Breakfast Salad~Soft eggs with cherry tomato salad, sprouts and toast

On weekends I like to treat myself. I like to starting my mornings in a healthy way. The idea of salad for breakfast may seem a bit strange but it is a great way to get a jump start on getting those recommended daily servings of vegetables. On any given day it is a struggle for me to consume one measly cup of raw veggies. I find that when I start with salad for breakfast, it motivates me to make healthier eating choices throughout the day.

I must confess that my salads don't require a recipe. They are dictated by what's in season and what I happen to have on hand. Here is a rough guide for you to follow.

Cherry Tomato Salad with Sprouts and Toast

1 serving

Salad

1 tablespoon goats cheese crumbled

1 stalk chive, chopped

5 grapes, halved

5 black olives, halved

pinch of salt

pinch of black pepper

pinch of red pepper flakes

1 slice toast

1 tablespoon hummus

1 soft boiled egg

alfalfa sprouts (as much or as little as you like)

Mix all the salad ingredients together. Spread hummus on toast and serve with alfalfa sprouts.

Moorish Salad

In Trinidad when something tastes good, we say that it is moorish because you want more of it.  Chef Jamie Oliver may have been thinking along the lines of a Middle Eastern influenced salad but I find the Trini meaning to be very applicable as well. 

Moorish Salad

(slight adaptation of Jamie Oliver's Moorish Crunch Salad)

Serves 4

Ingredients

1 1/2 tablespoons sesame seeds, toasted

4 apples, sliced thinly 

juice of  1 lime or  1/2 lemon

1 large carrot, matchstick slices

4 radishes, sliced thinly

1 handful fresh parsley and

or 1 handful fresh mint

1/4 cup raisins

salt ( to taste)

freshly ground black pepper

4 tablespoons tahini paste

1 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds

Use a large frying pan. Heat the sesame seeds in the frying pan on medium high heat. Shake the pan and turn the seeds with a spoon occasionally. Remove from the heat when the seeds darken and are fragrant. Set aside to cool. 

Quarter your apples, remove the cores and thinly slice. Put the apple slices to soak in a bowl of water with a squeeze of lime. I do this to keep the apples from turning brown quickly. Slice carrot into very thin sticks. Slice your radishes thinly. Rough chop the parsley and or the mint.

Drain the water from the apples and combine in a large bowl with the carrots, radishes, raisins, parsley and or the mint. Toss the salad with the sesame seeds. Sprinkle with salt and black pepper to taste. Serve with a spoonful of tahini paste at the side or on top.

Doubles

Is it truly a sacrifice to refrain from meat if you exchange it for a vegetarian dish this delicious?

Probably not. 

Lenten abstinence doesn't have to mean bland food but honestly this feels a little like cheating because it tastes so darn good. One of my favourite things to eat during Lent is doubles. Oh, who am I kidding, like most Trinidadians, I eat this religiously all through the year!

Doubles is the most widely available street food in Trinidad. It is a popular breakfast choice although it is not uncommon to have them for lunch, dinner or even as a snack. Just so you know, in Trinidadian vernacular the name 'doubles' is both singular and plural. That's right, you can have one doubles or two doubles. Yeah, I'll admit that sounds confusing but don't worry,  you won't care to argue the semantics once you've tasted them. Trust me, you will be too busy stuffing your face.

Trinidadians eat a lot of doubles. Perish the thought that you should find yourself in some remote corner of the island without access to a doubles vendor. We are so dedicated to getting our doubles fix that someone actually created an app to help satisfy our mad craving for this food. Using this app you can quickly locate the nearest doubles vendor no matter where in the country you might happen to be. I kid you not.

So what the heck is a doubles? Essentially, it is an adaptation of India's chole bhatura. Originally the channa filling (chole) used to be served with a single round soft bread (bhatura) at the side. Trinidadians call this soft, spongy textured bread bara. Over time, descendants of Indian immigrants made adaptations to the traditional chole bhatura, turning it into something that is distinctly Trinidadian. The chole or channa (chickpea) filling is topped with various condiments and served between not one but two bara (bhatura), hence the name doubles. Think of it as a spicy, vegetarian sloppy joe. 

On its own, the bara and channa can be somewhat bland and underwhelming. However the wizardry of doubles resides in the various chutneys and sauces which are added to the mix. Each vendor has his own signature blend of spicy condiments and it is these robust and piquant sauces which transform a cheap meal into a national addiction. 

