Hi Everyone, We’re still in January (barely) but it means that I can still wish you a very Happy, and blessed New Year! 2015 has been a year of discoveries at Tastes Like Home. This past year, as I explored the culinary landscape in the Caribbean and far beyond I discovered so many things. Now, just because I use the word ‘discovery’ doesn’t mean that I think I was the first person to find these things (I am not like Christopher Columbus) I just mean that I have enjoyed a year of exploring and finding things that are, in some way, a revelation to me. As I gear up to explore even more this year, I want to share with you a few of my memorable 2015 discoveries.
I discovered new ingredients. As 2015 began I came upon fresh Methi (fenugreek). The leaves of the plant are used as a vegetable and the seeds as a spice. Used in a variety of cuisines around the world, Methi is also widely used in traditional, alternative and folk medicine. The tender, slightly bitter leaves are used very much the same way as one would use spinach/callaloo.
I explored new ways of cooking ingredients I thought I knew well. Take for example the hearty breadfruit. I discovered that if I bought breadfruit and didn’t cook it fairly quickly, it would turn my firm breadfruit into mush. The flesh became so soft that I had to be very careful and not puncture the skin with my fingers as I held it. But, I also discovered that instead of tossing the overly ripe breadfruit in the garbage, I could convert that mushy breadfruit into a sweet, soft, delightful pudding. Since then I have used the sweet flesh along with wheat flour to make breads and bakes. This (soft, sweet, over-ripe breadfruit) is one of my favourite discoveries.
Keeping things sweet, dulce de leche, proved to be an addictive discovery. Turning a can of sweetened condensed into candy-like caramel that you want to put into everything – tea, coffee, cakes, ice cream or just eat straight from a spoon is such a guilty pleasure. The milk to candy transformation takes place by simmering the can of milk in water for 3 to 5 hours depending on how thick you prefer dulce de leche. I find myself buying extra cans of condensed milk just so that I always have a supply of dulce de leche on hand.
A visit to the University of the West Indies, St Augustine, and meeting a brilliant young man, Kern Rocke, who introduced me to one of his creations Melongene (eggplant/baigan) Jam! Sure I knew about fire-roasted baigan choka and of the other ways in which this versatile vegetable can be prepared: sautéed, curried, as a fritter, stuffed and baked; but as a sweet jam? I’d never heard that one before. And yet right there before me was this sweet, smoky delicious jam. A double discovery! Not only did I come to learn of only the delicious eggplant jam, but also I also found out so much more about the talented folks hard at work at UWI helping to keep Caribbean cuisine front and centre.
On that same visit to Trinidad, I was also introduced to Channa (chickpea) souse. Channa (the soft and hard nutty versions) have long been a part of our collective street food scene but the Channa souse is more recent. One spoonful and you’ll be wondering where this dish has been all your life. Plump, soft chickpeas sitting in warm, well-seasoned broth, topped with cucumbers and a lil pepper sauce, alright go on and add a touch of tamarind chutney, give the cup a stir and then start eating. I promise, you won’t put down the spoon until everything is gone – channa and broth.
While this may not have been a discovery for many people, it was for me. I grew up seeing salt fish being de-salted by soaking it in boiling water and or boiling the salt fish. Therefore, when a couple of Guyanese friends visiting from Canada told me to simply soak the salt fish in regular tap water overnight or longer, to remove the excess salt, I was amazed at how much of the salt was removed from the salt fish, but what I was particularly wowed about was how soft the flesh of the salt fish became. That was quite a revelation and to date I have never boiled salt fish again.
Trying to make Coconut Ice was a challenge. I was torn between the versions that simply mixed the grated coconut with powdered sugar and leaving it to harden and the other version, which was to cook the ingredients to a certain consistency and then let it harden. I prefer the no-cook version and was happy to discover that all I have to do after the grated coconut and powdered sugar were mixed together was simply refrigerate the mix and it would harden. It couldn’t be easier.
Headache
Not all discoveries are necessarily good. The thing I became most frustrated about in 2015 was the use of my food images for profit without permission or compensation. So often I or my many friends on and off line found signs, websites, and posters throughout the region where people had used my food photography without so much as a ‘by your leave.’ Sadly, I came to learn that many people are, as we say, ‘too harden;’ they care little about doing the right thing and more about doing the quick and easy thing. This is bound to continue until stricter copyright laws are in place across the region OR people in the Caribbean get back their moral compass – teefing is teefing!
Rediscovery
Let me leave you on some lighter notes.
A visit to Port Mourant in Berbice during the first half of 2015 brought back memories of a childhood treat. It was a rediscovery of how much pleasure simple things can bring us. Standing watching a vendor shave a block of ice took me back to sunny afternoons, flecks of ice caught in the light filling the air all around. Good times.
Being lovingly mocked by my sister as we sat eating one of my favourite dishes – a plate of fish curry – with extra pepper (sauce) on the side made me aware that I was losing my “Guyanese-ness” for the tolerance of heat. My eyes burned and watered and I kept breathing heavily in between mouthfuls. I was flayed by her comment: “You been living in Barbados too long.” Since then I have been heat-eating my way back to being a proper Guyanese.
My little potted herb garden is thriving. It has been an education, discovering the pleasures and pains of gardening with some plants – seeking sunlight, seeking shade, dealing with pests and conserving on water given the lack of rainfall and 2015 being the hottest year ever. Through it all, it has been a great experience. I felt so proud a few weeks ago when I loaded up my friend Paula with celery, parsley, basil, mint, lemongrass and aloes. I might not be a farmer, but at that moment I felt that Old MacDonald had nothing on me!
I hope the year is off to a good start for you!
Cynthia
