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.

Secrets to a Delicious Trinidadian Fish Broth

Today is a feel good day and all you need is fish broth,

or maybe it's not such a great day.

I'm sorry.

Well now you definitely need fish with a squeeze of lime, layered over rough- chopped, root vegetables and green bananas, some salt, green seasoning and a hot pepper. This will cure what ails you.

Promise.

In Trinidad, fish soup is called 'broff' (broth) but there is little about it that is broth-like. In the Caribbean our soups serve as main meals and are heavy, flavoursome and 'chunked' full of high-fibre, starchy root vegetables. 

Fish broth calls for un-fancy fish. When I was a child we would vacation at beach houses in Mayaro and one of my favourite things to do was to wake just before the sun, run down the beach and help fishermen 'pull seine' ( pull in their nets ). At the end of the haul you were sure to be rewarded with the small fish that weren't suitable for sale but which were perfect for making fry dry or broth. 

Pay attention.

This is important.

These are the secrets.

Rule number one:

You can not make fish broth without fish heads. Well you can but my father will tell you that you are making dishwater, not broth. 

Fish heads with their hugely, surprised eyes staring back at you from your bowl of soup are creepy. Believe me I share your pain but get over it because tucked inside those heads are bits of fat, cartilage and connective tissues. All of this will render out into your soup making it richer and sweeter. 

Rule number two: 

Understand that this is essentially just a frugal meal of water, cheap fish and vegetables so that you have to give this the love it deserves in the form of fresh herbs.

This is not a suggestion.

Here is where you will find use for that green seasoning marinade that I told you about two months ago. 

My grandmother used to serve this to me in a chipped enamel bowl. I have yet to taste anything better coming out of a restaurant on a fancy plate, as this humble broth. It's just that good really if you follow two simple rules. 

Trinidadian Fish Broth

For the Marinade
2lbs Fish cleaned ( at least 2 or 3 heads)
2 tsp lime juice
1/4 cup water
2 cloves garlic  (minced)
3 tablespoons green seasoning
1 tsp salt

Broth
6 green figs/bananas (cooked, peeled and sliced)
2 tablespoons Golden Ray margarine ( or vegetable oil, or butter)

 2 cloves garlic (minced)
1 medium onion ( minced)
1 tablespoon green seasoning
8 cups water

Root Vegetables / Ground Provisions
3 small potatoes peeled and diced
3 small eddoes (taro) peeled and diced
1 medium dasheen (taro) peeled and diced
3 small tannia ( yautia)
* Amounts don't have to be exact if you don't have one type just use a little more of the others that you do have on hand

1/2 stalk celery ( chopped)
1 medium tomato sliced
1 tsp salt
pepper sauce to taste (optional)

Mix 2 tsp lime juice in 1/4 cup of water. Put fish in a glass mixing bowl and wash   in this mixture of lime water. Throw away the excess water. Rub the minced garlic, green seasoning, and salt all over the fish. Cover fish and set aside in fridge for 30 mins - 1hr or overnight.

Next prepare the Green figs. Green fig is the Trinidadian name for green cooking bananas. Cut off the top and bottom ends of the green figs/bananas. Place into a large pot of water with about a tablespoon of oil.  The uncooked peel of the green figs/bananas secretes a sticky juice that might stain your pot. The oil prevents the skin of the green figs/bananas from staining the pot and makes for an easier clean up. Pierce the figs/bananas with a fork to see if they have cooked through. When they are done remove and let cool. They will peel easily now that they are cooked. Peel, slice and set aside.

In a large stock pot, saute the onion and garlic in butter or oil or Golden Ray margarine until translucent and fragrant. Add green seasoning. Saute about 30 seconds then add all the water.

Add all the root vegetables, celery, tomato, salt, vegetables and scotch bonnet pepper and simmer until the vegetables are fork tender. Roughly 15 - 20 mins depending on size of your root vegetables.

Keep an eye on the pepper throughout the cooking and make sure it does not burst. The heat from the pepper will be unbearable if it does.