Doubles isn't something that is often made at home. They are inexpensive and readily available everywhere so it is much easier to buy them than to prepare it yourself. Although it is fairly simple to make, it does but require a bit of advance planning to allow for the dough to rise and rest. 

Doubles

8 bara 

Serves 4

Bara

2 cups flour

3/4 tsp salt

1 tsp tumeric powder

1/4 tsp ground geera (cumin)

1/4 tsp sugar

1 tsp instant yeast

approx 1 cup lukewarm water ( or 1/4 cup more if needed) 

oil for frying

Combine flour, salt, tumeric, geera, sugar and instant yeast in a large bowl.

Add enough lukewarm water to make a soft dough. Mix by hand knead a few times to form a ball. Be careful not to overwork the dough. Brush the top of dough with 1 tsp oil. Cover and let rise for 1/2hrs

Punch down the dough. Knead it into a ball. Cover and let rest for 10-15mins. Shape dough into 8 balls. This dough tends to be soft and sticky. Moisten your hands with a little water or oil as you work the dough to prevent it from sticking your hands. Divide and shape into 8 round balls.

Flatten and stretch dough into a 4" or 5" circle. Use water or oil to on your fingers to moisten to prevent dough from sticking. 

Heat oil in a large deep pot and fry bara a few minutes on each side on medium high heat.

Channa Filling

2 tins channa

1 tbsp vegetable oil

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 onion, minced

2 tablespoons Chief Brand curry powder

1/2 tsp salt

Drain and rinse channa. Put channa in a large pot add water until barely covered and boil for about 10mins. Drain water from channa and set aside.

In a large heavy pot, heat oil. Add garlic and onion to the oil and fry until fragrant. Mix curry with about 1/8 cup of water and add it to the oil. Cook for a few minutes until most of the water has evaporated. Add channa and stir to coat well with curry. Use back of a large spoon to smash some of the channa.  Add more water to barely cover the channa. Lower heat and simmer until channa is mushy with a thick sauce. Taste and add more salt if needed.

Cucumber Chutney

2 large cucumbers

10 chardon béni leaves, minced

3 cloves garlic, minced

2 tsp lime juice ( or more to taste)

1/8 tsp brown sugar

1/2 tsp salt (or salt to taste)

1/2 scotch bonnet pepper, minced (optional)

Wash and coarsely grate cucumber. It doesn't need to be peeled but you can peel it first if you prefer. Place grated cucumber in a strainer and squeeze off as much of the water as you can. Place in a small bowl. Add all other ingredients and mix. 

Assemble the doubles by placing a spoonful of channa on a bara. Top with cucumber or other chutney, your favourite West Indian pepper sauce and cover with another bara. 

COOK'S TIP: Other popular toppings for doubles are mango chutney, chardon béni chutney, mango kuchela, tamarind sauce, and roasted coconut chutney.

Trinidad Fish Stew

I haven't been on this blog for a long while and I am almost but not quite sorry. I always miss blogging when I have been away from it but at times it is important to show up in other places of my life where I am needed a bit more. One of those places has been my garden. Long time visitors to this site may remember this dream of mine. I am happy to report that my journey to producing some of my own food is becoming more real. Perhaps one day soon some of the dishes on this blog might even showcase produce that I actually grew myself. 

Tomorrow is Ash Wednesday and after today's Carnival celebration many Trinidadians will be headed to mass to receive ashes. In keeping with Lenten tradition, many homes will prepare a meal of fish.  

This stewed fish recipe is a favourite of mine and in many homes it is often served with cou cou. Trinidadians usually fry the fish first before adding it to a tomato based stew. When this done, it is called by the odd name of Stew Fry Fish to distinguish it from the version where the fish is not fried but added directly the sauce. My preference is to fry first.

Trini Stew Fry Fish
1lb fish (bangamarie)
* other fish like flying fish, king fish, carite, carvali, tilapia can be used

4 tablespoons green seasonings
1 tsp salt
juice of one lime
1  cup flour
oil for frying

Golden Ray cooking margerine or butter
4 goves garlic minced
2 large onions, sliced
3 medium tomatoes sliced
1 bay leaf
1/2 cup ketchup
1/2 tsp mustard
1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 cup water
1/2 teaspoon curry powder
1/2 teaspoon West Indian pepper sauce (optional)
8-10 Trinidad pimento peppers seeded and finely sliced

Season fish with salt, lime juice,  and green seasoning. Leave in fridge to marinate for 30 minutes. Mostly I do this the night before so that when I get home from work the fish is ready to be cooked. If seasoning the fish overnight I will omit the lime until just ready to cook.

