Belize has many foods that would be at home in Mexico for example – in Belize City you can find so many little establishments selling corn tortilla and taco like foods, tamales, as staples in Belizean street food.

The photo at the top is of saltbutes which are fried corn rounds that puff up when fried, topped with meats, beans, salsa, cheese. The weight of the toppings sink into the middle. This one was veggie – just refried beans, veggies and salsa. Very good.

On the right, we have Garnaches, which are crispy fried flat corn circles, with toppings – like refried beans, salsa, onions and cheese. Of course you can get these with meat… They’re like round corn tortilla chips and may look light, but with the toppings they can quite fill you up!

These are the foods which are common to Central America. But the episode of Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives I was looking at, was actually about a Garifuna establishment – the Garifuna nation comprises the descendants of Carib peoples of the Lesser Antilles and of Africans who had escaped from slavery – the British moved these people across the Caribbean to Central America. And so the food seems to be a combination of African influences (like the mashed plantains) and Amerindian, with the intensive use of cassava. But don’t rely on me for information – this is still a much-to-be-discovered area for me.

You can look at Wikipedia of course, or this blog on my blogroll, Rice and Beans, by a Belizean who’s actually writing post-graduate dissertations on food and culture! This was an interesting article highlighting foods and activities in Belize.

And of course Belize is famous for its Marie Sharp pepper sauces and condiments!

As a non-food note, I’ve always found that elements of the Guyanese accent are similar to (some) Belizeans – maybe it’s more in the approach to pronouncing words, or the particular drawl or rhythm…I’ve always put it down to Guyana, like Belize, being the only English-speaking country amid the latin nations. Accents, like food, interest me It’s a occupational-hazard….

In case you don’t remember my post from about three years ago, Hops is a type of bread in Trinidad and Tobago. It’s a fluffy on the inside, shattering-crust on the outside, ubiquitous roll that is a staple of Trini bakeries. A few weeks ago I came across a Tumblr post from Trini Like Salt, expressing his love for Hops and therefore French Bread. And it has had me thinking since then of the ways I eat hops. The classic childhood memory is of course picking up hot hops from the bakery on evenings (the parents always got an extra half-quart*) and pulling them from the brown paper bag, devouring the fluffy insides (shattering the thin crispy crust all over our school uniforms), and then savouring the yumminess of the crust. Ohhhh….

I have yet to master a wholewheat hops that shatters in quite the same way but I am getting there. I use Mom’s recipe, posted here by Lilandra. I know some people are probably purists who don’t like anything but white hops, but you know what, to each her own. I love the extra nutty taste of whole wheat.

Crix has been marketed as the Vital Supplies of T&T but hops bread could be also be given that nickname! I scoured my files and found some examples (from left to right) -

• Hops and melted butter
• Hops and cheese – good old new zealand cheddar
• Hops and sardines (with pepper sauce, bandhania, onions etc) and cucumber
• some fanciness – Hops and Eggplant Parmigiania!

Some other Trini faves -

• Bread and channa (hops filled with curried channa, like a non-fried doubles alternative)
• Bread and chowmein – yup, chowmein (noodles and veggies) in bread is a popular schoolyard lunch I remember when my younger brother started school – but personally I never took to it

So, how do you like your Hops? Links to photos are welcome!

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* Hops bread is sold by the quart, which used to be 12, then 10…

• Curaçaose keuken – kitchens
• The Sweet and Spicy Sides of Curaçao
• Kos Dushi

Almost 2 years ago, I wrote about my visit to Curaçao, the lovely island in the Caribbean Sea that is part of the Netherlands Antilles. Back when I would post about my travels more regularly. Or just post more regularly…

Anyway, one of the things that had really interested me from my visit was the plate of traditional sweets I received, as it was a reminder that even if names were different, and languages, the people and food of the Caribbean do share so much!

