food which followed. African derived food in the Caribbean is a melting pot, although the origins in African coast food are still quite clear.

A brief background on Trinidad

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Trinidad in common with most of the Caribbean was the home of the Arawak and Carib Indians.

In 1498 Christopher Columbus on his third transatlantic voyage sighted an island surmounted by three peaks and named it La Trinite. It was not until 1592 that the Spanish colonised the island and grew mostly tobacco and later cocao. The settlement remained small, often plundered by British and Dutch. St Joseph was the capital until 1757 when Puerto de Espana became the residence of the Spanish government.

In 1776 the Spanish began to actively seek to attract planters. The French revolution in Europe was unsettling many French possessions in the Caribbean creating the right conditions for emigration. By 1790 so many French planters had arrived and settled that the island had almost become French. It was during this period that Trindad began to change into the more traditional caribean slave based economy.

In 1797 the British at war with the French and Spanish took Trinidad without bloodshed. The slave based economy continued and flourished with sugar now as the mainstay through the emancipation of the slaves until the middle of the twentieth century and the oil dominated economy of inedpendence.

Emancipation of the African slave population officially took place on 1st August 1834, although it actually came into effect in 1838. The former slaves looked upon agricultural labour as demeaning and moved into the suberbs seeking other work. This movement away from agriculture is a consistent theme throughout the Caribbean even today. The descendents of the African slaves enjoying planting and tending their own small plot, but resisting employment in this area.

The economy of the islands, particularly Trinidad, was purely agricultural, and predominantly sugar. The emancipation was a nightmare for planters suddenly bereft of labour. They solved the problem by turning first to India and later to China.

In May 1845 the sailing ship Fatel Rozack arrived in Trinidad bringing over 200 immigrants from Calcutta, the first of the Indian immigrants.

These people were brought out under a scheme known as indentureship, by which a legal commitment was made that the arrivee must work for a total of 5 years before having any option to change jobs or seek alternative work.

This immigration continued until 1917 when the Indian government halted the scheme.

The Indians who arrived were mostly from the north east around Calcutta. In practice this meant from within Calcutta's catchment area which spreads up the valley of the Ganges, through Bihar and Uttar Pradesh to the Punjab.

Being a naturally industrious people on the completion of their indentureship many became traders and small businessmen.

The majority are Hindu although there is a large Moslem community. They remain largely in extended families which encourages the passing of traditions and cooking methods from generation to generation.

The style of life and family interaction are well documented by writers like V. S. and Shiva Naipaul and Sam Selvon.