Heat enough oil for deep frying the fish in a large pot on medium high heat. Fry the fish and set aside on paper towels.

Once all the fish has been fried, melt the butter  in a large and fairly deep skillet with a tight fitting lid..

To the butter,  add the curry, garlic, onions, tomatoes, celery, and cook until nicely fragrant. Add the ketchup, mustard, sugar, water, bay leaf and stir to combine. Bring sauce to a simmer.

Add the fish and pimento peppers to the sauce, cover and simmer about 5 minutes just until the fish is warmed through. Taste and adjust salt if necessary.

3 Vegan Recipes that pack some punch

Food bloggers spend a lot of time reading other blogs for inspiration. I met vegan / raw food blogger when she contacted me to have me create a photo for her recipe book The Joy of Raw and Vegan Cooking which is available now on Amazon. Follow the link to preview her book which features some beautiful photographs. Also, you will not be disappointed to discover Shernell's blog where she shares her passion for raw food.

I am not vegan but I am always concerned about healthy eating. Often,  I will include vegan or vegetarian meals on my table. Shernell  now resides in New York but her food is still big on island flavour which everyone is sure to enjoy. Hers is one of the blogs that I turn to when I am looking for vegan inspiration with a West Indian twist. Over now to Shernell......

Hello all you readable feast lovers out there! My name is Shernell, and I’m a passionate vegan cook from the island of Barbados. I love making all my food from scratch, however I believe in simple, easy to find ingredient recipes. I have been invited here to share three of them from my new cookbook The Joy of Raw and Vegan Cooking with you. So enough with the long talk and enjoy.

First up I have a recipe that has been known to turn meat eaters into vegans. Flavor is everything when cooking any meal, vegan or not. These cauliflower steaks are dripping with succulent barbeque flavor.

Barbeque Stewed Cauliflower

If you’re new to raw and vegan foods and you miss meat, this easy recipe is for you.

1 tablespoon salted barbeque spice mix

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 sundried tomatoes

½ red bell pepper

1 tablespoon maple (or agave) syrup

½ lemon juice

3 tomatoes

1 head of cauliflower cut into medium florets

Blend the first seven ingredients in your blender and then pour over the cauliflower florets.

Mix the sauce into the florets well and put into a roasting pan.

Roast for 30 minutes or until the cauliflower is tender and then serve.

If your barbeque spice mix isn’t salted, add 1 teaspoon of salt ( or salt to your taste)  to the recipe. 

Second up we have the best tasting green smoothie ever made. That’s right, Shernell says so.  It makes for a great meal replacement.

Best Green Smoothie

I made this recipe over one hundred times; it is so delicious and easy to make.

2 cups fresh organic spinach

3 frozen bananas

1/3 cup cashews

¼ teaspoon salt

3 tablespoons of maple ( or agave )syrup 

1 cup water

Blend and serve. Makes about three cups.

If you take your time to make this recipe you will be in cake heaven, guaranteed. Yes I did save the best for last. 

Chocolate Hazelnut Mousse Tart

No Exaggeration, this is the absolute best raw dessert I have ever had hands down. Please make it and prove me right. It’s light and airy with smooth chocolate and hazelnut flavor.

Crust

1 cup cashews

1 cup almonds

2 tablespoons of chocolate powder

¼ teaspoon of salt

7 medjool dates

½ teaspoon of vanilla extract

Process the first 4 ingredients in your food processor until flour like then add in the dates and vanilla extract and process until the mixture sticks together.

Press the pie crust into a 10-inch removable bottom tart-pan and place it in the freezer.

Filling

The meat of two young Thai coconuts

11/2 cups coconut water

1/3 cup cashews

1/3 cup of chocolate powder

1/3 cup maple ( agave ) syrup

¼ teaspoon of salt

Blend all the ingredients until creamy and place in the refrigerator in a medium bowl.