Of course, back then, I really didn’t know for sure the names of what I had eaten! But thanks to Flickr, and a helpful comment* from a Curaçao flickrite, I can now inform my readers. Starting from the pastry at the front left and moving clockwise -

• Tèrt (cupe cake), a small crusty bottom filled with prunes. (recipe in papiamentu)
• Kokada (the dark brown one), grated coconut in brown sugar glaze (this is the one that tasted like tulum) (the original link seems to not exist anymore, I searched and found this one (not in English).
• Tentalaria (the white one), ground cashews in a sugar cream (the one that reminded me somewhat of peyra) – try this link (not in English).
• Panseiku (peanuts chunks), praline of toasted peanuts, in a brown-sugar brittle (we all have nutcakes!)
• Ko’i Lechi (bar) meaning literally milk thing, caramel bar (fudge!, the Trini kind, hard and sugary)

Another view of the plate.

Hope you enjoyed the revisit to Curaçao…or at least the sweets of Curaçao!

—————–

* yes, yes, this comment was from a year ago, but it’s about time I blogged it! And make my goal of 2 posts in July.

But to start from the beginning.

Due to my schedule, I have some weekly help at home and I very recently worked out an arrangement where she’d make some bread for me from time to time. The bread you buy here is sooo sweet and soft and I can only manage to bake bread on weekends. And lately, I’ve been on the road and in the air on weekends. Knowing that I do cook, and having seen my mother at work in the kitchen, my helper knows that we care about the food we make and eat, and that we don’t necessarily make things the way she would. So she made to sure to find out how much salt, sugar etc I wanted in the bread and the first time was pretty good.

However, today I get a call from home. She’s mixed the flour with a bit of shortening, the sesame seeds I left on the counter, whole wheat flour etc and then realised there was no yeast…I’d forgotten to stock up. (Another reason I can’t always manage to bake on my limited free time…) No problem though – I have baking powder. So I tell her, ok use some more shortening, add some milk, and mix it somewhat “soft”. The problem came when I started to explain how to bake it. Because I wanted to turn it into bake. Bake bake. But she didn’t quite get it. I tried explaining that it shouldn’t be rolled up like a bread loaf, but flatter. Not rounded, but flat, like a flat bread. And then while I was trying to describe bake over the phone, I realised I’d never seen a bake in Guyana. Fried bakes sure – they make those here, often a bit softer and sweeter than my taste, but it’s here. But not a bake like coconut bake (or for that matter saltfish bake, as my mother will probably comment).

In the end I asked her to knead it and put it in the fridge. While I was waiting for it to bake this evening, I continued reading through the impressive and gorgeous piece of work that is Cynthia Nelson‘s book, Tastes Like Home. And it confirmed my suspicions – there is no bake bake in Guyana. Ahhhh.Of course, I could probably have done a better job of explaining, but there are some things you never think you’d need to explain. Plus, I was in the middle of explaining legal stuff and writing opinions and apparently I couldn’t switch gears into food talk.

I think I shall demonstrate coconut bake and hops in some direct cultural ambassadoring. Plus, I’ll get to eat them

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* I could call it “roast bake” but I never grew up with that term, plus “bake bake” is so much more fun!

Sweet Hands is by Ramin Ganeshram, a trained chef, journalist and teacher. Her claim to Trini cooking is from her Trini father, visits to his homeland and growing up with the food and the stories. The book has much of the expected traditional Trini recipes – Indian delicacies like phoulourie, doubles, aloo pies; the classics like pelau, pastelles, shark and bake, various curried meats; drinks such as sorrel and cocoa tea; chutneys and other condiments; and of course desserts that are derived from all our cultures, barfi, sweet bread, sugar cake etc. You can look for Ramin on twitter, or on her Sweet Hands blog. And I so want to make her Cocoa Tea Cakes posted in this NPR story here.

Since we were on the topic last week, Sweet Hands, in introducing the reader to Trinidad and Tobago, also provides information on the history of T&T and traveling to the islands. She lists some essentials for visiting Trinidad, even suggesting an Indo-Trinidad tour day among others. So what made her list?

