A Caribbean Platter

We have decided to make a conscious effort to participate in events. But we're taking this a bit slowly. We realize that events are a great way to not only follow what other great food bloggers are fixing in their kitchens, but also to absorb and assimilate other cultures.

The Monthly Mingle hosted by Meeta of What's for Lunch, Honey? this time is a great example of that. The theme is Caribbean cuisine. Being a sports aficionado, the minute I read the word Caribbean, images of Viv Richards, Brian Lara, Courtney Walsh, Usain Bolt and Merlene Ottey flashed across my mind. At this point, I am being COMMANDED by my other half to add Johnny Depp (Pirates of the Caribbean) to this list.

The atmosphere during cricket games, people dancing to the beats of calypso (regardless of whether West Indies is winning or losing!), the laid back attitude towards life, sun soaked beaches is what I thought was Caribbean. I had worked with a Jamaican colleague earlier and she took me to this place called Jamaican Jerk Pit. So I knew something about Jamaican cuisine. I immediately started to think of how to make Jamaican Jerk ourselves. But then I thought I should perform a general search on Caribbean cuisine and get some cues. This is because as we've mentioned it in the past that we LOVE to try out different cuisines but we've never really made anything 'Caribbean' before. And I (much to 'someone's' annoyance!) like to dig up info before I get into the cooking part of it ;)

So, back to the 'search'. The first link that I came across when I googled Caribbean (Wikipedia, what else!) made my jaws drop. I had no idea that Caribbean is such a broad term applied to an extremely diverse culture! Well, the part with the beaches and the laid back attitude was still true, but I had grossly underestimated the geographical vastness and the overall diversity of the Caribbean world! I did not know that it included nearly 7000 islands and also included countries like Cuba, Dominican Republic, Bahamas, Aruba and Puerto Rico! I immediately rushed to convey this to my better half but I was met with that "I already knew it" look. What a barefaced liar :P

Well, the point is, we got excited and decided to explore a bit more. We wanted to sample Caribbean cuisine by trying to glean some aspects from different geographical regions of the Caribbean. I know how I feel when someone comes and tells me "I just had the best Indian food". I simply try to convey to him/her that while that statement is true in a very broad sense, one needs to learn a bit more about the eclectic nature of Indian cuisine in order to appreciate what he/she just savored a little better ;) Besides, learning about other cultures is a lot of fun to me. So we ended up looking for cooking techniques and ingredients germane to Caribbean cooking and came up with the idea of making a little Caribbean feast for ourselves :) Here's the 'menu' :

Coconut cornbread (Jamaica)


Ajiaco or Spanish Caribbean style Stew spiced up with Jamaican Jerk.


Aranitas de Platono or Plantain Spiders (Puerto Rico) with Cuban Adobo marinade.

and...Pina Colada!

Jamaican Coconut Corn Bread

Ingredients

1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup cornmeal
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup coconut milk
1/2 cup shredded and toasted coconut flakes
a pinch of salt
1/2 tbsp baking powder
1/2 egg (thats the problem when you scale down original recipes ;) )

1. Beat the egg well and incorporate the butter. Add all the other wet ingredients to this and mix well.

2. Sift all the dry ingredients separately into a large bowl.

3. Slowly add the wet ingredients to the dry ones and make a smooth-lump free batter without beating too much.

4. Bake at 400F for about 25 mins or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Aranitas de Platono (Plantain Spiders)

Ingredients

2 unripened plantains (peeled)
salt and pepper according to taste
1/4 cup vegetable oil

1. Grate the plantains and add the salt and pepper.

2. Make 1-2" balls and flatten them slightly. Do not pack the plantains too tightly.

3. Heat the oil in a pan and shallow fry the 'spiders' on both sides till golden brown and crisp on both sides.

Cuban Adobo Marinade

Ingredients

1 tbsp thymes leaves (we used dried, powdered thyme)
1 tbsp Oregano leaves ( we used dried Oregano)
2 handful cilantro leaves
3 garlic cloves, crushed
1 tsp ground cumin
2 tbsp ground black pepper
7 tbsp Orange juice or lime juice (the original recipe calls for Cuban sour oranges or Naranja Agria but we used lime juice)

Blend all ingredients in a food processor into a coarse puree.

