Time for Conkies

"According to the A-Z of Barbadian Heritage, the Ghanaian “kenkey” is probably the origin of the local word, conkie. In Ghana, Kenkey refers to similarly prepared corn meal dishes." That excerpt is taken from this week's column that looks at this dish that is made throughout the Caribbean.

On Friday, November 30th, Barbados will be celebrating 41 years of Independence from British rule and one of the foods often made and eaten around this time is conkie! Prior to its independence, the eating of conkies in Barbados was associated with November 5th – Guy Fawkes night.

The primary ingredients are pumpkin, cornmeal, sweet potatoes and coconut along with spices etc. It's a sweet dish and can be eaten at any meal or as a snack. Labour intensive because of the grating, the gift of a conkie is highly prized.

Conkie mixture

I enjoy making the foods of my adopted home and learning about them. So for this Independence I made conkies for the first time. Feedback from my Bajan friends has been very positive.

Conkie before steaming

Cooked conkie

Here is a step-by-step slide demo how to make conkies. If you cannot get banana leaves where you are this mixture can be placed in ramekins and steamed. Click here and I'll send you the recipe.

This is also my entry to Meeta's Monthly Mingle, the theme being, Traditional Feasts.

Happy Independence Barbados!

A Grate Experiment

Let me preface this post by saying this: Do not judge me. While I did what I had to do to deal with my obsession, I also did it for you. Yes you, don't look around as if you think I'm talking to someone else! (lol)

Perhaps you recall a few weeks ago when I told you that I'm nuts for coconuts? Well, it turns out that I'm also obsessed with finding a grater that's going to grate a coconut the fastest with the texture I'm looking for; and that my friends is what this week's column is all about. Go read it and see how I went about the process.

Here are the four graters I used

Left to right: Rotary grater, sit-down grater, food processor and a box grater.

I don't know the proper names for the first two graters so I gave them practical names.

Here's what I found out:

Please click on the image above to enlarge and see the various results (Update: The problem has been solved. If you cannot see a larger version of the image, please email me. Thanks). Do be sure to read the column for my notes on cracking the coconut and the steps necessary in order to work with these graters. Click here to see a slide show of the graters in action and for a close-up look at them as well as the various textures they yield.

My good friend over at East Meets West Kitchen, recently posted about coconuts also and her quest to find a particular grater. Be sure to check it out.

So what did I do with all the grated coconuts? Made a few things and then froze the rest.

The first thing I made was coconut bake, one of the bakes that Trinidad & Tobago is noted for. I adapted the recipe from here.

When I asked Can Cook Must Cook, what's the best thing to serve with this bake, she said sharp cheddar cheese and for us it means, New Zealand or English Cheddar Cheese.

Though I made bunjol and fried smoked herring to have with the bakes, it really is best with the cheddar cheese.

For a tea-time snack, I made shortbread coconut cookies.

And for dessert, oh yeah, gotta have some coconut ice cream.

Please email me if you need any of the recipes.

Nuts for Coconuts

As some of you may know, I don’t really have a sweet tooth ;) Heaven knows I’ve said that often enough when commenting on your various sweet posts but hey, that does not prevent me from appreciating all those decadent goodies you make. In the strictest sense of the word I don’t have a sweet tooth. However, when it comes to any sweet made with coconut, I’m weak :) so coconut bread (aka sweet bread), coconut drops, coconut buns, coconut ice cream, salara… I’m there.

For sometime now, I’ve found it difficult to buy any of these things commercially made and the reason lies in the main ingredient – coconut. I’ve often found that there is usually not enough coconut or that all the moisture has been squeezed out of it thereby making the baked good dry and flavourless. All you get is the dry husk. Click here for the column if you’d like to read more about my love of all things coconut including the milk, the water and the jelly.

My favourite way to have sweet bread is with a cup of tea or a glass of ice-cold mauby or ginger beer.

Click here and I'll send you the recipe for the salara and or sweet bread. Here are the steps for making the salara.

When it comes to eating salara, I like to unfurl the roll and eat each layer by itself getting direct contact with the filling.

I’d be happy to send you the recipe for both or either of these goodies, just click here. And you can click here for the column.

Finally, my friend, Pat of Pat’s food blog bestowed upon me one of the nicest awards I have received and guess what? It’s the Nice Matters award! Thank you dear Pat. I am chuffed and honoured.

And for each one of you that reads this blog, this award is passed on to you. It's so nice of you everyweek to take time to stop by my blog and leave a kind word. Thank you so very much. Hugs.