• The Hanuman Temple, the Indo-Caribbean Museum in Waterloo, Temple in the Sea
• La Brea Pitch Lake
• The Beaches
• Asa Wright, Caroni Swamp, the Wildfowl Trust
• Turtle watching (leatherback turtles during nesting)
• Grafton Nature Sanctuary and the Tobao Rainforest Reserve

But now, onto the recipe for beef stew with dumplings. This appears to be a Trini dish – it also appears in the Naparima book (see Trinigourmet’s recipe and post) – but not one I’ve ever had. Don’t get me wrong, at the core this is an authentically Trini stew beef recipe, completed with the browning of the sugar, (green) seasoning of the meat, soy sauce etc. I’ve just never eated stew beef with dumplings. I’ve seen recipes online for Irish, or English Beef Stews with dumplings, and certainly these Trini recipes also include the beer element (which I obviously have to substitute). But, never let it be said that I have not had a Trini dish (one that can be made halaal of course).

I have some very very nice Qurbani beef (from the Eid ul Adha sacrifice) and was waiting to use it. I modified the recipe somewhat – of course, I needed to replace the beer…and not with ALE as suggested on some sites – so I looked around my kitchen, saw something also “brewed” on the stove, and threw in my Dominican Republic coffee. Yes, COFFEE. I have no idea what beer or ale is supposed to take like and I didn’t want to use up my rare productive-awake-Saturday time googling. While it smelled very much like coffee when I first poured it in, and I was worried, the dark coffee flavour blends very nicely with the stew adding to the rich, dark flavour. I also haven’t used oil for stews in a long time. The sugar browns just fine in a hot pot just like that, and beef especially will have enough fat on its own. This also gives me the freedom to add a bit of salt butter in a stew if I feel like it

Oh, and I only had chicken stock (but homemade) not beef stock. And I used my pressure cooker to cut down the simmering time. Of course my pressure cooker is a tad wide/big for my portions, which means that I had liquid-depth issues when it came time to drop in the dumplings, but I managed. There’s enough flavour in this recipe to add some more water at that point. Just don’t oversalt the dumplings since they pick up the seasoning from the stew.

Stew Beef with Dumplings (as modified by me noted in red)

Beef

• 1.5 lbs stew beef, cut into 1-inch cubes
• 2 tablespoons green seasoning
• 2 tablespoons Canola oil (I didn’t use this)
• 2 tablespoons sugar (I use brown for almost everything)
• 1 large onion, thinly sliced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 3/4 cup brewed coffee (instead of the beer)
• 2 teaspoons soy sauce
• 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
• 1 bay leaf
• 1/2 teaspoon coarse or kosher salt (I used sea salt)
• 1/2 teaspoon hot pepper sauce
• 2 cups beef stock or water (I used chicken stock)

Dumplings

• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup cornmeal
• pinch of coarse or kosher salt

1. Mix beef with green seasoning and refrigerate for at least 2 hours. You can do this overnight.

2. Heat pressure cooker, and add the sugar. Let the sugar caramelise until dark brown. Add seasoned beef and stir well to coat. Cook for 5 minutes, stirring constantly. Add the onion and garlic, and cook for 5 minutes more.

3. Stir in the coffee, soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, bay leaf, salt and hot pepper sauce. Add the stock, making sure it covers the beef, adding additional stock or water if necessary. Bring to a boil and then lower to a simmer. Cover and cook until the meat is tender, about 1 hour, adding the dumplings as instructed in step 5. OR Close pressure cooker, add weight and cook as usual until tender, then add dumplings.

4. While the stew is simmering, make the dumplings. Mix together the flour, cornmeal and salt. Add 6 tablespoons of water and knead to form a stiff dough, adding more water if necessary. Knead until smooth and set aside to rest for 15 minutes.

5. Pinch off 1-inch pieces of dough and roll between the palm of your hands to form ovals. Pinch both ends, then flatten the oval between palms or against a cutting board. The dumplings should resemble small flat footballs. Drop them into the beef stew in the last 15 minutes of cooking. (You may need to add more liquid to get a good depth of liquid to cook the dumplings…just let the extra liquid come up to a boil then lower heat) Adjust the seasonings of the stew to taste.

Serve hot.

