27. Barbados

Salt Bread

Country: Barbados 
Course: Bread 
Makes: 4 large rolls 

 

Ingredients

• 3 1/2 cups white flour
• 3 3/4 tsp active dry yeast
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• 3 1/2 tsp turbinado sugar
• 2 tbsp lard
• 1 cup water

Directions:

1. Put all the ingredients except the water into a large bowl and blend until you get fine crumbs.
2. Add the water and knead for two minutes, then let rise until doubled in size.
3. Punch down and divide into four equal portions. Brush with water and turn over. Let rest for 15 minutes, then turn over again and let rest for another 15 minutes.
4. Sprinkle the tops of the rolls with flour and place them in a preheated 325 degree oven for 15 minutes or until golden (mine took more like 25 or 30 minutes, so make sure you watch them). This is a really soft bread, so your rolls aren't going to sound too hollow when you knock on them. Go by color instead.

Serve with lettuce, tomato, and cumber.  

Chicken and Potato Roti Recipe

You will need the following ingredients:

For the roti skin you will need:

* 1lb of flour
* 3 tbs of shortening
* Salt
* Water

For the filling you will need:
* 6 chicken breast cubed
* Parsley
* Thyme
* Jerk seasoning
* Salt
* Sugar
* Black pepper
* 2 large onions
* 4 cloves of garlic
* 1 whole scotch bonnet pepper
* 1/2lb potatoes

Put 3 tablespoons of sugar in to a large saucepan on high and cook until the sugar caramelizes, then add the cubed chicken breasts, stir until the chicken browns. Now add the chopped onions, garlic, parsley, thyme, jerk seasoning, salt and the whole scotch bonnet pepper – do not cut up the pepper! Reduce the heat to low and let this simmer for 25 minutes.

In a large mixing bowl sift the flour, and add a pinch of salt to taste. Now add the first tablespoon of shortening, with your fingers rub the flour in to the shortening, until it starts to form a breadcrumb like consistency, then add the second tablespoon of shortening and rub against the flour, again until it starts to look like breadcrumbs, now add the third tablespoon of shortening and repeat the process.

You should by now have used all the flour and your bowl should be all breadcrumb like, if you still have fresh flour in the bowl, then use another tablespoon of shortening until your fresh flour is all used up, now add a small amount of water and mix with a butter knife, just keep adding small amounts of water until your mixture forms a soft dough. Now dust your surface with flour and roll out your pastry, you want to roll wafer thin rounds – this mixture should make at least 12 roti skins. Cover with a tea towel whilst you go back to pot.

Now peel the potatoes and cube into small bite size pieces. After 25 minutes of simmering of the pot add 1/2 pint of water and add the potatoes to the pot. Now cover and cook for a further 30 minutes on a low heat.

Take a flat baking tray and turn upside down, lightly cover with oil and place on the stove top on high, cook each roti skin for 1 minute each side until the brown but not crisp.

Now pile up your cooked roti skins, remove the pot after the 30 mins and take out the whole scotch bonnet, then take the whole pot to the table with a pile of plates, each person takes the roti skin and lays it flat on the plate and then spoon some filling into the middle of the roti skin and fold around the filling and then eat and enjoy!

Fish Cakes

Fish cakes are a traditional Barbados breakfast dish. They may be eaten on their own or served with delicious sweet bakes. For those on the go , the preferred way of enjoying fish cakes is sandwiched in a "salt bread", this is known as a "bread and two".

Fish cakes are also a favourite appetizer at restaurants and finger food at cocktail parties.

Recipe

• 1 onion, diced
• 1 cup flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 egg lightly beaten
• 1 small hot pepper, finely diced
• chopped parsley, thyme and marjoram
• 1 lb boneless, skinless salt cod
• 1 cup water

To prepare the salted cod, boil in 6 cups of water for 4 minutes. Throw off the water and boil a second time for 3 minutes. Flake the fish with a fork.