Add the green figs/ bananas and the fish. Reduce heat and simmer fish 5-7 mins.

Taste and adjust seasonings. Adding more salt, lime and or pepper to your taste.

Sweet and Sour Thai Shrimp

This is a quick stir-fry recipe which takes on the character of a stew with a satisfying broth at the end. As long as you chop all your vegetables the night before it only takes 10 minutes to cook the following day.

This is nothing like a Chinese sweet and sour recipe. The aromatic kaffir leaves and coconut milk  give this dish an authentic Thai flavour. That said, Kaffir leaves are a speciality item and when I run out of them I have already decided that a quick trip to my patio for some freshly cut lemongrass (locally called fevergrass) will suffice until my next trip to the gourmet shop.


Sweet and Sour Thai shrimp
recipe adapted from here

Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes
Total Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:

SERVES 4
3/4 lb. shrimp  (shells left on or removed )
MARINADE: 1 Tbsp. oyster sauce + 1 tsp. brown sugar

1-2 Tbsp vegetable oil
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 thumb-size piece ginger, grated or sliced up fine
6 Tbsp. dry white wine or white vinegar
1/2 carrot, sliced
1 green bell pepper, sliced
4 kaffir lime leaves
1 tomato, diced
1/2 cup coconut milk
3 Tbsp. honey
2 Tbsp. lime juice
4 Tbsp oyster sauce
1 to 1 ½ cups pineapple chunks, fresh or canned
1 1/2. corn starch dissolved in 3 Tbsp. water


Preparation:

Combine marinade ingredients and pour over the shrimp. Toss to coat and set aside.

Place 1-2 Tbsp. oil in a wok or large frying pan over medium-high heat. Stir-fry the garlic and ginger 1-2 minutes. Add a little wine or vinegar.

Add the carrot and stir fry until tender. Add the green pepper and stir-fry 1 minute. Add wine or vinegar as needed to keep ingredients frying nicely.

Reduce heat to medium. Add the lime leaves, tomato, coconut milk, honey, lime juice, oyster sauce sauce. Stir well to combine.

Add the shrimp and pineapple chunks. Simmer 4-5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until shrimp are pink and plump.

Add the cornstarch dissolved in water and stir well. Simmer 1 more minute, or until the sauce has thickened.

Taste-test the dish, adding more honey (or brown sugar) if you prefer it sweeter. If you prefer more of a tang add more lime juice or vinegar

A Tale of Whale

  

I have the dubious distinction of being the great-granddaughter of a whaler. Dubious because it is now politically incorrect to even talk about killing whales. Yet at one time there were about ten commercial whaling stations operating in the Caribbean, in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, in Barbados, Trinidad and Grenada. Today under international agreement, Bequian whalers can harpoon no more than two whales per year. The whale is caught by traditional methods of hand thrown harpoons in small, open, sailing boats. The catch is not sold and is exclusively used for local consumption. It is given away to family and friends.

                        © 2009 All Rights Reserved, BreakfastLunchDinner&Punch




How does something like this end up on my breakfast table? Simple. The men in my family are seafarers. I would hesitate to call them romantic but for some reason they romaticize a meal of whale meat.

These are taciturn men. Men who can spend all day looking out across the bay with a pair of binoculars without saying a word or it would seem even moving an inch. They are men of slow grunts and uhhms for conversation. The ship captains among them have permanent squints from staring for hours on end at vast empty horizons. Apart from an almost a voyeuristic love of listening to VHF channel 16 and its call and distress conversations - silence and monotony are their thing. That is unless there is whale meat on the table. Then they come to life. They become animated. They trade stories about their adventures at sea. To hear them, you'd swear that they battled the beast themselves. And while they don't actually beat their chests and say 'Arrrgh', as cousin A put it, "The way they carry on it's like, hoist the flag fellas we gah(got) whale!" You'd swear they sat in that boat themselves like the late, Athneal Ollivierre risking life and limb to bring it to the table.