“Caribbean Vegan: Meat-Free, Egg-Free, Dairy-Free – Authentic Island Cuisine for Every Occasion”

If reading food-related blog and websites is part of your regular routine then you should already know by now about veganism and how it differs from vegetarianism. From wikipedia:

“Veganism is a philosophy and lifestyle whose adherents seek to exclude the use of animals for food, clothing, or any other purpose.Vegans endeavor to never consume or use any animal products of any type. The most common reasons for becoming, or remaining, vegan are moral conviction concerning animal rights or welfare, health, environmental concerns, and spiritual or religious concerns…”

Vegetarians on the other hand, adhere to a meat-free diet, but may eat foods from animals such as eggs, dairy or honey. There are some people who call themselves vegetarian and say they eat fish. Or chicken. I’ll leave that one alone

Me, I am not actually vegetarian. But being Muslim (for me) means that I try to eat only halaal (or permissible) food. This means that I don’t eat meat of the pig or alcohol. I eat meat, but it must be halaal,* which means that the animal is slaughtered in a particular way with a prayer. What this also means that, since I didn’t grow up in a Muslim country, is that I grew up reading food labels and being very conscious of ingredients in my food. Also, when I travel to places where halaal meats are not available, I tend to be (what Lilandra termed) a pseudo-pesco-ovo-lacto-vegetarian. Sometimes, I have even been an actual vegetarian, albeit for brief periods.

So, of course I was excited when I first encountered Taymer Mason’s blog, Caribbean Vegan and then later that she was working on a cookbook with real Caribbean food. Real Caribbean food that happens to be vegan. Caribbean Vegan is wonderful collection of recipes and information, with gorgeous photography from Cynthia Nelson of Tastes Like Home. You don’t have to be vegan or vegetarian to want to make Bajan conkies, or coconut turnovers, macaroni pie, traditional peas and beans. She’s even managed to convert the Bajan fishcake into a vegan dish. There are 125 recipes but that’s not all. There is much Caribbean cooking information and guidance, including kitchen-necessities like our green seasonings so you can be assured this is REAL Caribbean cooking.

People may think veganism is exotic or bizarre but many foods we normally eat are already vegan. Or can be easily “veganised”. I looked through my Recipe page and found 9 recipes that are already vegan (not counting condiments) and a few more vegetarian dishes where the dairy element could easily be replaced with a vegan-friendly substitute. Many of these might be foods with loose or direct origins in India, but are part of every day Trini (and Caribbean) life. Here are a few of my vegan recipes to get you thinking -

Aloo Pie– well-seasoned potato stuffed into dough and fried – Trini street food served with chutney or channa	Baigani – Sliced eggplant, dipped in a seasoned thick yellow split pea batter and deep fried. Serve with some spicy mango or tamarind chutney.	Black-eye Peas Googni – boiled peas, sautéed with onions, garlic, cumin (geera) etc Use your favourite legume, whether channa (chick peas) or pigeon peas etc.
Dhal, trini-style – spicy boiled and chunkayed yellow split peas, served in liquid form to accompany rice, roti or as a soup	Fry Aloo – Trini dish, usually eaten with sada roti – thinly sliced aloo (potato) sautéed with onions and garlic until the edges are brown and crispy	Doubles – thin fried rounds wrapped around soft curried channa, eaten with pepper sauce and hot chutneys.
Falafel – crunchy fried channa and lentil fritter, that well-known Middle Eastern treat	Kachourie, Trini-style – ground split peas, seasoned and deep fried to crispy goodness, served with spicy chutney	Paratha (Buss up Shut) Trini-style – roti, flaky light and layered flat bread cooked on a tawah and then bussed-up, or pulled apart

So, check out Caribbean Vegan (Amazon link) for some wonderful recipes and information. But for now, and until Wednesday 8th December 2010, you have an opportunity to win a free copy of Caribbean Vegan right here! Yup. All you have to do is leave a comment here (or on my Facebook page) naming a favourite food item that is vegan. Imaginary points are added if you just realised you’ve been enjoying a vegan dish all this time.

I’ll announce the winner (random selection) on Thursday 9th December 2010 and will contact you to get mailing information for the publisher, The Experiment, to send you your free copy.