Hazelnut Topping

¼ cup of hazelnuts

¼ cup of cashews

2 tablespoons of chocolate powder

1/2 cup of maple syrup

2 teaspoons of coconut oil

1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

¼ teaspoon of salt

1 cup of hazelnuts

Blend the first 7 ingredients in you blender until creamy then set it aside.

To assemble the tart, pour the filling over the crust then pour the topping on and

evenly spread 1 cup of hazelnuts over the tart.

Freeze for 3 hours and serve. Its lasts for one week in the freezer, but trust me, it won’t

last that long.

Have a happy and healthy holiday.

To find out more about Shernell Cooke, visit her at her blog The Raw Food Beginner Chef.  You can also purchase her book The Joy of Raw and Vegan Cooking on Amazon or Barnes and Nobel. 

Parsad

Parsad is a Trinidadian dessert that is served at Divali.  Visit any Hindu household during this time and you will be given a bag of parsad. The popular version is made with flour. However I much prefer to make my parsad with semolina. Cream of wheat is also delicious but the semolina version is my favourite.

Parsad
Yeild (4 servings)

1 cup evaporated milk 

1/4 cup sugar

1/4 tsp ground cardamon 

1/4 tsp freshly grated ginger

1/4 cup ghee

1/2 cup semolina (or cream of wheat)
* for a gluten free version use cassava flour
2 tbsp raisins

Slivered almonds and maraschino cherries to top it with when serving if you wish.

METHOD
Heat milk, sugar, cardamon and ginger in a medium sized pot over a medium heat. Stir until sugar is dissolved then remove from heat and put to cool.

In a large heavy duty pot, heat ghee on high. Add the semolina flour and cook on medium high for a minute or two, stirring often. Turn heat down to lowest setting and slowly add milk. Be careful it spatters. I tend to ladle out a couple spponfuls of milk before adding the rest of the milk to control the spatter. Add the raisins. Stir until the milk has been absorbed and the pudding just starts to leave the sides of the pot. Remove the pot from the heat.

The entire process goes very quickly. The pudding will be soft when you take it off the heat but will firm up further once it is cooled.

Sizzling Chicken Fajita Salad

I am doing all kinds of happy dances today over this recipe.  As much as I love looking at pretty pictures of food, when it comes time to roll up my sleeves and get down to cooking dinner, I want stuff that's REAL. That means I shouldn't have to make a run to the store for specialty ingredients, nor should I have to enroll in cooking school to learn a complicated cooking technique. Flights of cooking fancy are all well and good but sometimes despite the drool worthy photo, the recipe itself may not be practical. 

Exhibit A: How many of you thought I was crazy to make this?

Or what about this?

Oh my word, I can't even believe myself on that last one!

I am amazed that no one left a comment that said, "Lady you are CRAZY!"

Bless your hearts. I am grateful that you are such kind readers

In my defense I only take leave of my senses like that when I am on vacation and have oodles of time on my hands. The rest of the time, I am pretty much like any other working mom looking for food that I can bring to the table quick step.

As soon as I saw this chicken fajita recipe over at realmomkitchen I knew it would be crazy not to try it.

All you do is season chicken, cut up vegetables, toss everything in the oven and done.

In an effort to eat a little healthier I am trying to turn some of my favourite meals into salads.

Pizza salad anyone? See how that works?

This chicken fajita recipe easily adapts and becomes a salad.

Tried it. Liked it. Now go do it!

Chicken Fajita Salad
Servings 4

1 pound boneless chicken thighs, cut into strips
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 or 2 tsp chili powder (optional)
2 tsp cumin
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp dried oregano
3/4 tsp salt
I large yellow or purple onion
1 large green bell pepper (seeded and sliced)
2 large red bell peppers(seeded and sliced)
4 tortillas
4 ounces such as shredded pepper jack cheese
4 ounces sour cream
5 cups lettuce (shredded)

METHOD
Season chicken with oil, chili, cumin, garlic powder, onion powder, oregano, salt and garlic. Place in a greased 13' X 19' casserole dish and let marinate in the fridge for 30 mins.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F

Chop the peppers and onions. Add this to the chicken just before it is ready for the oven. Stir and turn over the vegetables with the chicken to coat with spice mixture.

Place the casserole dish in oven and. Bake uncovered for 30 - 35 minutes or until chicken is cooked through. During the last few minutes of cooking warm tortillas and cut into triangles to serve alongside the salad. Serve on a bed of lettuce with a dollop of sour cream.

