INTERNATIONAL: Trinidad: Finding a Lost Strain of Rice, and Clues to Slave Cooking

LINK to New York Times article on rice

Upland red bearded rice or hill rice 

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

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

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

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

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

Caribbean Smashed Potatoes

I'm here to talk about smashing stuff.

Can I confess that more often than not I arrive home in a mood that is more conducive to smashing things, rather than preparing dinner.

These potatoes are two thumbs up, high five, secret handshake delicious AND they have the added bonus of giving you an outlet for burning off some of the day's stress.
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Here is how you go about pretending that

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

Trinidad Green seasoning

The foundation of cooking meat the Trinidadian way is all about the seasoning. All meat (beef, chicken pork and fish) is marinated in a seasoning mix of crushed herbs, onions, garlic and peppers. This blend of herbs and aromatics is called 'green seasoning'. It is incredibly versatile and is good in soups, stews, rice, and bean dishes. Many Trinidadians whip up a batch of this stuff on a

Tamarind Ginger Spice Cake

Amazing cake but we'll get to that in a minute.

First a mini rant at the spouse who absolutely is NOT deserving of ANY cake at this point.

Some time last week, my husband was away from work and I had to use his car to drop our children to school.

Note to self:  Self, never borrow your  man's car without first checking for gas.

Children safely transported,  I was on my way to work, tunes

Trinidad Kurma

Trinidad is blessed to have a culture that embraces the festivals of different religions and every year I look forward to Divali, the Hindu festival of lights. If I lived abroad I think this is one of the holidays that I would miss like crazy.

Divali would be incomplete without the many offerings of Indian sweets that make their appearance at this time. Kurma, a traditional, Trinidadian