Edit (2 December 2010): Disclaimer! I should add that I only received a copy of the book for review, with no conditions attached. So, other than knowing Taymer through her blog I have no affiliations and whatnot.

Also, my family (Lilandra and Trinimom) aren’t part of the competition for fairness and transparency. But they also enjoy vegan dishes!

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Muslims are also permitted to eat food “of people of the Book”, which refers to Jews and Christians. Since it’s only Jews who have prescribed and certified foods that I can recognise, I also eat kosher (once it’s alcohol-free of course – kosher does not include pork)

Mom's black cake texture

A few months ago I got a request for a Halaal Trini Black Cake recipe. Those of you familiar with the permutations of the traditional Caribbean Christmas black cake (whether you call it black cake or great cake) will know that this cake is generally viewed as inextricable from its alcohol content. In fact, a visitor to this photo on Flickr felt compelled to tell me “the call it rum cake because theres some rum in it“. Grammar and spelling notwithstanding, I understood the sentiment although I had never called Mom’s Black Cake “Rum Cake” for obvious reasons…but maybe some people will think it’s sacriligeous to make this cake any other way than reeking of rum or other spirits That’s ok – I just won’t eat it that way. And this cake that Mom makes, which she agreed to share the secrets, is so rich, and moist that it is appreciated by rum cake lovers and Muslims alike.

The traditional way of making Black Cake involves mincing and soaking the fruits from up to a year before baking. Soaking in alchohol. People pride themselves on getting the fruits together earlier than their neighbours so they get the right flavours and textures. No alcohol ergo no need for soaking. We’re not fermenting anything here. The cake is supposed to be moist, dense and dark. The fruits get the moistness into the cake and Mom’s secret, from her mother, is the addition of condensed milk, which maintains helps maintain the right texture. There are NO leavening agents used in the cake – the eggs will do the necessary – and bake on low heat. With plenty browning, the cake is supposed to be black, remember.

The other notable difference between a regular Black Cake and the halaal version is the timing of its baking. We (my family) don’t celebrate Christmas, so we don’t make the cake for Christmas. (That’s not to say that there aren’t Muslims who might make it around Christmas time, just not us). Mom will make it for special occasions indeed (it is a rich cake) such as Eid, or to send with me to Guyana so I have a taste of home. In fact, we still have some cake that she baked for Eid ul Fitr a month ago, that stayed, just like the alcoholic version, in the cupboard, getting moister and lovelier by the day.

Without further ado, onto the recipe.

Halaal Trini Black Cake Recipe

Ingredients

8 ounces margarine/butter
2 ounces shortening
8 ounces brown sugar
14 ounces flour
6 eggs
14 ounces condensed milk (1 395 gm tin)
1.5 cup browning
Minced fruits – 8 ounces  each of prunes, raisins,  dates and black currants; , 4 ounces mixed peel, 2 oz cherries
1 tsp cinnamon

Method

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease cake tins with shortening and line with parchment or waxed paper – line bottom and sides. Mom likes to use the old Danish Butter Cookie tins, since they have covers for storage after baking.

2. Mince fruits in blender or food processor until as fine as you like it (I like it almost to a paste – I don’t like discernible bits of fruit).

1. Cream butter, shortening and sugar till fluffy.

2. Add eggs one at a time, beat well between additions.

3. Add fruits, mix well.

4. Add browning, condensed milk and cinnamon, mix well.

5. Add flour, about 2 ounces at a time, mix between each addition.

At this point, Mom will put a tablespoon of the cake batter on a saucer into the microwave to cook. Taste this to test for sweetness and of course look at the colour. Determine if you need more condensed milk or browning, or if you are in a really humid place (more than here? whew) more flour. If you think it has too much flour, addition of a little condensed milk or more browning can help balance it out.

6. Pour the batter into the prepared cake pans.

7. Bake in the oven for about an hour – until a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean.

Notes on Soaking the Cake

Traditionally, the Black Cake is soaked in alcohol after baking and “topped” up ever so often, which keeps it edible and moist long after the normal shelf life of cake. Mom used to soak her cake in grape juice or apple juice to mimic this process and texture. However, this won’t keep the cake. You’ll have to store it in the fridge.

