Trini Callaloo & A Note

If you’re from Guyana, Callaloo refers to all varieties of spinach (bhaji) but if you’re from Trinidad and Tobago, then Callaloo is the beloved, must-have, soul food dish of the twin island republic. Callaloo for Trinis is a concoction of dasheen leaves (aka eddo leaves), okra, crab and or salt meat, along with onions, pimento peppers (a mild pepper), hot pepper, green onions and thyme all cooked low and slow in a bath of fresh coconut milk. Click here to read the rest of this column. And if you're salivating for some Callaloo at the end of the column, then click here and here for recipes.

I always advise people to adapt recipes to suit their tastes and to use whatever they have available, therefore, if you cannot find any dasheen/taro/eddo leaves, then go ahead and use whatever variety of spinach is available to you.

Assemble the Callaloo ingredients, chop, add to pot and bring to a boil, reduce heat and let it cook low and slow so all the ingredients meld together.

This is so you get a closer look at the actual leaf used to make Callaloo.

The Callaloo has been cooked and is now ready for the second stage of it's preparation.

Remove the crab, whole peppers and salt meat. Look how beautifully pink the okra seeds are.

Use a swizzle stick (read column) or a dhal gutney as I did here and swizzle, blending the ingredients.

You want it to still have some texture. If you opt to use an electrical appliance, I'd suggest a food processor as it gives you more control with the pulse button. Or use an immersion blender if you have one.

Garnish with hot pepper as shown at the top of this post, or with crab as I've done here and serve.

Callaloo can be eaten with rice, ground provisions, foo foo or dumplings. Be sure to read the column to find out more this wonderful Caribbean dish of Callaloo.

Bee's post this week at Forgive Me My Nonsense... leaves me numb :(

And now to the note. For the next three weeks I am going to be unable to blog-hop and visit your delicious blogs due to some pressing assignments. While I'll still do my regular Saturday posts and my FMMN posts, I just won't be able to visit. I know that you'll understand and look I forward to your continued support.