COOKS TIP: My children don't like the heat of the chili powder so I omit it and sprinkle pepper flakes over my own serving.

Tropical Eton Mess

It is ridiculous how much I love curd.

I love meringues too but really it's all about curd.

I go crazy for passion fruit, lemon, tangerine...... any kind of curd so long as there is a egg rich, creamy, buttery,  conglomeration of sweet and sour.

I can't seem to stop of dreaming up recipes that use curd.

Yes, my life is in fact THAT boring. You may take a moment to roll your eyes and appreciate the fact that I need therapy.

However while you contemplate the superior lameness that is my life, might I interest you in a dessert recipe that takes just 2 mins to throw together?

Uhmm...oh yeah, it uses curd.

Tropical Eton Mess
Servings: 4 messes:-)

Ingredients
1 cup cream chilled
4 large meringue nests
3/4 cup passion fruit curd ( or whatever flavour you prefer)
pomegranate molasses (optional)

METHOD
Beat the cream in a chilled stainless steel bowl until thick.
Layer some crushed meringue, 2 tablespoons curd and 3 tablespoons cream in serving glasses. Drizzle pomegranate molasses over the top. Serve immediately.

COOKS TIP:
If you are wondering where in Trinidad you can get meringue nests follow this link to my amazing baker friend Simply Edible. She'll hook you up no problem.

3 Tips to Get your Kids to Eat Everything

Around here we have a spirit of adventure about food. Quite a few times my friends will express disbelief that my children actually eat everything that I prepare and post here. They absolutely do - sometimes with a little more urging than at other times but I can assure you that we all eat the same meal. I am not saying that I never have meal time battles, I am just saying that we are progressing towards where they happen less often. Enough people have asked me how I get my children to eat the food that I prepare so I thought I might share a few things that work for me.

First off, this did not happen by accident. When my children were babies I had a very clear philosophy about food that I wanted them to embrace. You see, as a child I was a picky eater.  However I grew into an adult that loves and appreciates a wide variety of food and I wanted the same for my children. I grew up thinking that I did not like a lot of things until I realized that I needed to train my palette to appreciate certain foods. Upon reflection, I realized that most of the what that I hated were foods with a bitter taste such as watercress, melongene, bhaji (amaranth) and caralli (bitter gourd). The other category of foods on my hate list were those with an earthy flavour, such as beets and liver. I recently had the displeasure of tasting arugula. Arugula definitely falls into the earthy category, ugh. Could someone not have warned me that the thing tastes like manure?!!! Peppery manure but still, gah!

Start early. Train children's taste buds to appreciate sweet, sour, salty, bitter and umami tastes. My mother-in-law thought I was crazy when I led with pureed spinach and not mashed bananas. My thinking was that babies are a blank palette without any preconceived notions about food. They take their cues from the adults in their lives and can be taught from a very young age to love a wide variety of things.

I chose to start with what I considered to be the more difficult tastes to acquire. After all no one really needs to learn to like sweet. It seems to me that we all have an innate tendency to like sweet and salty things, don't we? Thus, I introduced those tastes last and in moderate amounts. When considering new foods you should also offer a variety of textures. I didn't do as well on that. As a result my children are more likely to balk at a strange texture more than a foreign taste. Can I tell you that peanut butter is a difficult sell around here because of that.

Expose your children to a wide variety of food. More importantly let them see that you are excited to try new foods. Of course we couldn't afford to eat like this everyday but once I see something new, you can be sure I get excited to bring it to the table at least once. I have never had asparagus before. It doesn't grow here and I have only ever seen canned asparagus in the supermarket. Naturally when I saw fresh asparagus for the first time, I immediately brought some home to try it.

  

Introduce new foods alongside something on their plate that they like. Our table rule is that you don't have to like it but you DO have to TASTE it. You must take at least 3 bites before you will be allowed to push it aside. I  point out to my children that there are foods that I do not like but in order to be healthy and have a balanced diet I still have to eat them.

Having stuff on the plate that you know they will like, ensures that they don't leave the table hungry and the entire meal is not a huge battle. Don't make a big deal of the uneaten portion. In the early stages my husband and I let them see us eating their leftovers. When they were toddlers we would ham it up a bit and say things like. "You don't like carilli. No problem, that just means more for me. Yum!'

