I have a very good friend who lives here (in Barbados) but has been in Guyana for almost 2 months. She is getting ready to head back to Barbados and asked me if I wanted her to bring anything. Years ago, I would have rattled off a long list and paid her overweight luggage fees. Not today. These days, you can get a lot of things from home right here but that does not mean that I do not need anything. The thing is that I have to come to Guyana to get what I want because I can only get them there the way I want them. This is what I wanna eat.
Obviously, we must start with a set of curry.
BEEF CURRY – I want the meat bought fresh from the market. I want to go and survey what’s on offer and choose based on the colour and grain of the meat and to determine which combination of cuts I want for the curry; it must be bone-in beef, that has some fat along with the meat, tendons and grizzle that will melt and become tender after a low, slow cook in a pressure cooker. Potatoes in the curry would be optional, this curry is all about the beef.
BUNJAL ROAST PORK – Bunjal, as you well know, is a dry curry where the meat is cooked with the spice-herb curry paste in its own juices. Now, for the uninitiated, the roast aspect of the pork I am referring to is the skin of the pork that is charred over fire after slaughter to remove the fine hairs. The smoke and char offer amazing flavour to the meat. I would ask the butcher to cut up extra pieces of the skin to put with the meat. For this bunjal, I’d want meat from the shoulder and belly (flap as they say in some places).
ROAST CHICKEN CURRY – Just like the pork, chicken when bought alive and then killed, is roasted over an open fire to get rid of any fine hairs from the skin after the feathers are removed. Again, this process adds depth of flavour to the curry with slight smoke and the bits of char. They do this with ducks too. You gotta go to the markets for these kinds of goodies, not supermarkets.
THOMAS, HARD-HEAD FISH CURRY – We get a variety of skin (scale-less) fish in Guyana, Gilbaka and Catfish being perhaps the most popular. However, my love is for two varieties, one called Thomas and the other Hard-head. The meat and texture of these fish when cooked are firm enough not to fall apart yet soft and tender. Gosh, a big karahi of either of these fish, curried, hot with pepper, green mangoes and a few ochroes/okras thrown in the last few minutes of cooking could easily be what I eat daily and never get tired of. I won’t even need rice, cassava, or any other ground provision. I would just eat this.
FRIED RICE – I am not talking here about homemade fried rice. I want an excellent Guyanese-style Chinese fried rice with the bronze coloured roast chicken, perfectly chopped and arranged on the top of the rice, along with slices of red char siu roast pork and some lap cheong
(Chinese dry cured pork sausage), mixed in the rice with veggies. Lashings of hot pepper sauce, cool slices of cucumbers and crunchy shavings of raw cabbage and carrots must complete the dish.
BLACK PUDDING – I want it hot and fresh. I do not mind having to line up at someone’s backdoor to make my purchase. The perfume of the bush basil (married man pork) and thyme would be enough to calm the nerves as I wait impatiently, imagining the first bite with dollops of sour.
SADA ROTI – I can make my own Sada roti here in Barbados, but I want a particular type of Sada roti – one cooked on a fireside! I want that Sada roti, pulled to the edges of the tawah as the wood fire licks the edges, adding smoke and char. Or the Sada roti can be removed from the tawah and be placed at the side of the opening of the fireside for some extra heat and charring. I don’t mind some ash on it either (lol). This Sada roti, I want to cut open and eat only with butter followed by a large enamel cup of black loose-leaf tea sweetened with sugar. No milk on this occasion. And the baigan (eggplant) choka, well that can wait for another day.
FRIED BANGAMARY – We get Bangamary here but obviously it is always frozen, and I believe it is farm-raised and not from Guyana. The Guyanese vendors that do sell Bangamary, I find their offerings to be a hit and miss; they always seem to be selling old stock and so for years I have stopped purchasing after trying several different vendors. You can therefore understand how starved I am for some Bangamary. The size of Bangamary I want are medium to large, not the small ones; they must be bought fresh, cleaned, with the middle bone removed and seasoned with nothing more than salt and lots of freshly ground black pepper. Like the fish curry, I do not need an accompaniment for this; I want my fried Banga alone, piled high on a plate.
SURINAME MULLET & NETTLEY I cannot remember the year I had either of these. A plate of dhal and rice accompanied by loads of crisp fried Suriname Mullet and/or Nettley with a lil achar on the side, would have me going back for more. Can you not also imagine snacking on these crispy bites with an ice-cold beverage of choice? Guyanese food sweet fuh days!
EDDO-LEAF CALLALOO & COCONUT CHOKA Eddo-leaf callaloo is my favourite type of bhagee. The texture when cooked is creamy and filling and it is not watery as some other types of spinach/greens. I especially like it cooked down with coconut milk which makes it rich and soft. Whether cooked plain, with shrimp or in a Trini-style Callaloo, I am longing to eat some eddo-leaf callaloo. Now the Coconut Choka, I want it ground on a lorha and sil. I make a version here with the food processor, but it is not the same. I also made it once also using my granite mortar and pestle; not the same. This choka requires the grinding motion that presses the natural oils and milk of the coconut along with the pepper, garlic and mango or tamarind to form a rich paste-like mixture with a one-of-kind combined flavour.
I hope I can make it home sometime this year. Until then, I am going to ask my friend to bring me some of the locally made smoked fish.
Have a good weekend everyone.
Cynthia