However, this cake is naturally moist and it tastes better and moister after a few days. In fact, without soaking it stays moist and keeps out of the fridge for weeks. Mom currently has the cake from Eid (whatever’s left) in a container and it hasn’t been refrigerated yet. For safety, you could choose to refrigerate and then just bring to room temperature before eating (if you microwave it before eating it gets a little soft and the sweetness can be a bit over the top – but maybe you like that).

If you’re  a regular reader of this blog (or if you’ve been browsing the Ramadan posts from over the years) you will realise that there’s a particular kind of joy attached to this month. Yes, it’s all about ibadah (worship) and the fasting and extra night prayers (Tarawih) can be a test, but there’s a sense of community that abounds during this month. It’s partly the feeling you get when you perform the Hajj (pilgrimage), that you’re part of something bigger that millions and millions of people are sharing in at the same time. There’s also a more simplistic reason – people tend to break fast in the mosque together, sharing the Iftar (you get blessings for feeding a fasting person so people like to sponsor these dinners!) and the Tarawih prayers are an extra nightly reason to go to the masjid for salaah in jamaat (congregational prayers). All that extra togetherness adds to the special feelings associated with this month – specialness which is almost always accompanied by great food!

Muslims also tend to spend some time planning meals during this month – for communal cooking for the Iftar, favourite delicacies to entice reluctant eaters during Suhr (the meal before the fast begins at dawn) or to stimulate the shrinking appetite later in the month. And of course, there’s the planning for Eid! What you’re going to wear of course, but more importantly, what are you going to cook and serve up to all and sundry! While the search stats for this blog reveal that people are looking for the usual suspects in the Ramadan/Eid lineup – kurma, barfi, sawine, maleeda, and ras gullah for example – that doesn’t mean that other sweet treats aren’t on the agenda.

Like this chocolate cake. Moist, chocolatey and with a lovely butter frosting using melted chocolate. So. very. good. And not too large (although I’d double the recipe the next time to get a nice high cake).

It’s from a book called “Chocolate: Easy and delicious step-by-step recipes”. It’s a British book…I need to check the publisher details. It’s a great book as far as we can tell since the few things we’ve made from it have been excellent. The children definitely like the photos and have found lots of things Aunty Chennette needs to come make.

RECIPE (modifications in brown)

Cake

• 125 g (4.5 oz) soft margarine (or butter)
• 125 g (4.5 oz) caster sugar (we used very brown sugar)
• 2 eggs
• 1 tablespoon golden syrup (we actually had this! I’d usually substitute any kind of syrup or even some thinned molasses)
• 125 g (4.5 oz) self-raising flour, sifted (see note above!) Substitute 125 grams (4.5 oz) flour plus  1 1/3 teaspoons baking powder and 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons cocoa powder, sifted (we used 4)

Frosting/Filling

• 50 g (1.75 oz) icing sugar, sifted
• 25 g (1 oz) butter
• 100 g (3.5 oz) milk cooking chocolate
• a little extra cooking chocolate for the top (optional)

METHOD (my method)

Lightly grease 2 7-inch shallow cake tins (the layer pans – we used larger ones, all we had, so the cake was flatter)

Preheat oven to 190 degrees Celsius (375 degrees Fahrenheit)

Now, the recipe just said mix all ingredients to a smooth batter, but, I have my home ec training ingrained in me – this is a cake, to be made by the creamed-in method. This is how you get a light cake texture. I have tried recipes before that say mix everything together and the cake comes out rubbery. So your choice.

Cream margarine/butter and sugar together until the mixture is creamy and light.

Add eggs, beat well.

Add golden syrup, mix well.

Add flour and cocoa powder, fold in – mix gently to incorporate  into a smooth batter but do not over beat.

Divide mixture between both pans equally.

Bake for 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out cleanly (if you are using the larger pans, it will cook very quickly).

Let cake cool in pans for a few minutes then turn out onto wire racks to cool while you make the frosting.

Melt chocolate over a double boiler or gently in a microwave (microwave on medium for 20 seconds at a time and stir in intervals)

Beat icing sugar and butter together until light and fluffy. Add melted chocolate, mix well.