In a bowl, combine the flaked fish with the other ingredients. Stir until a thick batter forms. You can add more water or more flour to get the desired consistency.

Drop the batter by teaspoonful into oil over medium heat, being careful not to overcrowd the pan. You may need to turn the heat down to medium-low if the fish cakes are burning before being fully cooked.

Drain on paper towels. Fish cakes are best eaten hot!

Fish cakes are even more delicious when dipped in traditional Barbados pepper sauce or Marie Rose sauce made by combining mayonnaise, ketchup and pepper sauce.

In Barbados we love fish cakes so much, we even wrote a song about them!

Breadfruit in Butter Sauce

You will need the following ingredients:

1/2 medium breadfruit
1/2 small onion
1 tablespoon olive oil
4 oz/125g butter
3 medium onions, cut in rings
1 tablespoon garlic finely chopped
1 medium 16floz/500ml tin whole tomatoes, drained and sliced
1/4 cup or 3 tablespoons parsley, diced
1 tablespoon lime juice
Salt and pepper to taste
1 cup 8oz or 250ml water
Red pepper sauce to taste.
Garnish: fresh parsley, chopped

Instructions:

Cut the breadfruit, remove the seeds in the core and peel. Boil in salted water with a little onion and oil, over a high heat until tender and drain.

Meanwhile, melt the butter in a frying pan and lightly brown the onion rings. Add the garlic, tomatoes, parsley, lime juice, salt and pepper. Continue to sauté for a couple of minutes. Add the water, bring to the boil and simmer for 5-10 minutes.

Slice the cooled breadfruit and place in a serving dish. Pour the butter sauce over the breadfruit.

Guava Cheese

Ingredients

5 large riped guava , cut it into halves
2 cups sugar
1 tbsp ghee
1 tbsp lemon juice

Method 

1. Combine the guava and 1 cup of water in a pressure cooker and pressure cook for 1 whistle.
2. Allow the steam to escape before opening the lid, drain well and cool completely.
3. Put the cooked guava pieces in a mixer and blend till smooth.
4. Put the mixture in a strainer and strain with a help of a spoon to remove the pulp.
5. Remember to measure the pulp. The pulp and sugar ratio should be 1:1.
6. Combine the pulp, sugar, ghee and lemon juice in a broad non-stick pan, mix well and cook on a medium flame for 20 to 22 minutes, while stirring continuously.
7. Transfer the mixture in a greased rectangle aluminium tray of 250mm. (10") by 150mm. (6").
8. Keep aside for 2 hours and cut into 21 equal pieces using a sharp knife.
9. Serve or store it in an air tight container.

Sorrel Drink

Ingredients

• 2 cups dried sorrel (roselle/hibiscus sabdariffa)
• 10 cups water
• 3 cinnamon sticks
• 4 star anise , whole
• 2 pieces orange peel , fresh (2-3 inches)
• white sugar , to taste

Instructions

• Combine all ingredients, except the sugar, in a large pot.
• Gently simmer for about 10 minutes, then remove from heat. Allow the mixture to sit for at least 30 minutes, up to 2 hours to infuse.  
• Strain the mixture into a glass pitcher. Set in fridge to chill.
• When ready to serve, sweeten and/or dilute the mixture to your preference. Serve over ice. 

Notes

Other flavours you can add are:

• cloves
• allspice
• ginger
• lime Tips:
• For a more "adult" drink, you can add rum to this recipe.
• If using fresh sorrel, you will need at least twice the amount compared to using dried sorrel. 
• To intensify the flavour even more, you can leave the unstrained mixture in the fridge overnight, then strain before serving. 
• Try lining a sieve with cheesecloth before straining the mixture, this helps to catch tiny particles and impurities in the mixture. 

If you don't want to go through the steeping process yourself, look for Sorrel syrup in West Indian or Asian markets.

CAUTION: the sorrel mixture is highly pigmented and will stain anything it falls on (clothes, dish towels, plastic etc.).

(Good Eats: Sweet Cornbread Pudding)