Nutritionists will tell you that it takes 10 to 15 tries - possibly more for a child to start eating and eventually like a new food. The key here is not to stress and have lots of patience. In the mean time I suggest you dish out a smaller serving for yourself so that you can be prepared to consume the leftovers and not have it go to waste.

As the months went by, my children became less resistant to new foods and we encouraged more bites. I have read that the French attitude when someone doesn't like a particular food is to say, "You just haven't tried it enough times." I don't know about that. I grew up not liking liver and I am of the opinion that it was offered to me too often. Groan, I still don't like liver - let's not tell the kids! However I do now enjoy all the bitter foods that I once hated.
 
What is your personal philosophy about food? Are you yourself a picky eater? Are there foods you avoid?

Karbanátky ( Czech Meat Patties)

It's a little late in the year to be talking to you about a meal that I had nine months ago, isn't it? Yet these simple fried meat patties made such an impression on me that they have now been added to my regular meal rotation.  Way back in January my friend's dad made us these Karbanátky which he served with a potato salad ,home-made pickles and a dollop of sour cream. It's not a flashy meal, nor is it the least bit gourmet but that is exactly why it appeals. It is uncomplicated and easy enough to throw together. Vlad shared his recipe with me in the manner that is typical of experienced home cooks.....a little of this, a lot of that, and a pinch and a dash of some other stuff. I did not write down the recipe but I did remember that it was a basic hamburger patty which was rolled in breadcrumbs and fried. 

Most online sources for this recipe list marjoram as one of the ingredients. Unfortunately this herb is not readily available in Trinidad, so I substituted with our local green seasoning. A Czech acquaintance has assured me that each home does them a little bit differently so substituting with the green seasoning is just fine. I don't measure the ingredients when I am making this but I am aware that less experienced cooks might want a more specific guide so I have attempted to provide you with amounts.  

Karbanátky
Servings: 6-8

1 lb ground beef
1 lb ground pork

or you can use just one kind of meat if you prefer

1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 medium onion finely chopped
2-3 cloves garlic, minced

* 1 tsp each salt free onion and garlic powder can be substituted for the minced garlic and onion.

1 tsp majoram (or green seasoning)
1 tsp salt
1 tsp mustard
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 egg, slightly beaten
1/2 cup of breadcrumbs or cassava farine
extra bread crumbs to coat the karbanátky before frying
oil for frying

In a bowl combine the meat, worcestershire sauce, onion, garlic, marjoram (or green seasoning) salt, mustard, pepper. Cover and set aside overnight or 1/2 hour in the fridge.

When ready to fry the patties remove the meat from the fridge. Mix in the bread crumbs and egg.  Form into hamburger patties, pressing a slight depression into the center of each to ensure even cooking. Roll each patty in bread crumbs.

Heat oil in a non stick medium skillet. Use medium high heat. Fry the patties about 4 minutes on each side until brown and cooked all the way through.

Fat Pork Jam

It has been a fruitful holiday. We have been stuffing our faces with mangoes, West Indian cherries, yellow plums, and guavas. Wars are being fought over the few remaining sugar apples. 

One  uncommon fruit which we found on a drive through the country side was fat pork.  Bite into it and the unusual texture of it's interior, white pulp will clue you in as to the name. The taste is insipid and to be honest it doesn't inspire a second bite. It looks it but doesn't taste like pork fat. The weird, floury texture is only very mildly sweet with a flavour that is barely detectable. The rest of the Caribbean calls these fruit cocoplums. It is something that I remember foraging as a child, although now I cannot for the life of me remember why! 

Foraging, apparently it's a thing. Back when I was a child. It didn't have a name. It was just something we did. Mom and Dad you might want to look away for this part. Sampling little bits of wild, edible, plants and their fruits was a childhood game which was meant to gross out friends. 

Does anyone remember eating the transparent seed coat of the Pride of Barbados seeds? We called it Dead Man's flesh. Yum. There is that 'ick' factor that's so gosh darn appealing to kids~ especially boys.  Reportedly, all parts of the Pride of Barbados plant are toxic but we didn't know that as children. It's a wonder any of us survived childhood! How about sucking the nectar out of the Ixora flowers or eating 'cheese' (pollen) from the stamen of hibiscus flowers? So tell me are there any strange things which you ate as a child that have you questioning your sanity today?

