Lesley Enston’s heartfelt new cookbook, Stomach Full, is every thing a cookbook needs to be. To start with, I’m excited to cook dinner every thing in it…
…like pumpkin fritters and coconut-stewed greens and candy plantain omelettes and meat stews flavored with intense inexperienced sauces. These are vivid, lovely recipes that inform tales.
Enston grew up in Toronto with a Trinidadian mom and Canadian father, and as she obtained older felt drawn to folks of the Caribbean islands, like Puerto Rico, Dominica, Jamaica, Barbados, Haiti and past. Though their languages and spices differed, she says, “I felt at dwelling of their meals, their music, and that unmistakable vibe of an individual who grew up with the solar of their face, surrounded by the Caribbean Sea.”
Her 100-plus recipes are organized by 11 key components throughout Caribbean cuisines — beans, calabaza, cassava, chayote, coconut, cornmeal, okra, plantains, rice, salted cod, and Scotch bonnet peppers.
And Enston makes the tales private. The pholourie (deep-fried break up pea fritters) was “100% one among my favourite causes for visiting Trinidad.” For Soup Jomou, Haiti’s “Freedom Soup,” she enlists Haitian-American chef Cybille St.Aude-Tate, who expresses awe at how lengthy her folks have been making it. And — my favourite half — lots of the recipes weave by way of the joyous reminiscences of her household’s dwelling cooking, like this pelau, beneath.
“‘Me stomach full’ is a phrase you’ll hear all through the English-speaking Caribbean,” Enston writes within the introduction. “It has an apparent which means — a full and happy abdomen — however may imply a full and happy coronary heart and soul.”
Pelau (Rooster and Rice)
From Stomach Full by Lesley Enston
Serves 6-8
Says Lesley: Whereas Arroz con Pollo would be the most well-known model of rooster and rice outdoors of the Caribbean, pelau is the one I do know greatest. It at all times confirmed up at household features at my aunt’s home across the nook… As an individual who, previous to having a small baby, by no means had ketchup in my home, I’ve to confess it’s actually the key sauce. You might substitute tomato paste in case you should, and I’ve, however the magic will likely be lacking. I’ve eaten numerous pelaus in my life, however this one from Dominica could be my favourite.
3 kilos bone-in rooster thighs, pores and skin eliminated, reduce into bite-size items
¼ cup plus 2 tablespoons Inexperienced Seasoning, retailer purchased or selfmade (beneath)
6 garlic cloves, minced
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon paprika
½ teaspoon freshly floor black pepper
2 tablespoons coconut oil or different impartial oil
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 yellow onion, diced
2 scallions, thinly sliced
1 giant carrot, diced
2 teaspoons contemporary thyme leaves
1 15-ounce can kidney beans, drained
¼ cup ketchup
3 cups water
2 cups basmati or jasmine rice
In a medium bowl, combine the rooster with ¼ cup of the inexperienced seasoning, two-thirds of the garlic, the salt, paprika, and pepper, utilizing your arms to verify the seasoning is evenly distributed. Place within the fridge to marinate for no less than 2 hours or as much as in a single day. About half-hour earlier than cooking the rooster, take away it from the fridge to come back to room temperature.
In a big Dutch oven or different heavy-bottomed pot, warmth the coconut oil over medium-high warmth till it shimmers, then add the brown sugar. Prepare dinner, watching it continuously and stirring it often with a picket spoon to verify it cooks evenly, for five to eight minutes, till the sugar bubbles throughout, turns darkish brown, and simply begins to smoke. (It will fluctuate from range to range; if it hasn’t occurred by minute eight, simply hold in there; the second will occur rapidly after.) Instantly add the rooster and take heed to it sing and sizzle. Prepare dinner the rooster, uncovered, for five minutes, till it’s releasing its juices, then add the onion, remaining 2 tablespoons inexperienced seasoning, remaining garlic, the scallions, carrot, and thyme.
Cut back the warmth to low, cowl, and cook dinner for 10 minutes, till the greens are gentle. Add the beans and ketchup and cook dinner till the ketchup has darkened, 3 to five minutes. Add the water, increase the warmth to excessive, and produce all of it to a boil. Add the rice, cut back the warmth to medium, and cook dinner, uncovered, till the water has largely evaporated, about quarter-hour. Give every thing a hearty stir to verify nothing sticks to the underside of the pot. Cut back the warmth to low, cowl, and cook dinner for 15 to twenty minutes extra, till the liquid has fully evaporated.
Pelau is nice instantly and heats up effectively for a number of days after; retailer it in an hermetic container within the fridge.
Inexperienced Seasoning
In a meals processor mix the next till pureed and easy: 1 bunch culantro (about 8 leaves, in case you can’t discover it, swap in cilantro); 1/2 cup contemporary cilantro; 1/2 cup contemporary parsley leaves; 1 head garlic cloves, peeled; 1 medium yellow onion, roughly chopped; 1 shallot; 5 scallions, roughly chopped; 1/4 cup contemporary thyme leaves; 1 celery stalk, roughly chopped; 1 (1-inch) piece contemporary ginger; peeled and roughly chopped; 1 seasoning pepper, seeded and roughly chopped (optionally available); 1/4 cup contemporary lime juice. Retailer in an hermetic glass jar within the fridge for as much as 1 month.
P.S. 5-ingredient dinners, and a Brooklyn brownstone impressed by the Caribbean.
(Pictures by Marc Baptiste.)