Adobo can be used in two forms. The one described above is a marinade. If we remove the lime juice, then it becomes a rub for meats. This is one way of incorporating flavor in Cuban cuisine. In Spanish-Carribean cuisine, another way of imparting base flavors is called Sofrito, and is described below with the recipe for the stew.

Ajiaco

Ingredients

2 bay leaves
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp Annatto oil (or 1 tbsp olive oil + 1 tsp paprika)
1 medium onion
1 16 oz can of tomato sauce
3-4 scallions
1/2 green bell pepper, chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
3 jalapenos, diced (no we didnt de-seed them. We LIKE the heat :) )
6-8 cups water
4 tbsp lime juice
1 tsp Oregano (we used dried Oregano)
2 tbsp Jamaican Jerk seasoning, recipe follows
salt to taste
2 handful of cilantro leaves and sprigs
2 tbsp red wine vinegar
1 tsp grated ginger
vegetables (the original recipe calls for malaga, boniato, yuca, yams, potatoes, butternut squash cubes, green and semi-ripe plantains, corn and taro). We had and used potatoes, sweet potatoes, plantain and corn.

1. Heat the oil in a large pan. Add the bay leaves, onions, bell pepper, garlic, ginger, jalapenos, oregano, cumin and one handful cilantro leaves and sprigs. This constitutes the Sofrito. I guess this is a bit interesting since cilantro and parsley are usally added after the preparation as a garnish.

2. Add the tomato sauce, lime juice, jerk seasoning, salt and cook for a few minutes.

3. Add the water and the vegetables. Stir well and cook for about 30-40 mins. or until the potatoes begin to disintegrate.

Jamaican Jerk

Ingredients

2 Scotch Bonnet chili peppers (we used jalapenos)
3 scallions
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 small piece of fresh ginger
1 tbsp ground allspice
1 tbsp dried, powdered thyme
2 tsp ground black pepper
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground cloves

Grind everything in a food processor. If you wish to store this for a longer time in the refrigerator, the recipe calls for the addition of 3 tbsp sunflower oil.

Now for the yummy creamy pina colada! Remember the Pineapple Upside-Down Cake from last week? We had some pineapple slices and thought that we should have a drink to go with the meal. While we are not sure which part of the Caribbean is home to the Pina Colada, we decided that we should not skip this opportunity to make some :D We don't drink alcohol, so this was a non-alcoholic pina colada and I'm not sure we missed much ;) Here is the super simple recipe for an indulgent drink!

Pina Colada (for two):

A couple of slices of Pineapple - we used 4
1 cup Pineapple juice
1/2 cup coconut milk. You could use 1/2 tbsp coconut extract and use plain milk instead. Or, pair 1/2 tbsp coconut cream with 1/2 cup of milk
Sugar, just enough to taste
Ice
Some chopped pineapple for garnish, and a slice for 'show' just like this ;)

Well, what can I say...it was a terrific meal! The cornbread, with a slightly sweet taste from the coconut flakes and the coconut milk went really well with the piping hot stew that exploded into our mouths with the heat from jalapenos and jerk seasoning! We dipped the plantain spiders (I am not sure why they call them that way!) into the Adobo marinade. While the Adobo marinade is going to be used extensively in our kitchen in the future, the plaintain spiders , we thought will work as an easy and great appetizer. Has the Kerala effect with the plantains, so could go very well with Indian food too! What can I say, we simply stuffed ourselves while watching Dilli 6.

It was tons of fun cooking together and we learnt a lot about Caribbean food! Everything was fairly simple to make and very healthy too! So, here's sending this platter to Meeta for the Monthly Mingle- Caribbean event!