Back to present day and the point of me buying a large quantity of a fruit that my son says tastes like mashed potatoes. 

He is not wrong.

I don't much care for it myself but I had heard that one could use this fruit to make jam. 

How was it? Well, we all liked it. While not likely to replace our all time favourite strawberry or guava jams, it was pretty decent jam.  I would describe it as having a mild rose flavour with slightly woodsy notes.  Part of me wants to call this by its other name and say cocoplum jelly. That sounds a lot more sophisticated and grown up, doesn't it? However the kid in me...

I can't help myself - the shock factor of offering someone a spoonful of Fat Pork Jam is proving to be just too irresistible. 

Fat Pork Jam

(yield about 1 cup)

*No actual pigs were harmed in the making of this jam.

Ingredients

75 fat pork (cocoplums)

2 tsp lemon juice

1/4 tsp cinnamon

1 cup sugar

Method

Put the fat pork into into a deep pot filled with water ~ just enough to cover the plums. Boil for about 3 mins. . After allowing it to cool, use clean hands  to smash the fruit and remove the seeds. Pass the remaining pulp through a sieve removing the larger bits of pulp and skin. To this fruit sludge, add 2 tsp lemon juice, 1/2 tsp of ground cinnamon and 1 cup of sugar. Cook until jam is set. Click here for useful tips for knowing when your jam is ready 

San Antonio Green Market

I do love early mornings, don't you? Unfortunately I love my bed more and you rarely find me out of bed before the sun.  So what was I doing up in the chill, misty, pre-dawn of the Santa Cruz Valley two weekends ago? For the longest while I have wanted to visit the San Antonio Green Market. This farmer's market is located in a valley not too far from where I live. It's a small market with some noble aspirations as explained in this video.

I was relieved to see that the land which was cleared for the market space has greened up nicely and is now quite scenic. In fact I was happily distracted from my shopping by the numerous hummingbirds that darted among the flowers and the feeders along the walkway.

One of the goals of this market is to encourage farmers to use less pesticides so the produce you find here is organic. It's worth coming back often because what's on offer varies and is dependent on seasonal availability.

In season now are chennette, mangoes and passion fruit. There were yellow and pink passion fruit on the day that I visited. I bought some of these beauties to make passion fruit curd. The yellows are slightly sweeter than the pinks which were just a bit more tart in my opinion. Both are fabulous for making passion fruit curd. Just swap out the lemon juice in this recipe with passion fruit for an easy peasy curd in just 5 minutes.

I freely admit that I have a somewhat unhealthy obsession with the stuff. Passion fruit curd over my oatmeal with mangoes for breakfast ~ a little bit of heaven.

As you walk through the market you are likely to score some fabulous finds by local artisans.  I bought a gorgeous hand-carved, teak, salad bowl but the old fashioned tops also caught my eye. My boys were delighted to be given a demonstration.

Aren't these soaps adorable? I have seen some fancy, French ones that were quite similar, in a high-end store in the mall. These locally crafted soaps are every bit as good.

Now is a good time to mention that you should definitely keep abreast of the market events and latest products on offer by liking San Antonio Green Market's Facebook page. It was here that I learned about this beautiful stained glass piece. I am currently stalking them and simultaneously trying to convince my husband that we need something like this in our home.

Since stained glass flowers are unlikely anytime in my near future it's my luck that there are always lovely tropical blooms on sale. I can never resist these sexy pinks. I am not trying to be cute. Sexy pink is actually the name of this pink heliconia cultivar and it is one of my favourites.

After shopping it was time for breakfast. We were advised to try the arepas and they did not disappoint. Sorry there are no actual photos of the food but after all the walking around, they were inhaled. At this point it was time to put the camera down.

It can be said that food is about community. It takes a community of farmers to grow or rear our food. Then we gather in spaces like this to purchase it before finally gathering around a table to partake. 

This little market has just that kind of friendly, community spirit. While here you should expect to fall easily into conversations with random strangers. Folks here smile at you and pass on advice, like telling you that the locally grown and produced cocoa tea (hot chocolate) is not to be missed.  Unfortunately with all the people I stopped and chatted with along the way,  I missed out on the cocoa tea. In a sense, I am glad since it gives me reason to visit again.

  

How to make microwave Cou-Cou (Trinidad Coo-Coo)

What's better than cou cou with stewed fish? Cou cou that doesn't need stirring until it feels like your arm is about to fall off, that's what.