Spread 1/3 of the frosting on the top of one cake layer, place the other cake layer on top. (we threw in some butterscotch chips in the middle of the layers)

Use the remaining frosting to cover the cake. (I’ll admit that I made a bit more frosting than the recipe called for, maybe using 1/2 oz more butter and icing sugar accordingly). Drizzle melted chocolate over the top or top with nuts or other chips.

Enjoy!

Shiny Chocolatey Eggless Brownies

I wanted brownies today. Seemed the perfect thing to want during the excitement of World Cup. (Not really, I mean, I am enjoying the Group of 16, but it’s more like the “excitement” of trying to wrap up some work stuff that made me want chocolate). I don’t usually bake unless accompanied by a sibling (mostly Lilandra, who actually likes baking). That’s one way of not being tempted by sweet baked treats like brownies. Just don’t make them. But today I wanted them. Except I had no eggs (I’m out of a lot of things, but not making grocery just yet as I may be out of the country for a bit soon). Eggless diets have not stopped people from enjoying baked goods, however, so I decided to quickly try something.

I had flour, butter, Lindt dark chocolate, brown sugar, molasses…all sounds great, right? I did some quick googling and found that there were recipes which didn’t involve things like applesauce, or pumpkin puree…neither of which I had…I also don’t have any nut meal of any kind so that was another substitute option I could not use. But there are recipes which basically follow a brownie/batter recipe, just no eggs. So, this is what I ended up with (I winged it based on my quick readings and ingredients I wanted to use).

INGREDIENTS

• 1 cup butter
• 3.5 oz good dark chocolate (Lindt 85% cocoa)
• 1 cup brewed coffee
• 2 cups flour
• 2 cups brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons molasses
• 1.5 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup chopped walnuts

METHOD

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit

1. Using a double boiler (or a stainless steel bowl over a saucepan of water) melt the butter and chocolate together.

2. Mix coffee, sugar and molasses into the chocolate mixture.

3. Add flour, baking powder, salt, mix to combine.

4. Stir in walnuts.

5. Pour/spread evenly into a greased 9×13 baking pan.

6. Bake for 15-20 minutes until top is set but and the edges are just pulling away from the sides of the pan. If the edges look cooked but the centre is too moist for your liking, just turn off the oven and leave the pan in for another 5 minutes.

VERDICT – well, see for yourself. They were moist and chocolatey, held together very well and tasted great. When eaten hot there was smidgen of that pudding-y floury taste, but as it cooled that went away too. Although, this recipe from All Recipes uses a method of cooking some of the flour with water to deal that is apparently supposed to help this. I like chewy brownies, with a crackly top. These almost had a crackly top, but weren’t chewy. They were just dense and moist enough to not be cakey though, so overall I think it was a success. I think the molasses helps, but that has always been my secret brownie ingredient, so I am biased!

NOTE – I realise these are eggless, but NOT vegan. They were not intended to be, but I think the end result shows that with modifications, you can get a great brownie no matter the substitutions. After all, brownies are by nature more forgiving than cakes! For vegan, I would use a vegetable oil, and of course a completely non-dairy chocolate.

I can’t wait to try these again with the Lindt 99% chocolate bar! I wonder if some more butter would make it cracklier or chewier – any thoughts?

I am home* for a couple weeks – vacation, then to vote.** So, taking advantage of being at home with Mom (who did the beef and beans), I present to you our Sunday Lunch today! Cornmeal Coucou, stew beef and red beans! Sunday lunch is a big thing in the Caribbean. It’s the time to break out the sometimes labour-intensive dishes, to make a special meal that is not easy to prepare during the work week. Lunch is sometimes later than usual, because of the work involved and also because having a big Sunday lunch is part of the enjoyment of the whole day. The heavy meals with macaroni pie, or coucou, leading to post-meal-paralysis are also ok, since you’re supposed to be relaxing before you start the dreaded Monday. Well, that’s my take on it

Coucou and flying fish is the national dish of Barbados, but it is also a traditional national dish in Trinidad and Tobago, eaten with callaloo and/or stew beans. Cornmeal coucou is ubiquitous, but it can be made from breadfruit as well. It’s like a Caribbean polenta. Some people like it a bit soft where it is spooned out of a dish – others prefer it to be set and firm enough to slice, although it should never be dry and chewy – that’s not coucou…maybe that’s cornbread. 15 years ago when I was studying in Barbados, I was surprised at the number of Bajans who tried to “introduce” us Trinis to coucou…I mean, I knew their national dish, how could they not know we have coucou and callaloo? I think things have changed over the years – we are more aware of our Caribbean neighbours food and culture – at least this is my hope!

Growing up, I was never sure I liked coucou. I knew I didn’t like ochroes, not just because of the slime, but the skin itself had a texture that I was uncomfortable with, even though in most preparations (callaloo) it melted away on the tongue. I was a picky vegetable-eater…But then somewhere in my teens, through food courts in those little malls on Frederick Street, in having to get vegetarian foods, I grew to love this thing called coucou. After all it is better than rice in soaking up stew gravy!

Coucou is traditionally a bit labour-intensive, because it involves an hour or more of stirring at the pot, while the cornmeal gets heavier and heavier and harder on your arms. So I hear, anyway. I never made it that way…my first attempt at coucou making was a couple months ago when Cynthia (of Tastes Like Home) posted a microwave coucou recipe. That was the quickest I have gone from reading a blog to cooking. I made the coucou that weekend, even though I had no ochro…I substituted baigan (eggplant) since that’s what was in the fridge, and I figured…hmm…eggplant also gets kind slimy when cooked… I was already craving stew chicken and red beans, and this would have been a perfect accompaniment. The proportions and recipe were really easy to remember too – 1 cup cornmeal to 3 cups water, salt, ochroes…stir, microwave, stir, microwave…eh, voilà!

There were some problems though…which I thought I should share if you want to try microwave coucou, so as to avoid my pitfalls!

• eggplant is not bad in coucou, but the skin can be bitter and inedible – if forced to use this, PEEL it
• after stirring, let the mixture sit for a while to let the cornmeal completely absorb the liquid – this way you won’t get hard cornmeal bits at the bottom of your bowl cooking well before their time – I don’t know what I was thinking, putting in a bowl of essentially water with cornmeal floating around…
• if the liquid is fully incorporated, you may not even need the stirring process in the middle of cooking!

Using Cynthia’s recipe was great – and I enjoyed a few meals with my coucou. However, I think there are differences between Bajan coucou and the Trini version. I remembered more colour in the Trini coucou I was used to eating – colour representing peppers and seasonings. It seems Bajan coucou, or the versions I have eaten and seen online, stick to cornmeal and ochro. I checked with Mom, and reinforced by Wizzy of Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner and Punch, I realised that Trini coucou does indeed have more things, including coconut milk. Any Barbadians reading this can confirm whether this is true, or if I have just experienced a basic coucou.

So, here’s my version of the microwave coucou recipe (hope Cynthia doesn’t mind)

Ingredients

• 1 cup cornmeal
• 2 cups warm water
• 1 cup coconut milk
• 3/4 cup sliced ochroes (nice thin young ones)
• 3 pimento/seasoning peppers, chopped (these are not hot peppers)
• diced hot pepper (optional, to taste)
• 1 tablespoon chopped chives
• 1 teaspoon (or more) chopped shadow benny
• 1.5 teaspoon garlic (we like garlic)
• salt to taste

Prepare all ingredients
Mix all ingredients except water and coconut milk, together.
Add liquids (warm water will make the cornmeal absorb faster and come together very nicely.
Stir well so there are no large lumps of cornmeal.
Pour or spoon out into a greased microwaveable dish and smooth the top.
Microwave on high for 5 minutes.
Check the coucou – it should not need stirring.
Microwave again on high for another 2 minutes.

The coucou will still appear jiggly and soft at this stage, and Mom ate it like this, but it will continue to firm up and by the time I ate, it was sliceable.

——
* home is always Trinidad.
** T&T elections are on 24 May 2010