What's the worse thing a friend can tell you when you have been proven wrong?

I told you so!

Yes Cynthia my friend feel free to unleash the three most annoying words in the english language at me.

You really did tell me so.

Cou cou, is the Caribbean version of polenta. Paired with flying fish, it is the national dish of Barbados but it is made all across the region. The traditional way of making this cou cou involves a lot of stirring with a stick that looks like this

As the liquid is absorbed into the cornmeal the entire thing stiffens up and gets very heavy. Turning it becomes a tiresome process. 

About 5 years ago my good friend Cynthia gave me a tip for preparing cou cou in the microwave. It takes just ten minutes and you can avoid the arm workout because it's so easy to do.

I was skeptical and promptly ignored her.

You will forgive me but I have deep seated ill feelings towards microwave ovens, borne out of past experiences where food basically tastes like rubber. However my recent success with making lemon curd in the microwave made me think that I should give Cynthia's suggestion a try. Am I ever glad that I did.  

Trinidadian Cou Cou

(adapted from Cynthia Nelson)

butter ( for greasing bowl)

1 cup fine cornmeal

1/2 tsp salt

2 tablespoons Trinidad pimento peppers (chopped)

1 tablespoon bell peppers

1 tsp onion powder ( or one tablespoon finely chopped onions)

1 cup okra (thinly sliced or chopped fine according to your preference)

1 cup coconut milk

2 cups water 

Method

Butter a pyrex bowl (approx 9-10" diameter) generously and put aside.
Add all ingredients to a mixing bowl and stir to mix everything together.

Pour the mixture into the buttered pyrex bowl and place in the microwave.

Set the microwave on high and cook for 6 minutes.

At the end of the 6 minutes use oven mitts to remove the bowl from the microwave. Be careful the bowl will be hot.Stir the mixture well folding the top over into the bottom and evening out any lumps. Place the bowl back into the microwave and cook for 4 minutes.

Remove from the microwave. Smear a pat of butter across the top and leave it at least 15 minutes to firm up before serving. After it is cooled turn the bowl upside down and unmold the cou cou onto a serving plate and slice to serve.

COOKS TIP: This recipe is for a Trinidadian style cou-cou which is different from a Bajan (Barbadian) cou-cou. Trinis mostly use coconut milk for their cooking liquid in cou cou while other islands do not. Trinidadian's also like to see a colourful cou cou hence the use of red and green peppers. Some people also include grated carrots.

Omelette with Greens and Pommerac

This morning I made this super simple breakfast. It may not seem like much but for me it is quite the deal since breakfast is a meal I usually skip. Now that I am on a spiritual rejuvenation of sorts, i.e. vacation, I find myself wanting to rejuvenate my physical self as well. As such, I am making it my goal to improve on how I start my days. 

Luckily this is not going to be too hard to do since a couple of the fruit trees in my yard are bearing heavily. Right now our pommerac tree is making a spectacular showing. Without a doubt this fruit is set to be a regular feature at my table over the next month. 

Red Pepper Omelette

(serves 4)

8 eggs 

1/8 cup onions (chopped)

1/8 cup red bell peppers

1/8 cup Parmesan cheese ( or any cheese of your choice, grated)

salt to taste

1 tsp oil

watercress

pommerac (sliced)

choi sum flowers

METHOD:

Crack the eggs into a small bow. Whisk with a fork. Add chopped onion and red bell pepper. Season with salt and whisk a bit more.

Heat oil on medium heat in a frying pan. Once the oil is hot pour in the egg mixture, tilting the pan to spread the egg mixture in a circle to cover the base of the pan. 

As the omelette sets use a heatproof plastic spatula to gently lift the edges. At this point depending the type of frying pan you are using you may have to lower your heat. I have a ceramic coated frying pan that cooks best on low heat. Raise or lower heat according to the kind of pan you are cooking with. Occasionally you can tilt the pan so that the liquid runs off the top and cooks. Cook until the base is set and light golden and the top is almost set. The top should remain slightly liquid. Once folded over the residual heat will finish cooking it.

Sprinkle your cheese over the top and using your heatproof spatula fold the omelette in half. cook for a couple seconds more then transfer to a large plate and cut into four pieces. Serve with watercress, pommerac and choi sum flowers.

1.